Thread: Serious Surgery Coming Up!

So Roy, any word on the outcome yet?

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

So Roy, any word on the outcome yet?

Nothing Yet! I'm sure that Naymond won't be at a computer for awhile! I'll be sure to let all know ASAP when I hear from him!!

Thanks to all for the thoughts and prayers!!

Roy

Hi All!

I just received this from Naymond (he goes by Nermin here at SRP)

Hey Guys! Thanks for Caring!

OH!! Other than having to do a small censor this is a (Quote)

Thanks again guys!

(Quote from Naymond/'Nervin')

Good evening,

Well I am not going to be able to say as much because I have just taken my pain pill and relaxer and I just now found my I touch.

Let me begin by saying that is a doctor ever mentions decompressing over 1/3rd of your spine.... Run man. Like a fat guy with greasy butt cheeks and a giant whale sized weenier chasing him. The whole process was so painful that it felt like someone stripped my spine.. Poured salt and lemon the pulled the muscles to the side all at once. If you have ever seen hellraiser. And see the scenes with they guy and no skin that is by far the closest description I can give... According to my wife I had screamed so loud it was monstrous. ...

So what all happened... Well the screw was not broken so thAt came out ok... But it was wallowed out and actually free floating.. The screws the first doc used looked a lot like home depot specials with a Phillips head and were just nasty looking creatures period. I had seen drags but the new dock pulled out ct scans an showed me.. I now have a full arsenal of hardware that couldn't be blown down by a tornado. The second level was properly set up for the fusing and after the three days of muscle spasm anguish I was up (via walker mind you... Yes laugh if you want to) and able to tackle two flights of stairs and some Hallway walking.. As I finished I asked the physical therapist if I was that bad with the pain and she said "when I tried to roll you over you grabbed my arm and said 'alight recruit you f--king touched first so I own this hand... Now tell me what part of f--king don't touch me do you NOTunder STAND!' and when that happened I knew I was screwed... But then you just looked at me and followed with 'it's ok.. We all screw up now just go tell them as soon as The pain stops I can do my job.' and then you let go.". So apparently for the first three days. I was a complete and total horror... Even my wife was screaming "that is not my husband he doesn't do stuff like this... You fix this NOW!".

So basically they forgot to inform us that after a spinal decompression of that magnitude as well as the fusions they were suppose to keep me in a deep sleep for two days.

It is a slooooow process that will require baby steps.. But we did learn something.. What ever was in those screws was setting off my autoimmune... Once all the old stuff was removed my knuckles and hands settled down.. We r going to wait a few weeks to make sure but all in all it would be cool if that was the issue.

It's going to be another week before I can get on the forum so you are more than welcome to repost this or forward as needed. The biggest person in all of this is my wife.. She has dealt with this and still hangs in there.... Love that woman so very much...she has taken on one hell of a brick and is still with me..

Well my pills ar kicking in and it's time for so
E sleep.. You have a good one I will update as time goes by Roy my friend.. Please let everyone. Involved with chain i truly appreciate it.. Until next time

Naymond.......

Here ya go,you most likly have at least 6 of these puppys,plus the rods,plus the cross bars.
Screws alone are 2 grand each,get well man.

How in the world is that worth 2K?

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Here ya go,you most likly have at least 6 of these puppys,plus the rods,plus the cross bars.
Screws alone are 2 grand each,get well man.

Good question,Product liabilty is factored in,R&D to develope the hardware,The instrument sets to do the install (Would bet maybe 75K worth of Tools),Than you always have a company tech in the room to tell the docs how to install everything.
All part and parsel to the high cost of medicine,and health insurance,and why medicare is on the verge of collapse.
I see this crap every day,two generic aspiren,Pt will be charged $55.00,go figure

Naymond is doing good recovering. His drugs definately work!!!! I sent off his newly restored razor today.. should be a nice get on your feet and shave moment...

Glad to hear Naymond is recovering, and had no complications (other than pain) from the surgery. I will continue to keep him in my thoughts and wish for a speedy and total recovery. Hang in there Naymond.

