In light of the fact that I posted about my wife in a different thread - pastor's, about his daughter - and the fact that someone took exception to that, and my comment about insurance, I would like to say this:

Tuesday, at 4 pm we got a phone call saying my wife's surgery would be covered. Spinal fusion.

Thus, we left this morning, Wed, at 4 am. The surgery went well, so far. Wife has to spend at least 1 night in the hospital. She was feeling pretty good when I left, but drugs can do that, although she wasn't taking or asking for much.

I left at around 7:30 pm, after 14 1/2 hours sitting in the hospital. Hey, I have to work in the morning, my wife was fine with it, my daughter was there, as was my wife's twin sister. She had family with her.

I got home, had to take the dog out (we had arranged for someone to take him out during the day, after my daughter left), take care of the cat, return some work calls, and then, finally, relax.

I got on here, and what did I find? A nasty pm from someone calling me a fake. CAlling me someone that just wants pity.

I'm not a fake, nor do I want anyone's pity. The biggest reason for the pm? I commented about insurance. And then, after numerous posts were deleted between me and the other person, a few people offered their well wishes. I appreciated that, but explained that the thread those posts were in were about Pastor's daughter, not my wife.

So, my wife had surgery today. She has to spend at least 1 night, outside chance of more, and she'll be home, hopefully tomorrow.

I'm not fake, and I want no pity, from anyone. Well wishes, prayers, etc. are welcomed. PM attacks on me are not.

I used to post good and bad about my wife, my son, and my daughter. I don't do that anymore, I learned.

Hope she’s on the road to recovery.

Keeping you all in my prayers buddy

Hope all is well, Buddy.

Don't let pissants bring you down.

I trust that all continues to go well. You are one of the 'good guys' on this board and no one should have to put up with personal attacks. Hope you put that poster in their place...

Best wishes. Have been through this surgery with family members 4 times. Scoliosis...

Glad to hear you're wife is okay.

There is some rude people on this site.

*are

:-p

Arch,
Hope your wife has a speedy recovery. Spinal fusion surgery is not what it once was. Devices and techniques are so much better. Used to have to stay in the hospital for a week just to recover from the collateral damage of the surgery. Big thing now is just to take it easy and allow that bone to start growing.

Hope it goes perfect, bro.

Is you kidding me?

The best for your wife and some rest for you !

Let the haters hate Arch. Don't mean nothing.

Glad the surgery went well Arch. Best wishes to your wife for a speedy recovery!

Best wishes and prayers for your wife, Arch. I had that surgery about 4 years ago - its tough. Job 1 is to watch out for infection; 2, physical therapy as soon as her condition allows; 3, get off the opioids as soon as possible.

One last thing - check with your insurance about limits on physical therapy sessions. My insurance cut me off at 12 visits, denied my appeal for an additional 12. I continued them on my own dime, but I couldn't afford the 3 times per week my doctor prescribed for two months. I ended up going to PT once a week, and doing the PT exercises at home the rest of the time.

Best wishes to you and your wife Arch. Hope everything continues to go well. My prayers are with you.

I pray for her speedy and complete recovery.

arch...my best to the family and I hope your wife's surgery is a complete success. Nothing but positive thoughts and prayers...

Despite your veiled, or not so veiled attempt to bring up something that even the refs of this board obviously felt shouldn't be on this board. And despite none of it was actually about your wife, and despite the fact that you bring up a PM that in case you missed it means "private", which I would have no problem being public.......

I wish your wife all the best. My prayers go out to her for a speedy recovery.

I don't blame her for the fact that she chose to marry you.

Thoughts and Prayers for a speedy recovery.

Great News Arch. Prayers are with your family.

Tell the wife to stay positive and not slip into the Pits.

Hope all goes and/or went well Arch.

Prayers from here. I know.

Having gone thru a failed L3 and L4 surg back in 05........etc, etc, etc......

To fix it I'd have to have "the rods and pins thing" inserted and fused together.

Never again.

Hows she doing? Well I hope.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Prayers

Thanks everyone. I brought her home today at about 1:30. She's not having much pain - pretty much only if she forgets and does something she's not supposed to do.



Obviously, she has a lot of restrictions. Mostly dealing with bending, twisting, not showering for a few days, a whole list of stuff which is normal after pretty much any surgery.

Long road to go, although many have it worse. Pain is well in control - she's not even taking as much pain med. as she could.

Just as with pastor's daughter, infection is always a concern.

Thank you.

Best wishes and prayers on a speedy recovery.

Thats what she had done. Just lower though.

We, wife and I, asked for nothing from anyone. Daughter made supper tonight. Tomorrow, friends are bring food on their way to watch their sons bb game. Sat, my parents are coming over with food. Sunday, some other friends. Monday, the parents of the kid I 'mentor'/hang out with, are bringing food over. Tuesday, my cousin is.

