Ugly trip to the orthopedic surgeon today - going under the knife again

[Steve St.Laurent]

For the 3rd time in 14 months it looks like I'm going under the knife and this is the worst of em. Kinda down and scared right now. Last two surgeries have been on my shoulder and the 2nd one was very successful. For the past 3 months I've been dealing with pain in my upper left back and left arm. My personal physician thought it was muscle weakness in my shoulder due to my shoulder surgeries and sent me to physical therapy. After going to therapy for about 6 weeks I noticed that the pain was most affected by how I held my neck. Mentioned that to the physical therapist and they started stretching my neck muscles - which made things worse. So I then decided to see the shoulder surgeon and he said my shoulder was fine but he saw something in my back that he wanted me to see a back surgeon about.



Back surgeon looked at the x-rays and said he saw some severe arthritis in my back and wanted me to get an MRI to see where to go from there (that was a few weeks ago). Got the results today and saw the surgeon. He was shocked by the results of the MRI. I have a herniated disc in my neck (c6-c7) that is penetrating into the spinal column approx 1cm x 1cm and putting pressure on the spinal column. He said he has never seen one as bad as mine without the person having difficulty walking.



He's concerned that I could have a minor fender bender and sever my spinal cord leaving me a quadraplegic with limited use of my arms . Looks like my only option is to have surgery to remove the disc and fuse the vertabrae with him going in through the front of my neck. I'm trying to get a 2nd opinion but am having difficulty getting it scheduled in the near future (1 month away is the best I can get so far). I feel like I have a ticking time bomb in my neck and really don't want to wait any longer than absolutely necessary.



Talked with my wife tonight and if I can't get a 2nd opinion by the end of this week we're going to schedule the surgery and go on his opinion. Will be getting it done as soon after thanksgiving as possible. I'll be in a neck collar for 4 weeks after the surgery and will be limited in what I can do for at least 6 weeks.



Another thing that really sucks is that my truck is down right now with no transmission in it (transmission is on it's way to Oklahoma for a rebuild) and I won't be able to reinstall it for a loong time. I'm trying to get friends to help me out getting it back in so I'll at least have my truck to drive - and I'm sure they'll come through and help. I'm just feeling really down and scared right now. Sorry to dump on you guys.

 

[GIT-R-DONE]

Mr. St. Laurent, Sorry to hear about your troubles. A few comments on this subject of the back/neck surgery. We have a man at our work place that went through something similar and he was given a choice of going through the surgery or dealing with the intense pain for the rest of his life. He chose the surgery and had a complete recovery after 3-4 months including Physical therapy. Keep your chin up.



The deal with your transmission, if its ready to be reinstalled over Thanksgiving week, shoot me a PM as I may be able to come out and help get your truck going again. I may have limited mechanical experience, but would be able to help you out in some way.



Don't WORRY..... BE





Don

 

[Truckie]

Sorry to here about the bad back Steve, I know how it feels, I had a bad back a few years back and had to got to the back doctor for like 3 month 3 days a week. Hey don't feel bad about dumping on us here thats what were here for. Well I hope a pray that everything goes well for you. If I were in you shoes and I could not get another opinion in a timely fashion I would just go and do it. Take care Steve.

MIKE

 

[FourBarR]

hang in there steve

afterall you have done for us tdr members we owe you one. if i lived closer i would be there in a in aflash to help with your truck. you will be in our prayers until we hear all is well. tdr join us to pray for steve during this time of trouble.

 

[klenger]

Steve:



Been there, done that, got the scars . Mine was from a Mtn bike crash. Happened just over a year ago. Doing pretty well now. It does take time and, sorry to say, the pain will be a pain for a while. I had about 80-90% use of my arm at about 5 months post-op. At least it's not your shifting arm. That should help.



GLTDR guys: Help Steve out with the transmission.

 

[illflem]

How about an artificial disc implant instead of fusion? Up and coming thing.

Best of luck with whatever you do.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Here's a pic of one slice of the MRI:



#ad




Can you say ouch? For perspective the piece of the scale on the right in red is 1 cm. The semi vertical black line that it's pushing into is the spinal cord itself.

 

[Rob Thomas]

Dang Steve, surgerys or transmissions, it seems it's always one or the other with you. I'm truly sorry to hear about yet another surgery and lengthy recovery, hope all goes well.



Give me a call when your trans shows up, I'll getcha rollin' again, just leave the chat alone. JK









Rob

 

[Briar Hopper]

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. Bummer about the truck too. I'll drive up, and if you're indisposed, I can stay at Greg's, and get your truck back together for you. Never mind the truck anyway, I'm more concerned for your sake !!!!!

Let me know, I'll drive on up. Hang tough, good buddy.

 

[Briar Hopper]

Don't be down and scared, okay, you'll come through it just fine, I know. All these years I've benefitted from your friendship, it's always been quite evident to me how tough you really are, even if you don't know it yourself. Whatever you need, I'm just a phone call away, make sure Wendy knows to call me, okay?