Good evening everyone. Hahaha now that I read the email that I wrote Roy I kinda laughter a little. It was actually hard for me to write that one. I was on a heavy dose of oxy and valume. The part about the physical therapist I have to clarify.. Apparently due to the intense pain and the delloted (sp?) I was hallucinating and I had thought she was a recruit I once knew when I was a company commander in the navy ( boot pusher, drill Sargent, ect)...

Everyone thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.. It is things like this that make this a great community. I couldn't ask for better friends..

The procedure.. And what all happened before. My first was just a simple anterior posterior ( the docs on here can jump in at any time) fusion.. With a plate in the front and facet screws in the back. The right screw had to be redone because it was on or near enough to a nerve root that I couldn't even stand on it. So the first doctor went in removed that screw and instead of putting in a shorter screw ( which he said he would do) he just took the same one and angled it down. Also he didn't put a bone graft on the facets.. So we fast forward to May 2010 (more than a year later) and my right upper thigh has pins and needles feeling and I get a shooting pain.. Go back to the same doc get tests.. Cts ect ect ect.. Right leg is getting worse to the point that one day I was carrying my son and I lose strength in my right leg and fall.. This went on until December and my primary care doc says that he is sick of the same tests being done over and over.. So he sends me to vanderbilt for a second opinion. This new doc does a myelogram and flex xrays.. I had to wait a while to finally get a face to face and he shows me the progression from the fusion. First of all this was the first ever neurosurgeon that ever showed me my films and discussed them instead of just mimicking the radiology report. He says three things... First "I don't understand why he would use facet screws without a bone graft... It just doesn't make sense.." then he followed with "the L4 L5 looks worse in your navy MRI's look horrible so I don't know why that one didn't get done either." then he said "why in the world did he angle it? Or did it move?"

There was more to it but pretty much summed it up. The surgery was planned for six hours.. Neither of my first fusions took near that long... But then again I didn't find out what exactly he did until after. His biggest concern was that right screw.. He didn't know if it was broken or not and he was straight with me "if it's broken the we will try our hardest to get it out but it is waaaay too close to the spinal cord."

So after a seven hour surgery... Three days of keeping me sedated on muscle relaxers (I was having muscle spasms so intense that all I could remember was begging them to put me back..

I finally get to see the doc on the third day... The first thing I remember is telling him "oh man that was the most intense pain I had ever felt" he looked at me and said "yes everyone does when they get a fusion rebuilt, a two level lamenectomy, fusion, and then a four level decompression... You basically had raw nerves and we have to try to adjust the meds as needed... And since you were on pain meds for so long it was hard." So it them made sense. He then went on to explain that the right facet screw was wallowed out and not broken but the facet had broken he thinks due to the screw being angled.... Then showed me the xrays of before and after.. And it is a Huge difference.. What is in there now looks and feels a lot more stable.. He left the plate in Though saying it will add to the stability and he really didn't want to open me again. So that was the whole procedure.. And it all stemmed on a screw..

Today: as of right now I am not on nearly the amount of meds as I was even before the surgery.. Before (10mg hydrocodone/200mg ibuprofen four times a day and fentonal patches) now ( Hydrocodone (same as above except twice a day).. I walk with out a limp and I have feeling in my right leg..now granted I have to take a flexoreal at night but it it a huge difference from the high end death pain I was feeling over a week ago.. Of course I cannot bend over.. Lift more than five pounds and a few other limitations but it is feeling great as of today..

So with all that said as soon as next thursday comes I have a LOT of promises to fulfill .. Soaps remake and wrap and send... A razor to send... And hone the gorgeous razor that Paul restored for me.. Gotta send him some soaps and containers.. Literally I thought I would be coming out of this and be able to slip right in to a routine... I do apologize for the lateness

Again thank you guys again for the thoughts and prayers..

