Well, this is definitely a different kind of blog for me. But, after being asked by a couple of people to do this, I thought it might be helpful, and I hope informational! It's also for those who don't do Facebook and have no real idea what's happened recently. So, here's the story for those who are interested.
In December I turned to put a dish in the dishwasher -- and WHAM--- I couldn't stand up for a few seconds. I knew it must be bad becuse there was a lot of pain. When I finally stood up I kept thinking, "Maybe I can stretch it out..." Alas, that did not work. We had a trip planned to Nashville the next day. Tried not to do a lot of walking, but I was in a lot of discomfort. I remembered I had a Prednizone 7 day pack for emergencies and I started the prednizone. That got me through the trip in Nashville! I scheduled a coritzone shot in the back for when I rerturned. I had the shot and it did not help. We are now well into the holidays with all that entails (and at my house that's a LOT!) My back Dr. in Fort Lauderdale was away on vacation. I scheduled an appointment for Jan. 4, the first available date. And now the journey really begins.
I was sent that night at 7:15pm to get a new MRI on my back. Mind you, by now, for whatever unknown reason, the pain has GREATLY diminished. So, I'm thinking maybe the vertebrae just shifted a little and pinched a nerve. I had to wait until Friday, Jan. 8 to get in to see Dr. Cantor. I had already decided that he was going to be my guy. The first time I saw him in August, he said I wasn't ready for surgery and if I were his mom he'd still be saying no for the time being. He told me to return if something changed. This was his first week back after vacation. The front desk had told me to be prepared to wait but I didn't think it would be 6:10pm before he got to me! BUT, when he did get to me he spent over and hour with me -- the last patient of the day. Somehow you don't mind waiting as much when you know you are going to get his full attention when it's your turn. At any rate, after looking at the MRI, he said I had a "significant blowout" of the disc. There were bone fragments everywhere and he was concerned about scar tissue forming. I asked if surgery could wait until after a planned family trip in March and it was clear he didn't want to wait that long. I could travel on a plane at 6 weeks so he checked the surgical schedule (one spot left) and put me in for Jan. 16. It helped that I had a lot of recent medical tests done because of my right hip replacement last March. My amazing Dr.'s pulled it all together and I was given clearance. The original plan was to fuse L4&5 and put a spring on the left side of L3.. Should take about 2 1/2 hours in surgery.
Next (and I think this is VERY important) he put me on a high protein diet. There was no red meat, no carbs and no sugar. I had to drink 80 oz of water a day! (that was tough for me but I did it every day!) I also had to drink what I've lovingly nicknamed "The Green Dragon". This consisted of 6 oz of Almond Milk, followed by a cup of frozen berries, one scoop of Egg White Protein powder -- and then comes the killer (yuck) 1 scoop of Green Vibrance. That scoop turns the whole shake into something that looks like green pond scum! To get the first one down, I would take a slug of the shake and then a sip of coffee. It wasn't "gaggingly bad" but I certainly didn't love it. However, after 10 days of them, I have come to actually think they're pretty ok and now I don't mind them at all! The diet continues for three weeks after surgery so it's a good thing my taste buds came around! He also wanted two hard boiled free range organic eggs a day (they don't have estrogen in them). The rest was chicken or fish and veggies. I'm pretty sure most of his patients don't go all in on the diet and the water, but I did. No cheating at all. Normally I would have done it for 2 weeks prior to surgery but I didn't have that much time. I found at my preop meeting with Dr.Cantor's very nice PA., that I have to wear the back brace for 3 months (I can take it off to sleep) and I can't drive for 3 months! Wow! That was a shock. And to reinforce it, she told me if I were driving with the brace on and was hit by another car and it was totally their fault, I would still be fully liable and they could sue and take everything. I'm not going to be cheating on the driving part! Uber and I will be best friends and there are enough friends and family around to help out too! Still, it was a bit of a shock and a taste about older folks must feel when family tells them they can no longer drive! Losing that independence is kind of a big deal until you adjust to it...
The night of the 15th, I ate a light meal, had completed my 80 oz of water and then they want you to drink 800 ml of gatorade. The morning of surgery, 2 hours before I arrive at the hospital, I must drink another 400 ml of gatorade. The gatorade component comes from a recent study at Mass General that showed people who drank the gatorade as prescribed came out of anesthesia much more quickly and felt stronger.
