Spondylitis Association of America Forums General Discussion General Message Board for Ankylosing Spondylitis and Related Diseases Major spine surgery tomorrow

Jeff, what good news! Our prayers continue for your full recovery. You'll be one of our main "go to" folks for advice on this kind of surgery, you know! Maybe being able to help others in similar situations is one of the positive things about all that we spondys go through.....?!

Jeff, what a fabulous update - thanks for letting us know how it went!

I will now make a joke I've been sitting on for a week - I didn't like your mention of seeing us "on the other side" :p

I'm very glad to hear your pain management is effective. I know that can be a serious concern in folks who are already taking significant amounts of chronic pain meds before surgery. Glad you have the wherewithal to create that med checklist; it's downright scary that surgeons don't do something like this proactively, to avoid accidental overdoses!

Will you need any OT/PT/etc. or mainly just rest and heal? Looking forward to your future updates as you feel better & better!

so glad it went well. thanks for posting the post-op! wishing you a full and speedy recovery.

Great news Jeff! Glad to hear all went well. I hope your recovery goes well too!

Glad to hear it went well. Wishing you a smooth recovery.

Great to hear you came thru surgery so well, arms and legs functioning well! Thanks for the update and keep up the great recovery. Keep us posted of your progress.

I got out today for the first time since surgery to buy Mother's day cards, balloons, flowers, and keepsakes. The problem with walking isn't any better - the store felt like it was revolving in circles which after a time made me nauseated like sea sickness,and that was with hiking poles to help me balance. But, I did get out with my son driving me to shop for about 30 minutes altogether (10 minutes at a time).

In addition, the neck pain hit 7.5/10 wearing my Aspen hard collar for that long while walking/being vertical for that 30 minutes.

Finally, I noticed that my skin is numb all up and down the back of my neck where the surgeon made his cuts through the skin. But, overall, for 11 days after major spine surgery, I am doing quite well. At least I can get around inside my house without too much trouble and I'm not bedridden! But, I'm a long ways from thinking about hitting the golf course or hitting the lake to go fishing anytime soon. I'm just counting down the days to the 6 week appointment where I hope x-rays will show the cadaver bone is fusing with my spine and i can say goodbye to the Aspen cervical collar, and praying I can return to work before my FMLA runs out. I'm a bit concerned about how Remicade will affect the desired/necessary fusion, but we'll find out in a few weeks how it all is working out!

Jeff, sorry to hear you're still dealing with so much pain as well as the numbness & walking issues. I'm sure that knowing this type of healing takes a lot of time doesn't make it any easier! It's good that you got out, though - I'm sure it felt great to breathe the fresh air! And I'm sure your wife really appreciates you going to all that effort.

Do you know yet when you'll be able to go back on the Remicade? What is your concern about the Remicade vs. post-surgical fusion? From this study it looks like inhibiting TNF-alpha could actually help with acceptance of the allograft (cadaver bone) - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2678042/

Hi Jeff and hooray!

I know it feels so good to get out of the house after surgery, even if it's not very long. Glad you're able to get up and move a little bit. Keep us posted.

Thanks everyone!

Today marks the 2 week point since surgery, and I continue to heal a bit each day, some days better, somedays worse. My pattern seems to be 3 steps forward, 2 steps backward.

The one thing I found out and I'd encourage anyone thinking about having spine surgery who has advanced AS is to make sure your surgeon has operated on an AS patient before, preferably many patients. Looking back, I think the biggest variation in what approach would be taken had a lot to do with what each surgeon had seen regarding AS patients in the past. Even with a neurosurgeon who had operated on the spines of multiple AS patients in the past, took twice the amount of time setting me up prior to surgery than he originally estimated. As one surgeon who had no prior experience stated - "with your fusion, we could kill you just putting you on the operating table". Thus, you really want someone with that experience!