 

[Bill Lins]

Good luck, Steve- you'll be in our prayers.

 

[tntway]

a few thoughts Steve....

i am an OR nurse. ACDF's (anterior cervical disc and fusions) are routine surgeries. several co-workers AND two docs have had them over the last 3-4 years. overwhelming consensus was," why did i wait so long?". nonetheless steve, you ARE a great friend to the TDR and my family will be keeping you inlur prayers.

chin up buddy (as best you can) all will be fine. Tim

 

[TPCDrafting]

Just make sure we get pics of you toolin' around in the minivan this time.

Just kiddin', keep your chin wherever it's most comfortable. We're all pullin for ya, get well soon.

Tim

 

[Mike Ellis]

I feel for ya Steve, at this very moment I am sitting gingerly at the keyboard because of back pain. Last week I was in LAX on a miserable business trip, was carrying my laptop in one hand and towing suitcase behind with the other. Went to make a turn and ZZZZAPPP - felt like somebody stabbed me right between the shoulders. By the next day I was like a department store dummy, only arms and legs movable. Toughed it out for 3 days but gave up and came back, flight home was



If the docs can fix ya, dive in and get it behind you. The surgery will not be fun, but the downside if you DON'T get it done is far worse.



I am too far away to help with the transmission, but if there is anything a broken-down old Texan can do to help let me know. Maybe a jar of hot sauce, or a couple of horrible e-mail jokes???

 

[lizzyhermit]

steve, really sorry to hear about the pain and worry. you might ask a quack (doc) about vetebroplasty (sp?) were glue is injected into the disk to solidify it so as to stop furhter movment. my mother had two discs fracture (burst) and about 6 months after the glue injection her body adapted to the "change" in her spine and she is almost pain free. her discs were t11/12 as I recall.

also, you might ask about a neck collar NOW so as to protect your neck giving you some extra time for investigation. I wore a collar for almost 4 months, it's not fun, but it helped me mentally and physically before therapy relieved my own problems.

 

[krs]

Steve,

I've had the same lumbar fusion twice because I didn't stick to bed for all the time they wanted me to so I can tell you this: the surgery is nothing because you won't feel a thing but the healing is a pain in the a__. Do what they say and keep the brace or whatever they do on past until they tell you that there's little chance of recracking it. It ain't great once but it stone sucks twice.



Here's hoping that the docs don't find a need to drill holes in your head so the can screw in weird immobilizing contraptions!

 

[lschultz]

You gonna have a few scars on your body

I know how you feel Steve. Several months ago I thought I was gonna have to have surgery on my neck C7 I think it was. But after all these test he thinks most of it now is related to the brain injury I had back on 3-15-98 when I hit a tree and totaled out my 95 and come close to taking myself out I already had one major surgery cause of that wreck and I was not looking forward to surgery on my neck. But from what I have read about it and been told its not that bad. Easy for me to say that now. They told me after my wreck and I was healing that if I was ever in a wreck again,especially if I got hit from behind that would do it so I try to be careful. I just got to learn to control my mouth that it don't get me into something I will regret. About a year ago I lifted something I shouldn't of done at work and it got my back hurting,leg pain. I hobbled around about 2 weeks and then got the bright idea to go see a chiropractor. He did help some but he was always poping my neck. I told him I don't think he should be doing that but he did it so fast it was to late. He kept telling me how tight the muscles in my neck were. Anway that got my necking to hurting and stiffer. Back to this doctor and he sent me to this doctor for more tests then a neurosurgeon for more tests and here I am. Did not have to have surgery. I just hope as I get older it don't cause problems. You just got another setback for now but you will come out of it on top. Like that ole Cummins it just keeps going and going.

 

[willyslover]

Steve. . my close and oldest friend [40+years] was ridding on my 1100 Wave Runner a couple years ago and got pitched off at about 73 MPH. . he had a spinal shock and was totally paralyzed for several hrs. . come to find out he had a defect since birth that his spine was constricted with 4 vertebrae in the same area as your injury . . they went in the front and cut through 4 vertebrae and made a U shape on them, then pulled a section of bone from his hip and capped the U on the front so he got clearance on the cord. . they then fused all 4 vertebrae together. . here we are several years later and all is well, just a little loss of head turn degree by about 5 / 10 degrees each way.

now that was a great scare but he also might have been total quadriplegic if he had a wreck or Chiropractic adjustment or helll just twisting his head wrong for all the years he lived. . just lucky I guess.

anyway all this is to say your injury can be successfully repaired and to trust them.



IF THERE IS ANYTHING I CAN DO just let me know [I know I'm a million miles away] however point being your friends are there for ya.

Gary

 

[Bob Wagner]

we are all pulling for ya Steve

 

[johnrv4]

Same surgery my sister had.

My sister was involved in a car accident about 10yrs. ago and had problems with the same disc. I guess the disc was herniated, and there were bone fragments there also. She had the surgery done, and recovered fully with no pain or problems. Keep us updated.