The day of the surgery Bill spent a LONG time(almost 4 hours) in the preop room. They finally came to wheel me off and Bill went to the waiting room. I remember nothing more until I came to in intensive care. When I came too, the PA, John, from Dr. Cantor's office, explained what happend. When they cut through the muscle in my back they came upon a "spaghetti mess" of my nerves! It seems that the derma (sheath through which all the nerves go through) had a 3/4" hole worn in it. So the first few hours of surgery was untangling all the the nerves, replacing them in the derma and repairing the derma. He then fused L4&5 as planned and cleaned up a lot of bone fragments. He could not put the spring between L3&4 so he did bone grafts. This will give me great mobility when it's healed. It turns out my spine was not connected. The bone was sitting on top of another bone but it was cracked all the way through. I was one bend away from blowing out more discs! My 2 1/2 hour surgery turned in to 6 hours! I still can't get over that the spine was not connected! I amaze myself when I think of the miracle that occurred when I had the cortizone shot in December. That Dr. had no idea the disc had ruptured and that there were nerves that had escaped and yet he didn't hit any....My pain level improved dramatically during the month of Dec. I was taking Lyrica at night and that seems to have totally numbed those nerves. I should have been a raving, screaming mess, and yet, I was certainly willing before surgery to wait until March for this surgery. If my granddaughter, Gaby, had a winter recess in Feb like many of the private schools, I think Dr. Cantor would have let me wait a few weeks since no one had any idea of how bad it really was.
I woke up in Intensive care and wanted to get the nurse. I was SO thirsty. The beds at this hospital do not have that handy control on a cord that allows you to raise and lower the bed. That feature is on the rails and since I couldn't twist, that was a small problem. But, to get in touch with the nurses there's a phone on a cord that was supposed to be next to me. It had fallen on the floor. I yelled, but the nurses were busy (I could see them) and they didn't hear me. I had a small moment of panic but then I thought if I raise my arm in the air with all the iv's in it, some kind of alarm is going to go off. So that's what I did. A few minutes later someone came in. I got my water and I asked them to wrap the phone cord so it could not fall down off the bed. Remember now, for me I am in a new world of no bending, twist or lifting for the next three months. Twisting is hardest for me. I am very tempted while sitting to try and lean forward and twist to get something off a table. So tempting when it's only an inch or two out of my reach!
I woke up feeling GREAT! And, I'm not kidding. I felt strong and was not in any real discomfort when on the pain meds! The Physical therapist came to work with me and cleared me right away. I could do steps, practiced getting in the passenger seat of a car and took long laps with my walker down the hallways. I am supposed to take a lot of little short walks every day but no other physical therapy at this time. That will come in about 2 months I'm told.
I had read everything I could get my hands on before surgery, and having just had my hip done, I had been familiarized with hospital routines. The hip surgery was done at Boca Community Hospital, a very pleasant experience from a patient point of view. Dr. Cantor does surgery out of Holy Cross Hospital. Holy Cross has a great reputation and a very good health grades report. However, I have a slightly different point of view as a patient. I spent a little longer then most of their patients because my poor bladder was in shock and not cooperating. They had to recath me. (Ugh.) So on day 4 after surgery I was allowed to go home with the catheter in. During my four days, the nursing staff was SO nice but so overworked. The nurses only came in to take vitals and to dispense meds. Only 3 times did anyone listen to my chest with a stethoscope. The breathing exercise tube they give you I used every hour. At Boca Community last year a nurse would pop in to be sure I'd done the exercises and watch me do the ten puffs. This time not a single person asked if I was using the breathing exerciser. It just sat on my table. On day three I asked someone to come change my sheets. They did come a couple of hours later. They never swept the floor on my side of the room. What ever fell on the floor stayed there. Only one night aide made you feel "guilty" when you called her at 3 am. I'd apologize and she would tell me it was perfectly fine, but you knew it wasn't.... Three people fell while I was there...My nurse had one of the people that fell. They had someone watching her, but she tried to get out of bed on her own and fell. My nurse was talking about the amount of paperwork she was going to have to do...I was cleared on Tuesday by the physical therapist who saw me, but subsequent PT's came every day and wanted to do all the same things I had already been cleared for...Seemed a bit of a waste...Food was not good. But most people are there for such a short time it probably doesn't matter. It is nice that you can order from a menu at at any time between 6:30 am - 6:30 pm. You call and they deliver when you tell them when you want it.
I am home now on day 9 after surgery and I'm doing great. I got the catheter taken out yesterday along with 14 staples. I am up and walking great. Spend a fair amount of time in my lift chair watching the Australian Open. Leaving the walker behind more and more. The brace now fits over a tank top and then I can wear a tunic over that so you don't see the brace. Everyone is quite amazed at how well I'm doing. I can't stress enough how much better I felt coming out of this surgery then I did my hip surgery. I'm told this should have been quite a bit more painful, but not for me. I swear the diet Dr. Cantor put me on and the Gatorade thing made a HUGE difference. Dr. Cantor has only been doing the Gatorade for a couple of months. Mass General did a study on surgical patients and those that drank Gatorade the night before and morning of came out of anesthesia quicker and feeling stronger and more "with it"! I definitely fit in that category. I went out to dinner last night up at the club. For those not squeamish, I'm posting the before and after of staple removal. Feel free not to look! I'll post again in about a month...Who knows what I'll be doing by then? LOL
In December I turned to put a dish in the dishwasher -- and WHAM--- I couldn't stand up for a few seconds. I knew it must be bad becuse there was a lot of pain. When I finally stood up I kept thinking, "Maybe I can stretch it out..." Alas, that did not work. We had a trip planned to Nashville the next day. Tried not to do a lot of walking, but I was in a lot of discomfort. I remembered I had a Prednizone 7 day pack for emergencies and I started the prednizone. That got me through the trip in Nashville! I scheduled a coritzone shot in the back for when I rerturned. I had the shot and it did not help. We are now well into the holidays with all that entails (and at my house that's a LOT!) My back Dr. in Fort Lauderdale was away on vacation. I scheduled an appointment for Jan. 4, the first available date. And now the journey really begins.
