Tuesday, April 15, 2008

A L5-S1 Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion and Posterior Placement of Minimally Invasive Screws

Supercalafragelisticexpealidocious. The above title is what I get to have in the beginning of June. I went back to the doctor today for my final pre-operative discussion. I decided to go ahead with the fusion. It's pretty cool how he described it. I guess they now can go in with just a small incision from the front, near the belly button, get around all of your internal stuff, and actually do the majority of the work from there. Then they flip you over and place the screws and supportive rods from the back, again with just tiny little incisions. Pretty amazing.
The doctor actually had a model of the very hardware he will be putting in my back, and I just can't believe that they don't totally need to disect you even to get at the area where they operate.
I don't think it's going to be as big of a big deal as it was, say, 10 years ago. He said I should only have to be in the hospital for 3-5 days (I guess that's a long time with today's standards though), that I should feel like total dogshit for 2 weeks, that I'll need about a month off work, and that I should *barring any major complication* be back to mostly normal in about 3 months.
Plus, I'll get one of those cool little cards that will get you on an airplane even if you beep like crazy going through security.
I feel better now just knowing that 1) there's an end in sight and 2) that there is a very good chance that I'll be close to 100% again this year.

1 comment:

Brian said...

Sweetheart, i'm worried about a lot of things involving this whole procedure w/ your spine....second opinion. I spoke with a guy at work today (Stanko) who is having major spine/nerve surgery this summer too. He ended up going to dr. Frim @university of chicago hospital and he told me this guy is acclaimned to be one of the best in the world and really knows his shit, especially being one who constantly uses minimally invasive surgical techniques to do his operations.....read a bunch tonight. Might very be well worth a second opinion from this state of the art doctor. You mean too much to me to risk any possible long term problems or pain issues. I felt bad when I saw you flier about putting our horses up for lease for the summer...no horse camp anytime soon for us, it was a great get away and a bunch of fun for us!I'm not blaming.....just a bit sad because I enjoy spending the quality time with you! I love you and hope that all well works for the both of us.....

Your Husband,

Brian:)