That's just awesome.

And, aside from my daughter, every single one of them said "hey, you helped us out back when......." this happened, that happened, etc. It is a great feeling to know that people care. Those on here included.

Glad that all went well with the surgery. Prayers for her speedy and complete recovery.

Prayers up buddy

More prayers. Sorry some jackwagon had to be a jerk about it. I didn't see the other thread, and I'm glad.

I wish her the best, and a speedy recovery..

I wish your fam all the best.
This is the real stuff of life, for sure.

Still doing well. Due to some "thing" she has a trait for that causes blood clots, and her twin having had blood clots, the surgeon ordered a prescription for a blood thinning shot, to be given at home, for 5 days straight.

Sat. was the first shot. I was gone, so Sooga gave mom the shot - in the stomach. Now, if you ask Sooga, it went great. If you ask mom? Well, here's what mom had to say: "She cleaned the injection spot. She opened the syringe package. Then, it looked like she was throwing a dart into my stomach! Same arm motion."

(the syringes are pre-filled, no air in them. Just put the needle in, push the plunger, remove the needle)

Nice.

Updates will be appreciated if/when you choose to share.
Folks are invested in this thread.

Glad to hear shes doing well...Keep us posted.... We may disagree about a lot of things, but about Family, I think we all stand with each other.

I was wrong on the number of shots. Last 1 will be tomorrow. Since the shots are supposed to be within 2" of her belly button, she's getting sore there.

Done with putting a bandage over her incisions. Just have to tape plastic over them when she showers.

Have our morning routine down pretty well now. Wake up, help her up (with Dummy the dog growling at me. She is HIS, and he makes it known) I go to the door to let him out, but she has to come stand there - otherwise he won't do anything. Let him out. Turn the heater on in the bathroom, start the water. Let the dog in. Tape her back up. She showers.


I get ready for work while she's doing that, then I give her the shot. More painful for her each day. Then I put the compression stockings on her. Foot to top of the thigh stockings.

She can't bend over, according to the doc. So, I don't let her.

I'm doing all of the dishes, the laundry, the cleaning, etc. She ices her back several times a day, so I have to put that on.

She claims the pain she had prior to the surgery is gone, any pain she has now is just from the surgery, so that's good.

Still a long ways to go. Boredom is her biggest issue as of now, and if that stays the biggest issue, we will be blessed beyond belief.

She did finally leave the house today to ride with her sister to Toledo.

She's a go getter, and a perfectionist. Since she can't do much of anything, it's starting to really bug her, and truthfully, me. And I'm still dealing with the 'crud' my daughter brought home from college. Cough, congestion, super sore throat. Can't sleep.

Received a letter from the insurance company that basically said "We originally approved the surgery, but we are still trying to determine if it was medically necessary. We may not cover it, pending our analysis." That's paraphrasing, mind you.

It was conveniently dated the same day they finally ok'd the surgery.

So, overall, it's going fine. Thank God! Just a little more stress on me - more to do - financial issues with the bills coming, and not having her regular income. But, it's called life, right?

Hey, I do what I need to do. A few years ago, when I couldn't walk due to a bruised calcaneus, she was the one taking care of me.

The experience we had with fusions, 5 total then a rod removal for one, was that when they started to feel good they felt REAL good as in, hard to hold em back!

Hope your wife has those type of results!

Life does test us, severely at times. Sounds like you're getting a very good A+ passing grade. Keep it up...

I used to work for a company that designed and made the implants/instruments for fusion surgery.

High-level, the procedure hasn't changed at all in forever. You're taking out aged/misaligned/shortened bone/disc that's impinging on nerves and causing pain, and replacing it with metal and plastic that will encourage your body to grow bone in its place.

The techniques and technology, however has changed a ton. The collateral damage done over the course of this surgery was pretty crazy. Huge soft-tissue cuts and cutting muscle/bone. There's a ton of healing that needs to happen just to get you back to where you were before the surgery. Now, more and more surgeons are using minimally invasive techniques (much smaller cuts, much less soft-tissue healing needed post-surgery).

Bone growth takes time, and the implants put in are only so strong. You should start to feel better when the soft, spongy bone starts to form, but it takes a while longer until the hard, outer bone is in place. Can't be back to 100% until the doc can see that hard bone on the CT scan.

Wife's incisions are at most 1 1/2 inches long.

I would have thought they would be bigger.

Heck, I have a 4 inch scar on my shoulder from my rotator cuff repair.

Do they do multiple smaller incisions over a larger area on her spinal procedure?

I am going to see a neurologist next month about my back, and I have seen some back procedures where they literally flay open the entire back to work on everything. I do not want to do that. I am hoping that they can go in arthroscopically since they basically just have to remove bone and bone fragments from L5-S1, to get them off the nerves.