I was sent that night at 7:15pm to get a new MRI on my back. Mind you, by now, for whatever unknown reason, the pain has GREATLY diminished. So, I'm thinking maybe the vertebrae just shifted a little and pinched a nerve. I had to wait until Friday, Jan. 8 to get in to see Dr. Cantor. I had already decided that he was going to be my guy. The first time I saw him in August, he said I wasn't ready for surgery and if I were his mom he'd still be saying no for the time being. He told me to return if something changed. This was his first week back after vacation. The front desk had told me to be prepared to wait but I didn't think it would be 6:10pm before he got to me! BUT, when he did get to me he spent over and hour with me -- the last patient of the day. Somehow you don't mind waiting as much when you know you are going to get his full attention when it's your turn. At any rate, after looking at the MRI, he said I had a "significant blowout" of the disc. There were bone fragments everywhere and he was concerned about scar tissue forming. I asked if surgery could wait until after a planned family trip in March and it was clear he didn't want to wait that long. I could travel on a plane at 6 weeks so he checked the surgical schedule (one spot left) and put me in for Jan. 16. It helped that I had a lot of recent medical tests done because of my right hip replacement last March. My amazing Dr.'s pulled it all together and I was given clearance. The original plan was to fuse L4&5 and put a spring on the left side of L3.. Should take about 2 1/2 hours in surgery.
Next (and I think this is VERY important) he put me on a high protein diet. There was no red meat, no carbs and no sugar. I had to drink 80 oz of water a day! (that was tough for me but I did it every day!) I also had to drink what I've lovingly nicknamed "The Green Dragon". This consisted of 6 oz of Almond Milk, followed by a cup of frozen berries, one scoop of Egg White Protein powder -- and then comes the killer (yuck) 1 scoop of Green Vibrance. That scoop turns the whole shake into something that looks like green pond scum! To get the first one down, I would take a slug of the shake and then a sip of coffee. It wasn't "gaggingly bad" but I certainly didn't love it. However, after 10 days of them, I have come to actually think they're pretty ok and now I don't mind them at all! The diet continues for three weeks after surgery so it's a good thing my taste buds came around! He also wanted two hard boiled free range organic eggs a day (they don't have estrogen in them). The rest was chicken or fish and veggies. I'm pretty sure most of his patients don't go all in on the diet and the water, but I did. No cheating at all. Normally I would have done it for 2 weeks prior to surgery but I didn't have that much time. I found at my preop meeting with Dr.Cantor's very nice PA., that I have to wear the back brace for 3 months (I can take it off to sleep) and I can't drive for 3 months! Wow! That was a shock. And to reinforce it, she told me if I were driving with the brace on and was hit by another car and it was totally their fault, I would still be fully liable and they could sue and take everything. I'm not going to be cheating on the driving part! Uber and I will be best friends and there are enough friends and family around to help out too! Still, it was a bit of a shock and a taste about older folks must feel when family tells them they can no longer drive! Losing that independence is kind of a big deal until you adjust to it...
The night of the 15th, I ate a light meal, had completed my 80 oz of water and then they want you to drink 800 ml of gatorade. The morning of surgery, 2 hours before I arrive at the hospital, I must drink another 400 ml of gatorade. The gatorade component comes from a recent study at Mass General that showed people who drank the gatorade as prescribed came out of anesthesia much more quickly and felt stronger.
