My journey with a T11 to L4 spinal fusion - 40 degree scoliosis curve

Update 12-13-24

Well, good morning 😊 I had planned to post an update sooner, but I was also prepared for the reality that I wouldn’t be feeling up to it.

My surgery day (Wednesday) began with reporting to the hospital at 5:30 AM. My sister is my caregiver and staff collected her contact information and advised her that she would be updated via text or phone call throughout the whole procedure.

At 7 AM, they took me back to surgery prep, where I received my gown, leg air compression wraps, and had my IV started.

Staff allowed for about two hours of surgery prep time. As soon as I was settled on the gurney, my sister came in and stayed with me for the remaining hour until they wheeled me off to surgery.

My surgery started at around 9 AM and was completed at around 4:30 PM. I was placed in a recovery room for about two hours before my sister was able to see me.

Not long after that, my surgeon, Dr McClendon came in to check on me and said the surgery went very well.

I have a high pain tolerance. But I had an extremely tough time that night, through the morning, and until the next afternoon when they were finally able to find the right pain medication that worked for me. Please don’t let this discourage anybody looking to have surgery in the future. Dr. McClendon was very clear that people react differently and some people have less pain than others. Unfortunately, I am one who has more pain

At around 3 o’clock on Thursday, after I was getting some small results from pain medication, the physical therapy team worked with me to stand and walk across the room and then sit in a chair. I was only able to sit for 30 minutes before turning to bed, but it was a success. Throughout this process, I die not had issues with nausea because they had provided to me via IV. But when I walked across the room, I became very nauseous. They told me it was the anesthesia and other medication’s moving through my system to get flushed out.

That evening at around 6 PM I got up again and sat in the chair for a full hour.

I felt better after I got in bed both times. Even though it hurt a lot, it obviously helped my body to move into different positions and to sit up straight. It was interesting how the pain changed in my back when I was standing.
I have a 45° curve where the Apex of the curve goes to my right side. When I stood up the muscles along the left side of my spine hurt so much that I had to use my left hand on the walker to support and keep weight off my left leg. The muscles on the left side of my spine have not done a lot of work over my life because of the curve and the were definitely getting stretched yesterday.

I had an amazing five or six hours of sleep last night. The nurses just came in a few minutes ago to do their handoff fe night to day shift. I let my dayshift nurse know that I have airline tickets home for Sunday and she smiled and said we have a lot of work to do!

I’m going to order breakfast now and then hopefully start doing some walking.

The staff here is amazing! There are so many people coming and going as they complete their tasks, but I have to give a shout out to Dr. McClendon and my day/night nurses, Joslin and Patrick.

Thank you so much to those of you who have reached out to me and if you have questions, please do not hesitate to ask, and I will respond when I am able. And thank you so much for your prayers.🙏🥰

I will update again!
Sherry