Scoliosis back surgery? i have questions on the subject.?

Question

i have scoliosis and i'm thinking of getting back surgery. but i want to know a little bit about it before i say yes to it. my questions are...

1. how long will it take to have the surgery preformed

2. how long will it take to recover from the surgery?

3. will i be able to swim after i recover?

4. whats the pain like?

5. whats the chances of something going wrong?

6. what are the disaffects?

7. will it be beneficial?

and if you want to add anything else, please do so.

Answer 1

1) I think your surgery will take closer to 8 hours than 4.

2) Recovery is measured in milestones.  It will take around 2-to-3 months to get back to school or work.  it will take 6 months to get back to the easier activities you were doing before the surgery, and it will take 1 year before you're released to do most everything you were doing before surgery.  Depending on the doctor, you should avoid skiing, sky diving, horse back riding and anything that will cause you to do a lot of falling.  (You don't want to break your fusion.  Not fun.)

3) Yes.  In fact, swimming is one of the best ways to get exercise post-op.

4) The pain is pretty strong for the first 2-3 weeks.  You'll have good pain meds, though, which will have you sleeping a lot of the time.  When you're awake, you won't notice the pain too much.  You won't notice much of anything, actually, since your attention span will be very short :-)

5) There's always a chance, but I've always believed that its rare to have a complication.  For both of my operations, I've never had any fear because I trusted my doctor completely.  Having confidence in your doctor is very important.  If you're not confident, perhaps you ought to get another doctor.

6) What's life like after surgery?  You can't bend the way you're used to.  After going to the bathroom, wiping is harder.  (That's one activity that you need to bend.)  You're likely to forget that you have to get into a car differently and bump your head.  You'll have to be smarter about the activities you do because you wouldn't want to fall hard or often because the chances of you braking your fusion increase.  You'll miss some of the things you used to do but shouldn't (like horse riding, skiing, sky diving, riding fast amusement park rides, etc.).

7) For me, it was definitly beneficial.  You should be out of pain (when you're through recovering), perhaps a bit taller, and able to get on with your life without always thinking about whether it will hurt too much or whether you'll get too tired.

Let me talk about the hospital stay.

You'll have meds to help with the pain. You'll start out with stronger meds and then wean yourself from them over time. So, yes, it does hurt, but you shouldn't be left hurting.

The size of your scar depends on how many vertebrae need fusing and the technique used to do the fusion. A four-level fusion will have a smaller scar than a 12-level fusion. Some surgeries (probably not yours) need both anterior and posterior (A/P, or front and back). Lastly, some people may be candidates for "minimally invasive" techniques. So, this is a hard question to answer without knowing more about your situation.

Your hospital stay will probably be between four and seven days. Teens typically heal quicker than adults and so their hospital stay is less.

As for what they do, each case is different. Here's one possible scenerio. Its incomplete as I'm describing things pretty quickly. The amount of time spent doing things will probably differ. Maybe even the order that things are done will differ. But it will give you kind of an idea of what happens. Just take it with a grain of salt.

You'll arrive at the hospital early to check in. You'll change into your gown and get an IV hooked up. You will talk to your nurse(s) and perhaps a couple of other staff members. You'll then get put to sleep (injected through the IV that you had put in earlier). The operation then happens. You'll wake up, probably in the ICU, but possibly in your hospital room. Probably on the first or second day after surgery, you'll be shown how to sit and then stand. You'll be able to take walks up and down the hallway but you'll tire quickly. Your IV will be removed in a couple of days as will the catheter you've had in you since the surgery. You'll be allowed to go home once your stomach starts rumbling, you're eating, and going to the bathroom. When you are in the hospital, your scar will be checked by a doctor each day.

You will feel like a truck ran you over for the first couple of days. Once your body starts to recover, you'll feel better.

When you wake up from surgery, your bed will have a machine that gives measured doses of pain meds (morphine or something as effective). You're self-medicating, so if you're hurting, just hit a button. The machine won't let you overdose yourself, though.

You'll be weaned off of the meds from the machine and given oxycontin (or the like). This is what you'll be taking for the first few weeks you're at home.

Bottom line is that you'll be hurting, but you'll be given pain meds to take care of the pain. They'll do the job for you.

It still takes two months to be doing basic things. You'll be cleared to do more things at six months. At one year, you'll be able to do about anything you could do before the surgery. Take it easy. This is major surgery. It takes a while for the spine to fuse.

There's a couple of things, off-topic, that will make life easier for you

Answer 2

You need to see a spine specialist, either neurosurgeon or an orthopedic surgeon. I don't trust chiropractors. I had my back manipulated once or twice, it always hurt worse after they were done with it. As a nurse, I've also cared for a few patients who required surgery after seeing a chiropractor because the chiropractor actually caused nerve damage.

1. how long will it take to have the surgery preformed

In the operating room where I work, it's about 4 hours from incision to dressing.  It depends on the surgeon and how he/she will be doing the case



2. how long will it take to recover from the surgery?

On average, you'll be in the hospital 3-5 days, taking care of yourself in about 7-10, back driving in 4-6 weeks, weight restrictions for 6 mo. It takes about 6-12 mo. to completely recover.

Talk with your physician about this. He'll prescribe weight and activity restrictions based on how he is going to the surgery (posterior approach? trans-thoracic approach?) and your lifestyle (do you have to walk a lot at school/work? carry a heavy load? need to dive to work or school? etc.).

3. will i be able to swim after i recover?

Yes

4. whats the pain like?

My pain was well controlled.  Some place put you on a continuous IV of pain killers, some give you a PCA machine (you push a button and give yourself pain medicines as needed.  Your surgeon can tell you what the protocol is at the hospital you'll be at.

5. whats the chances of something going wrong?

6. what are the disaffects?

7. will it be beneficial?

There are risks and benefits with every surgery, even minor procedures (I'm an OR nurse now). You/your folks will have to make an informed decision about surgery. If your curve is severe and you are not corrected it can affect your ability to breath or carry a pregnancy.

8.and if you want to add anything else, please do so.

I'm as normally functioning as anyone (are any of us really "normal"?). I never got off schedule with school (had surgery over summer break when I was 14). Graduated college at 20 and have been an OR nurse for 16 years, one of the most physically demanding areas of nursing (lots of lifting and lots of standing in one place for long periods). I've had 2 children without difficulty (didn't even use an epidural). I love to travel (I don't set off metal detectors), yoga (though the fusion prevents some positions), and SCUBA dive. I can pretty much do anything I want...but don't tell my husband I use the scoliosis to get out of vacuuming :) I don't feel my rods, but my bottom curve does ache now and then, I'm supposed to take 1-2 Alleve at bed time, but us nurses are awful patients, so I don't do it regularly.

Are you being treated at a Shriner's Hospital/Clinic? Absolutely the best place for scoliosis patients under 21! If you are, ask the docs/nurses if they can arrange for you to visit/talk with other patients or people who will be involved in your care. Other places may do this too, but I think Shriner's goes above and beyond for their kids.

Answer 3

Before considering any back surgery for scoliosis, it is important to talk to a chiropractor first, especially a chiropractic biophysics specialist. You can find one here: http://www.idealspine.com/pages/referral...