The day of the surgery Bill spent a LONG time(almost 4 hours) in the preop room. They finally came to wheel me off and Bill went to the waiting room. I remember nothing more until I came to in intensive care. When I came too, the PA, John, from Dr. Cantor's office, explained what happend. When they cut through the muscle in my back they came upon a "spaghetti mess" of my nerves! It seems that the derma (sheath through which all the nerves go through) had a 3/4" hole worn in it. So the first few hours of surgery was untangling all the the nerves, replacing them in the derma and repairing the derma. He then fused L4&5 as planned and cleaned up a lot of bone fragments. He could not put the spring between L3&4 so he did bone grafts. This will give me great mobility when it's healed. It turns out my spine was not connected. The bone was sitting on top of another bone but it was cracked all the way through. I was one bend away from blowing out more discs! My 2 1/2 hour surgery turned in to 6 hours! I still can't get over that the spine was not connected! I amaze myself when I think of the miracle that occurred when I had the cortizone shot in December. That Dr. had no idea the disc had ruptured and that there were nerves that had escaped and yet he didn't hit any....My pain level improved dramatically during the month of Dec. I was taking Lyrica at night and that seems to have totally numbed those nerves. I should have been a raving, screaming mess, and yet, I was certainly willing before surgery to wait until March for this surgery. If my granddaughter, Gaby, had a winter recess in Feb like many of the private schools, I think Dr. Cantor would have let me wait a few weeks since no one had any idea of how bad it really was.
I woke up in Intensive care and wanted to get the nurse. I was SO thirsty. The beds at this hospital do not have that handy control on a cord that allows you to raise and lower the bed. That feature is on the rails and since I couldn't twist, that was a small problem. But, to get in touch with the nurses there's a phone on a cord that was supposed to be next to me. It had fallen on the floor. I yelled, but the nurses were busy (I could see them) and they didn't hear me. I had a small moment of panic but then I thought if I raise my arm in the air with all the iv's in it, some kind of alarm is going to go off. So that's what I did. A few minutes later someone came in. I got my water and I asked them to wrap the phone cord so it could not fall down off the bed. Remember now, for me I am in a new world of no bending, twist or lifting for the next three months. Twisting is hardest for me. I am very tempted while sitting to try and lean forward and twist to get something off a table. So tempting when it's only an inch or two out of my reach!
I woke up feeling GREAT! And, I'm not kidding. I felt strong and was not in any real discomfort when on the pain meds! The Physical therapist came to work with me and cleared me right away. I could do steps, practiced getting in the passenger seat of a car and took long laps with my walker down the hallways. I am supposed to take a lot of little short walks every day but no other physical therapy at this time. That will come in about 2 months I'm told.
I had read everything I could get my hands on before surgery, and having just had my hip done, I had been familiarized with hospital routines. The hip surgery was done at Boca Community Hospital, a very pleasant experience from a patient point of view. Dr. Cantor does surgery out of Holy Cross Hospital. Holy Cross has a great reputation and a very good health grades report. However, I have a slightly different point of view as a patient. I spent a little longer then most of their patients because my poor bladder was in shock and not cooperating. They had to recath me. (Ugh.) So on day 4 after surgery I was allowed to go home with the catheter in. During my four days, the nursing staff was SO nice but so overworked. The nurses only came in to take vitals and to dispense meds. Only 3 times did anyone listen to my chest with a stethoscope. The breathing exercise tube they give you I used every hour. At Boca Community last year a nurse would pop in to be sure I'd done the exercises and watch me do the ten puffs. This time not a single person asked if I was using the breathing exerciser. It just sat on my table. On day three I asked someone to come change my sheets. They did come a couple of hours later. They never swept the floor on my side of the room. What ever fell on the floor stayed there. Only one night aide made you feel "guilty" when you called her at 3 am. I'd apologize and she would tell me it was perfectly fine, but you knew it wasn't.... Three people fell while I was there...My nurse had one of the people that fell. They had someone watching her, but she tried to get out of bed on her own and fell. My nurse was talking about the amount of paperwork she was going to have to do...I was cleared on Tuesday by the physical therapist who saw me, but subsequent PT's came every day and wanted to do all the same things I had already been cleared for...Seemed a bit of a waste...Food was not good. But most people are there for such a short time it probably doesn't matter. It is nice that you can order from a menu at at any time between 6:30 am - 6:30 pm. You call and they deliver when you tell them when you want it.
I am home now on day 9 after surgery and I'm doing great. I got the catheter taken out yesterday along with 14 staples. I am up and walking great. Spend a fair amount of time in my lift chair watching the Australian Open. Leaving the walker behind more and more. The brace now fits over a tank top and then I can wear a tunic over that so you don't see the brace. Everyone is quite amazed at how well I'm doing. I can't stress enough how much better I felt coming out of this surgery then I did my hip surgery. I'm told this should have been quite a bit more painful, but not for me. I swear the diet Dr. Cantor put me on and the Gatorade thing made a HUGE difference. Dr. Cantor has only been doing the Gatorade for a couple of months. Mass General did a study on surgical patients and those that drank Gatorade the night before and morning of came out of anesthesia quicker and feeling stronger and more "with it"! I definitely fit in that category. I went out to dinner last night up at the club. For those not squeamish, I'm posting the before and after of staple removal. Feel free not to look! I'll post again in about a month...Who knows what I'll be doing by then? LOL
After removing staples,
The brace I have to wear every day except when in bed!
