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in reply to: POSTERIOR HARDWARE PAIN #26589
Thanks for the reply Dr!
Yeah, Dr R said he always does 2 rods on one side. 1000 times so far. AND he’s removed the extra rod a few times due to patients like me complaining. The removal has yielded roughly a 50% success rate. Seems like he’s the ONLY surgeon using two rods on one side. All top surgeons like yourself are baffled by this technique. He also told me, prior to surgery, NONE of his patients have pain from his posterior approach. Oh well, I guess he lied, because he just told me I’m #4 now.No one can seem to understand why the tissue popping causes C7 and C6 arm pain. Perhaps all the swelling from the loose tissue is affecting the nerve roots as they exit the spine? I cannot live with the pain of the tissue popping off and on the hardware then causing local pain and arm pain. So something is going on outside of the spine to the nerve roots that is causing arm pain when the tissue pops off and on the offending hardware. Perhaps an MRN would show what the nerve roots look like after they exit the spine. Have you had any luck with MRN’s?
Dr P C said there’s no reason from my MRI or CT scan that I’m not eligible for an ADR. Have you heard anything about the M6? It’s widely used every else but here. I heard it did well in clinical trials here and should be available in the US in a few years. Wonder why it’s so late to the game?
I’m just hopelessly confused and in brutal pain. Thanks for your opinions!
Have a great weekend
Tomin reply to: Post ACDF issues #22415Ok, thank you Dr!
I’ll wait a while and see how long I can take this pain then pull the trigger on a SNRB if it won’t calm down.I appreciate your opinion and your time!
Cheers!
Tomin reply to: Post ACDF issues #22413He said there was a very small herniation on the right side that was removed. They left side had a big herniation that was removed and that arm is fine.
I was in so much pain post op in the hospital that they did a CT scan and an MRI the day after my surgery. The CT scan showed all the hardware was ok. Then two days later is when the right arm went into serious pain.
Wed – Surgery
Thursday – uncontrollable pain/MRI and CT scan
Friday – went home
Saturday – Right arm pain starts.So I asked if something may have happened between the MRI and getting home. This was his response.
Tom,
You had bruising on your forearm but that should all be gone by now. I do
think that your pain is due to the irritation and trauma of surgery and
that we put your neck in an extended position to make the alignment as
good as possible. That should all settle down as the bone heals. The MRI
will not show anything abnormal with this. If you want an MRI, I have no
objection to it but I would suspect that there is <1% chance that it will
show anything abnormal. You have post-op pain that will subside in time. I
know it it difficult but short of doing the anterior operation that I told
you about, there is nothing that can be done. The more you worry about it
and think about it, the worse you will feel about it. The more you ignore
it and try not to think about it, the less it will bother you. The mind is
very powerful. When it is distracted, it feels less pain. The more you
concentrate on the pain, the more it will hurt. So at this point, your
choice is to wait for the 3 months for the bone to heal or choose the
anterior surgery – with all the risks that it entails. But given your poor
response to the 2 operations you have had in your neck, I would be VERY
wary about ever doing another operation on your spine ever again.dan
Dr Corenman…
My finger pain is so intense I just don’t know what to do. His point about focusing on the pain is 100% valid but it’s hard when it’s excruciating and neurotin isn’t helping. I can handle pain. I had my hip reconstructed and took zero narcotics after the surgery. It’s so frustrating when you’re not being taken seriously.Thanks!
in reply to: Post ACDF issues #22408Hello Dr Corenman,
Well, I rolled the dice and went with a posterior fusion for my failed C6/7 union and for the herniation at C7/T1 on the left side. I did a two level posterior fusion 6/7 and 7/1 since I had swallowing issues from my ACDF in November, but now that I had my posterior fusion, my swallowing issues are gone! I guess the inflammation at the C6/7 area had something to do with my swallowing.
It was a VERY painful recovery which I’m still dealing with. Dr R told me, because I was on narcotics prior to surgery, I will have great pain with this posterior procedure, and he was right. It’s been brutal!
My question for you…
Pre surgery I had very little arm pain on the right, while I had tremendous pain on the left arm down into my pinky.
Post surgery, I have very high pain in the right pinky/ring finger and no pain in the left arm.
It’s like the symptoms simply switched arms/hands!!
I rushed back to NY for an EMG which was normal for the C8 nerve in my right arm. The post op MRI shows what may be a tiny blood clot on the C8 nerve which the body will absorb if this is the case.
I’m 4 weeks post op and still have tremendous pain and numbness in my right pinky and ring finger. It has not improved at all since it started two days after surgery. Dr R says it could be from positioning my neck from surgery, and/or the blood clot on the nerve.
Have you seen this before with your posterior fusions where this level of radiculopathy is created from a blood clot or positioning from surgery? I have a horrible feeling he doesn’t know what’s wrong and that I’m going to be stuck with this issue forever. How could neck positioning cause this level of radiculopathy?
When I press the Dr for help, he dismissed me as someone who can’t handle pain, calling me a poor candidate for any future spine surgeries and to focus on something else. It literally feels like my fingers are being crushed by a boulder 24 hours a day and that’s the response I now get from the world renowned surgeon.
Thanks for your time Dr!
in reply to: Post ACDF issues #22183Thanks for the well wishes Dr.
My final question has been born out of fear and confusion quite honestly.
There are a lot of people that swear the posterior approach will leave me with permanent issues due to the fact a lot of tissue will be damaged.
I know the posterior recovery is excruciating compared to the anterior approach, but I’m more concerned with the permanent damage, bio mechanical changes, pain, etc involved in this posterior approach. My Dr says none of his patients have pain once healed, but when you read the forums, you see a lot of people have not benefitted from this procedure.
What is the bottom line in your opinion as to the real outcomes of a posterior approach; ie, is there a significant group of people that are left in pain due to this approach?
I’m trying to get the real story on this approach. The real outcomes.
Thanks Dr!
in reply to: Post ACDF issues #22165Thank you for the information Dr Corenman. I took that suggestion to Dr R and before I could tell him about an anterior approach, he said that’s what he would do as well.
What complicates matters now is that I am having some difficulty swallowing since my ACDF 6 months ago. He said we will have to avoid that approach and do a two level foraminotomy and fusion at 6/7 and 7/1. He recommends fusing 7/1 since a foraminotomy alone won’t guarantee resolving the pain. He said the level is already bad and he would be worried if we didn’t fuse it.
So I’m looking at a posterior surgery June 1 with Dr R. I hope he’s better that my last surgeon and can fix this once and for all. I can’t wait to get this behind me and heal up. I hear it’s a brutal recovery :(
Thanks for your support Dr! I really appreciate!!! This spine surgery world is scary, confusing, and full of bad surgeons. It’s good to know there’s a bunch of good Dr’s out there like you and R!
Regards,
Tom -
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