Arthroscopic surgery is a "less invasive".

I had my entire right shoulder rebuilt, tore everything, and the biggest incision was a quarter inch. I was in Physical Therapy one week later and back to normal in a month and a half.

3 months later I ran the chainsaw, cut down and cut up a tree.

Modern Miracle.

Nope. 2 incisions. 1 on each side of her spine. 1 1/2 inches each. Only other 'incision' was actually a hole for a drain tube. Perhaps 1/8 of an inch, circular.

I had a "moderately severe" tear, as well as excess bone in the joint that was almost like a saw. (which helped cause about a 1.5" tear across the the supraspinatus tendon)

My doctor said that I was substantially ahead of schedule .... and I am at 8 weeks right now, and started strengthening last week.

A doctor allowing a shoulder complete rebuild patient to start PT a week after surgery seems like a massive liability ... because a tear could happen again until the muscles/tendons grow back together and heal fully.

Now when I had bone spurs/excess bone growth (which, fortunately, required no tendon/muscle repair, as the tears where not severe) in my right shoulder removed, 20 or so years ago, they did 4 entrance points to remove the spurs arthoscopically, and I went to therapy the same week. (I hate to admit the trouble I had laying on my back and trying to lift a 1 pound weight in a semicircular motion) It came back fairly quickly afterwards, though, but there was no tendon/muscle repair in that shoulder.

That makes me feel better about my prospects.

Knocking on wood here, but she is doing so much better than she, or I thought she'd be doing at this time. Hey, bad news can come at any time, and that's why I keep reminding her "don't do too much."

Don't bend over. For anything. I'll do it. No, don't lift anything, I'll do it. She hasn't started rehab, and probably won't for a number of weeks yet, maybe more. She goes to see the doctor/surgeon Tues., so we'll know more then.

I hope she heals up quickly. I know back pain really well, and I hope she is free from it for good.

Well that first week I was taking baby steps and the doctors office is connected to the Physical Therapy office so they were all on the same page with my treatment.

Each week they pushed me harder and I did the things they had me doing at home.

My Surgeon does the Washington Redskins and you have probably seen how fast they come back. That's probably part of it too.

One week of healing and then starting PT seems unbelievably quick for a rotator cuff tear ..... especially a complete tear as you describe. (unless I am misunderstanding what you had) The "norm" for a rotator cuff repair is 4-6 months, often with 4-5 weeks in a sling.

Well, that is how it went and I am fine today.

Torn Cuff, torn tendon that rolled down into my bicep.
Arthritis on the bone that had to be scraped.

Glad the wife is coming along nicely.

Praying for her steady healing.

I was describing how it used to be. It's much better now, and the surgery itself is less surgeon "black magic" and more repeatable with the new instruments and imaging tools.

So, she went to the doc. Tuesday. Great report. No more need to tape plastic over the incisions for a shower. (that was a stresser for both of us)

She's been off the opiods for around a week. No more pain pills. Still shouldn't bend, or twist, and no lifting over 10 lbs. No more pain, but she needs to be smart, obviously.

Still no driving for her. She made supper last night, and she's baked some stuff.

We got an image of the x-ray showing the 2 rods, and the 4 screws. Interesting to see.

I'd been putting the compression stockings on her daily. She hated them, and I hated putting them on her. When she saw the doc. Tuesday she asked him how long she needed to wear them. He got a look on his face. "I didn't tell you? You only needed to wear them for 3 days." We'd been doing it for 12 or 13.

Just over 2 weeks in, and she's supposed to be off work for 3 months, but things are currently going well. Other than the financial hit that will be coming. Daughter had surgery in early September. Obviously, we met our deductible plus by a large amount. But, insurance started over Jan, 1, so we get to pay the full ded. before it kicks in. Again.

And, a friend is scheduled to have basically the same surgery and she's been texting my wife and I with what to expect. She's been so encouraged by what we both have told her that she's looking forward to it. Well, as much as you can look forward to a surgery.

Great news Arch!

Glad to hear everything is right on schedule with no complications.

Well, she is allowed to drive a vehicle tomorrow. That should help some with her boredom.

Just read this. Glad to hear your wife is recovering nicely.

That's great!

Her exact words were: "I don't know where I'll go, but I'm going somewhere." Now, she HAS been out of the house. Just not like normal.

Glad to hear things are going well Arch. Hope it keeps up

Hope all is well with your family Arch.

Take it easy

Knight

My wife is a bull headed, don't need sleep, let's get it done kind of person.

She's been feeling great, and had a surgeons appointment today.

Originally she was supposed to be off work for 3 months. He cleared her to go back to work in early March. Basically, 7 weeks after surgery instead of 12 weeks.

She will be working just part time, and only 3 days a week - that was the stipulation, but it's still very good news. I/we needed some good news.