Posted 1/30/2021 7:37 AM (GMT -7)
I want to thank everyone for all the tips prior to my surgery. A few have asked me to let them know how the surgery went. I’m going to share my surgery event but please keep in mind this is what my surgery included and I am in no means implying it is normal.
My surgery was on Tuesday, Jan 26th. I went back to the operating room about 8:30 am. My husband said a nurse called about 10 to say the operation had begun. I know it was going to take time to do the X-rays, incision, and move things aside to get to the discs. My husband received another call about 1:00 pm stating the surgery was complete.
As for the surgery my surgeon said it was much more complicated than they had expected. There were a lot more bone Spurs that the mri didn’t show in addition my discs were hard as bone and had basically naturally fused themselves together. My surgeon said the surgery got a lot more serious when one of my arteries decided to roll out and say hi. Surgeon said 1 mm further and I would not have made it through the surgery. Because the artery decided to move and not go back they were unable to get some of the bone Spurs at the lower level. The surgeon did put a spacer in to give the nerve more room and there is a possibility I may need to have the bone Spurs at the lower 6/7 level removed later but that will have to be from the back because of where my artery is located.
All in all they were able to do what was needed they just had some unexpected complications.
I have not experienced any hoarseness or loss of my voice. I had two liquid meals then I was moved up to a mechanical soft diet. My throat really hasn’t been sore it more feels like I have a lump in my throat. I’m finding bread is harder to swallow than rice. Although if I take lots of sips of water and eat the bread in very small bits it goes down pretty good. I found out I do like cream of wheat especially the apple cinnamon. I’ve never had cream of wheat before. I’m staying on top of the pain. I had one instance where my nurse had another patient they were taking care of and I was in quite a bit of pain by the time they were able to get my pain medication to me. I’ve been up moving on my own since Tuesday evening. I was going to be sent home Wednesday but my surgeon wanted a ct of the artery. The ct showed a very small clot so they kept me until Thursday afternoon to consult with the vascular Neuro surgeon, add some medication and monitor my blood pressure before I could be released.
Besides the pain & nerve medication, muscle relaxer, and stool softener they’ve also put me on aspirin, blood pressure medication, and cholesterol medication. The last three being for the small blood clot since my blood pressure is usually only high when I’m in pain they are wanting to alleviate as much pressure to that artery as possible. The upside is it’s not the dominant artery and the right artery is wide open and compensating for the left artery.
I have a follow up with my primary doctor on Thursday and with the Neuro surgeon the following Tuesday.
I had a lot of issues in my left hand prior to surgery (de Quervian’s, trigger thumb, trigger finger, mild Carpal tunnel syndrome, moderate to severe arthritis at the CMC joint). Since the surgery I don’t have constant pain in my thumb but most of my thumb is numb now. I still have some catching in one of the fingers I had trigger finger but it doesn’t seem as bad. It’s going to take a while to let my nerves settle down and figure out how much the pinched nerves were affecting the issues in my left hand.
Again please keep in mind my surgery didn’t exactly go textbook. I’m not trying to scare anyone out of surgery I’m simply providing the events that occurred with mine so others can use it to ask additional questions from their doctors. I am glad I had the surgery and because of what they found when they went in surgery was definitely inevitable for me.
The best advice I can give is start with conservative measures if they don’t work and surgery is inevitable talk with your doctor, ask questions, do research and ask more questions.