MY BACK OPERATION: WEEK ONE

So, I’ve had to have recent spinal surgery – much to my horror.  I was mightily put off ever having surgery on my back owing to the experiences my mother had – she probably had three different spinal surgeries – all were initially successful, but over time, they left her in pain and I’m not sure they ever helped her.  She had 17 two inch titanium screws in her back whereby her spine was fused up the middle – which always leaves the top and bottom vertebrae open to greater instability over time.

ANYWAY, over 10 years ago I was diagnosed with a spondylolisthesis and surgery was recommended.  Essentially that description is the same as a slipped disc or a herniated or prolapsed disc which means part of the disc bulges out and presses on a nerve root.  Often the symptoms can ease of gradually over several weeks or months.  Sadly mine didn’t.  I carried on as best I could and managed it for all that time by keeping moving and doing my Pilates, but increasingly I was aware of leg and foot symptoms – pins and needles, numbness, heaviness and also I had quite a lot of back pain.  I went back for another MRI a month or so ago because I was getting quite worried and sure enough it had got much worse.  Had gone from a Grade 1 to a Grade 2 and was clearly pressing on nerves.  An urgent operation was recommended because they always worry about Cauda Equina Syndrome – a very serious but thankfully rare problem that requires emergency treatment to stop permanent nerve damage around your bladder and bowel.

They weren’t too worried that was what I would eventually get, but there was severe nerve compression and canal stenosis – as you can clearly see her in my MRI.  In the bit that I’ve circled you can see that the spinal cord gets massively compressed by the protruding vertebrae:-

So basically I had no choice.  Decompression was essential and the surgeon initially wanted to do a fusion of two vertebrae as well to help manage the back pain and avoid further instability.

So I got booked in for an urgent operation immediately after I came back from holiday.  I was extremely worried about the operation – there are always risks to consider – drop foot or paralysis or not waking up from the anaesthetic, but of course those scenarios are so so rare and my back wasn’t going to get better on it’s own.  The videos the hospital sent me to watch freaked me out totally as well – despite knowing they have to cover themselves for every eventuality.  I had to keep reminding myself that my next career move was to become a Reformer Pilates teacher and I certainly wasn’t going to be able to do that without the op.  I have to say that the bravery of my mother before each operation helped me in the end.  She was always so positive that they were going to work, so I embraced her mentality and just placed my trust into the hands of the surgeon with a drill.

I went in for the operation last week and met with the anaesthetist and surgeon just 20 minutes before I was wheeled down to theatre and it was there that my surgeon said he’d decided not to do the fusion as well; “in all honesty I had no idea how old you were and in our MDT meeting several of them questioned whether we should do the fusion immediately or wait to see if you need it down the line or not and I’d prefer a more conservative approach ” …. so of course I was delighted not to have such invasive surgery and opted for just the “Laminectomy” which is essentially a decompression operation whereby bone is cut away to release pressure on the nerves.

I was back in my room a few hours later (throwing up after the anaesthetic – but not for long once they’d given me anti-sickness medicine) having been told in the recovery room that the surgery had gone well.  I was able to get up with assistance to go to the loo and didn’t need to have a catheter thankfully.  It was of course painful – but the strong oxicontin and co-codamol opiates certainly helped relieve the pain.

Had lots of lovely visitors and of course my children who all brought me a delicious stash of treats – banana bread baked by my son was in the tin foil!:-

My brothers came to visit with even better contraband!:-

My lovely cheerful surgeon who came in the next morning at 6am to tell me it had all gone well:-

Why is there always one mean nurse?  They were all lovely except for one low level passive/aggressive night nurse who tutted under her breath and rolled her eyes and talked at you like you were a four year old and when you’re feeling vulnerable it can leave you feeling tearful.  Just so unnecessary.

I saw the in-house physio the day after my op and she helped me get up and walk down the corridor and up the stairs.  They don’t really want to give you exercises to do – just leg slides and pelvic tilts and the rest is just about doing what your body feels comfortable doing – starting to walk and climb stairs, but don’t over do anything.  I’ll get on to more exercises when I feel a bit stronger and I’ve spoken to my physio friend as I’m sure there are lots of things that can help with the healing.

Trying to move around a little whilst rocking my hospital chic look with the compression tights you have to wear until you’re fully mobile again:-

Got home after 3 nights in hospital – my daughter moved back in to help me – this was them during the times they weren’t needed:-

Currently, the pain is manageable with the drugs.  It’s all quite painful still and I defo need to keep changing position though and lying down too.  Gets very achey.  It’s still all quite swollen too.  So far there are no improvements with my leg symptoms yet either because I gather that owing to the swelling and the bleeding the nerves are still be under severe pressure until everything settles down.  I may show you picture of the wound at some point – but might be too much!

Friends brought me lovely other things to eat and drink and read on my return home…lucky me!