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Anyone who has had Cervical spinal compression surgery
Spine Health | Last Active: Aug 15 9:49pm | Replies (57)Comment receiving replies
Thank you for replying to my post. I have to say the way you have dealt with everything is very inspirational and positive and it is very inspiring. Fear is very crippling and I am trying so hard to look at the positive side of it. I fight it daily. I do not want to be paralyzed and that is the result of not having the surgery. I have went through a long period of just being angry. I am a strong believer in prayer. I prayed for God to take away the anger and he did. I would never push religion on anyone but I just wanted to share something that has worked for me within the last couple of weeks. I am still scared but after reading your message I have to say it has given me a new insight into how to deal with it. One problem I am having is the Doctors assistant is not very friendly. I will not get to see the Doctor again until the day of the surgery. Any time I have had to call the office she is very dismissive and doesn't really answer any of my questions. So, I am not sure how to deal with her or how to get my questions answered. My family physician is very supportive but she does not know the ins and outs of the surgery I am going to have. I see her next week and plan to discuss with her how to go about finding all the answers to my questions. I have even thought about getting a second opinion to see if a different doctor would be easier to communicate with. I just hate the thought of having to go through everything I have already been through. I have dealt with so much pain for so long that it has just become a part of me. Every part of my body has something wrong with it. From my head to my feet. That is a story that would be a book to type out. If you are interested I can share it with you. I just hate telling it as it is embarrassing and I don't want to come across as wanting anyone to feel sorry for me. I hope that makes sense. Your reply truly meant a lot to me. It did help me to think of things in a positive way and that in itself was extremely helpful. Thank you again for taking the time to write all that out for me.
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@msmith49 I think my incision is about 4 inches. My surgeon put it cross ways in a crease in my neck so it really is invisible. They did a good job of closing the incision in layers with dissolving sutures so it healed nicely. No one ever notices it. During the first year, keep sun off the incision so it doesn't develop dark pigment while it's healing.
I also wore a neck brace 24/7 for about 4 months. It was to be 3 months, but at that time, my surgeon was on a personal leave, so I couldn't get an official recommendation to start weaning out of the brace until he could review the x-rays. I didn't mind the neck brace. I chose to do that because I could get a fusion without hardware. I had to wear the brace until it began to fuse. They gave me an extra set of padding so I could always have clean pads in reserve and I also used bandanas right under my chin folded to add to it, so I could exchange that daily. You learn to live with it. Just remember, you are doing this by choice. No one is forcing you to have surgery or wear a brace. It will help you be positive in thinking that this is a choice you are making to better your health and in doing that, you'll avoid possible worse problems if you did nothing. You have to believe that you will have a good outcome. Pray for that and believe that you can do this.
I'm sorry you are dealing with a not so nice assistant. I ran into a few of those too, but ultimately the surgeon who helped me had a very nice surgical nurse.
What are the questions that you need answered by your surgical team?