Sunday, Oct 21, 2007 at 06:15
Mick,
I know how your feeling,
I am probably the most recent one around here that had surgery, I had an L5/S1 anterior/posterior Fusion,
which is where they take bone frm your non dominant hip and put a bone graft in the front of the discs. The front incision is about the same size and location as a C Section incision.
Once they had that complete, they roll you over onto your stomach and go in from the back.
Where they inserted 2 titanium screws that hold the disc stable until the bone graft is fully taken/fused.
I had the surgery on the 12 Apr 07 and have only just begun lifting more than 5kg's (yes 6 months of doing nothing).
I had X Rays every month to check the progress of the bone graft etc.
I am now up to 2 monthly reviews.
On the last X Ray they found that the 2 screws have loosened which is the likely cause of the remaining pain. I get pain on upper torso rotation, bending backwards and forwards. SWo at the next review with the surgeon a decision will be made to determine if the screws will come out :((
My first reunion with 4WDing will the
the Pyrenees trip, my logic being if I can survive the drive from
Sydney, I may be able to do some of the milder track around the area down there. I just have to start somewhere.
I am going to get upgraded seats (
suspension seats) in the new cruiser to take some of the harshness out of bumps etc.
The whole sit at home was very stressful, due to my wife having multiple MS relapses whilst I was unable to do anything, having a 6 month old at the time of the surgery as
well. Although there were some very generous offers of help from a couple of
Forum members (Ray&Jen and Stephen M).
I spent 12 days in the private hospital where I had surgery due to a little issue of a blood clot (it was about 13 x11x 7cm in size LOL) which caused a couple of headaches.
As mentioned above in other replies I recommend that you try everything prior to surgery. Post surgery you will lose a lot of muscle tone, I have lost no weight in the past 12 weeks but have lost 6cm from my waist (ie I lost the fat I put on and replaced it with muscle again).
I am doing 5 days a week Rehab, that includes:
- Pilates x 3 (1 hour per session),
- Stretching x1 (1 hour session)
- Physio (up to 3 sessions a week, it was 5 sessions),
Hydrotherapy (1 session per week, but it was twice a day post Op)
Walking 30-40 mins a day
cycling 30-40 mins a day.
It took nearly 3.5 years for them to determine that I needed surgery and I now reckon that it was the best thing that happened. Even though I still have some pain but it is a lot better than it was.
Cheers Kev
| Russell Coight:
He was presented with a difficult decision: push on into the stretching deserts, or return home to his wife.Lifetime Member
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