When Life Throws A Curve

I have been doing fairly well, but I have been experiencing some minor pains here and there. I had not been checked in 8 years, so I made an appointment back in August to get a check up. I was expecting to hear that everything was ok and I'm just worrying for no reason, but instead I was told that I needed another surgery. I cried for two days after that appointment. My first surgery was so traumatic and the thought of going through that again was overwhelming. I pulled it together, stopped feeling sorry for myself, and finally just accepted it. There are so many people out there with health problems that are much worse. I am dealing with something that can be fixed.  

Reviewing my X-Rays with the doctor

The doctor said that this surgery should not be as bad as my first one. In my first surgery, most of my spine was fused. The bottom section was left alone because the curve wasn’t significant and they already had me under anesthesia for 13 hours. I do remember my first surgeon telling me I may have to be fused all the way down in the future, but the future seemed so far away. My recent X-Ray showed that the unfused portion of my spine has progressed 10 degrees in the last 8 years. So even though the top is fixed, the unfused portion is still progressing!

My choices now are either do nothing and let the curve continue to progress or go ahead and do the surgery before it gets worse and before I have children. The curve progression and shifting can eventually affect the part of my spine I already had fixed. My first fusion is basically sitting on an unstable foundation. 

I will have all of my hardware removed during my next surgery and I will have new rods and screws put in to fuse the rest of my spine. The screws that I have now are large for my bones and an MRI showed that they are sitting very close to nerves. Once the bone is fused, the hardware serves no purpose. They don't usually remove hardware unless you need additional surgery. My recent CT scans showed that my first fusion was successful, so it is safe to remove the hardware. 

So, here we go again! Surgery #2 is coming up quick! I go next week for my pre-op appointment. Instead of a 6 month recovery, I'm looking at a 6 week recovery. Thankfully, technology has advanced quite a bit in the last 8 years. My doctor will be using a robot to assist with my surgery. It actually seems pretty cool! Check out the video below.