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Yup..... it is finally happening.
Back ground - jack@ss careless driver in SUV hit me and caused 3 herniated/ torn disc's.
So, I go in monday morning at 6 AM to saint joe's in paterson.... surgery is scheduled for 7:30. I'm the first patient of the day. I will probably stay at least 1 night.... hopefully not more than that.
They plan on going through the front of my neck. They will remove the old metal plate n 4 screws (from a previous careless driver). Then they will remove all the damaged disc's. They replace the damaged disc's with cedaver bones. Then they install a much larger metal plate to stretch from my C4 to C7 vertabrea. I'll have a total of 8 screws put in. They will also investigate the possibility of doing the C3 to C4 vertabrae but that depends on what they find/ can do when they are in there...... so the metal plate could be even longer like C3 to C7....and maybe a couple more screws.
Surgery is 2-2.5 hours
I should wake up in a hard neck immobilizer/ cast. I'll wear that for a couple weeks. Then I progress to a soft collar for a couple weeks.
Recovery time for me to just get back to "normal" life (get back to my job) is 3-4 months. It takes up to 1 year for the spinal fusion to fuse completely.... so I got a long road ahead of me.
I will loose between 40 and 50% of my ability to look left, right, up down etc.
I have explored countless other options and had several second opinions. All previous treatments were unsuccessful so that is why we are at where we are. Trust me.... this is not what I want...... but it is what I need to regain my life back. I am in pain every single minute of the day.... even with being on oxycodone, vicoden, muscle relaxers, nerve inhibitors etc.
So....... yay?
Back ground - jack@ss careless driver in SUV hit me and caused 3 herniated/ torn disc's.
So, I go in monday morning at 6 AM to saint joe's in paterson.... surgery is scheduled for 7:30. I'm the first patient of the day. I will probably stay at least 1 night.... hopefully not more than that.
They plan on going through the front of my neck. They will remove the old metal plate n 4 screws (from a previous careless driver). Then they will remove all the damaged disc's. They replace the damaged disc's with cedaver bones. Then they install a much larger metal plate to stretch from my C4 to C7 vertabrea. I'll have a total of 8 screws put in. They will also investigate the possibility of doing the C3 to C4 vertabrae but that depends on what they find/ can do when they are in there...... so the metal plate could be even longer like C3 to C7....and maybe a couple more screws.
Surgery is 2-2.5 hours
I should wake up in a hard neck immobilizer/ cast. I'll wear that for a couple weeks. Then I progress to a soft collar for a couple weeks.
Recovery time for me to just get back to "normal" life (get back to my job) is 3-4 months. It takes up to 1 year for the spinal fusion to fuse completely.... so I got a long road ahead of me.
I will loose between 40 and 50% of my ability to look left, right, up down etc.
I have explored countless other options and had several second opinions. All previous treatments were unsuccessful so that is why we are at where we are. Trust me.... this is not what I want...... but it is what I need to regain my life back. I am in pain every single minute of the day.... even with being on oxycodone, vicoden, muscle relaxers, nerve inhibitors etc.
So....... yay?
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