Originally Posted by Nervin

Good evening everyone. Hahaha now that I read the email that I wrote Roy I kinda laughter a little. It was actually hard for me to write that one. I was on a heavy dose of oxy and valume. The part about the physical therapist I have to clarify.. Apparently due to the intense pain and the delloted (sp?) I was hallucinating and I had thought she was a recruit I once knew when I was a company commander in the navy ( boot pusher, drill Sargent, ect)...

Everyone thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.. It is things like this that make this a great community. I couldn't ask for better friends..

The procedure.. And what all happened before. My first was just a simple anterior posterior ( the docs on here can jump in at any time) fusion.. With a plate in the front and facet screws in the back. The right screw had to be redone because it was on or near enough to a nerve root that I couldn't even stand on it. So the first doctor went in removed that screw and instead of putting in a shorter screw ( which he said he would do) he just took the same one and angled it down. Also he didn't put a bone graft on the facets.. So we fast forward to May 2010 (more than a year later) and my right upper thigh has pins and needles feeling and I get a shooting pain.. Go back to the same doc get tests.. Cts ect ect ect.. Right leg is getting worse to the point that one day I was carrying my son and I lose strength in my right leg and fall.. This went on until December and my primary care doc says that he is sick of the same tests being done over and over.. So he sends me to vanderbilt for a second opinion. This new doc does a myelogram and flex xrays.. I had to wait a while to finally get a face to face and he shows me the progression from the fusion. First of all this was the first ever neurosurgeon that ever showed me my films and discussed them instead of just mimicking the radiology report. He says three things... First "I don't understand why he would use facet screws without a bone graft... It just doesn't make sense.." then he followed with "the L4 L5 looks worse in your navy MRI's look horrible so I don't know why that one didn't get done either." then he said "why in the world did he angle it? Or did it move?"

There was more to it but pretty much summed it up. The surgery was planned for six hours.. Neither of my first fusions took near that long... But then again I didn't find out what exactly he did until after. His biggest concern was that right screw.. He didn't know if it was broken or not and he was straight with me "if it's broken the we will try our hardest to get it out but it is waaaay too close to the spinal cord."

So after a seven hour surgery... Three days of keeping me sedated on muscle relaxers (I was having muscle spasms so intense that all I could remember was begging them to put me back..

I finally get to see the doc on the third day... The first thing I remember is telling him "oh man that was the most intense pain I had ever felt" he looked at me and said "yes everyone does when they get a fusion rebuilt, a two level lamenectomy, fusion, and then a four level decompression... You basically had raw nerves and we have to try to adjust the meds as needed... And since you were on pain meds for so long it was hard." So it them made sense. He then went on to explain that the right facet screw was wallowed out and not broken but the facet had broken he thinks due to the screw being angled.... Then showed me the xrays of before and after.. And it is a Huge difference.. What is in there now looks and feels a lot more stable.. He left the plate in Though saying it will add to the stability and he really didn't want to open me again. So that was the whole procedure.. And it all stemmed on a screw..

Today: as of right now I am not on nearly the amount of meds as I was even before the surgery.. Before (10mg hydrocodone/200mg ibuprofen four times a day and fentonal patches) now ( Hydrocodone (same as above except twice a day).. I walk with out a limp and I have feeling in my right leg..now granted I have to take a flexoreal at night but it it a huge difference from the high end death pain I was feeling over a week ago.. Of course I cannot bend over.. Lift more than five pounds and a few other limitations but it is feeling great as of today..

So with all that said as soon as next thursday comes I have a LOT of promises to fulfill .. Soaps remake and wrap and send... A razor to send... And hone the gorgeous razor that Paul restored for me.. Gotta send him some soaps and containers.. Literally I thought I would be coming out of this and be able to slip right in to a routine... I do apologize for the lateness

Again thank you guys again for the thoughts and prayers..

Naymond!!

Welcome Back!! I'm not alone in wishing you well an a quick recovery!!

I know that it's a long hard journey but I have confidence that you will make it!!!! Please Remember That We Are Brothers In Blades!!

I will also tell the world that you have the most wonderful, compassionate,caring and devoted wife that I have ever 'Met'!

You have my personal email, keep in touch!!

Roy