ADR patients - have question

[Vicki_in_Florida]

I am just curious...for those of you who actually had a disc replaced, how many days did you stay in the hospital?

[jss]

For both of my fusions (in Dallas) I was kept one night. For the double ADR (in Barcelona) I was kept two nights. One would have been enough.

[Cirobi]

I think I was in for 3 days, 2 nights.

I don't know how anyone gets released after only a day as I was in no shape to leave the day after my surgery. On day 2, I had a ton of visitors and walked for the first time post-op and boy was I wiped out. I slept so deeply, my roommate freaked out and called a nurse because she couldn't hear me breathing!

[herron65]

I was in for 4 nights because I had some kind of under skin infection they wanted to clear up but if I hadn't had that it would have been just 2 days

[Harrison]

A few observations through the years:

Procedures for lumbar ADR usually requires more hospital days than cervical;
More levels replaced, more trauma, more hospital days;
Complications also add days.

I was in for 1.5 days in 2004 for one level, a bit unusual. In my case, I believe my DDD was localized to just the disc, and they did a good job cleaning out the area. That led to a quicker, pain-free and long term recovery.

Hope this helps.

[Vicki_in_Florida]

This is such a big decision. The doctor's who perform this talk like it's not that big of a deal.
I was told the surgery should take 90 minutes. 24 hours later, you are released.
Wow, it just sounds all too simple. I know from reading on this forum that the surgery isn't like having a mole removed. This time frame just gives me the jitters!
The thought of them putting you in a wheelchair, rolling you to the front door and then you have to get into a car, drive to your hotel, walk to hallway or even elevator, etc...
just seems mind boggling to do this 24 hours later.

This is freaking me out more than the surgery part is!

[Jstuckey]

As you know, the health care system in the US is much different than many other countries. The US medical system and it's cost promotes discharges as fast as possible with all medical conditions. With socialized medicine, it isn't the same. I was told I could stay longer than 1 week, if needed, for no extra cost for my planned surgery in England. Not that I support socialized medicine, but it works to my advantage in this case!
Personally, it would frighten me to leave that quickly too, but a 1 level is likely manageable than what I'm having done and it isn't an apples to apples comparison.
I would discuss with them what happens if your pain is not under control or if you aren't mobile yet? Does your insurance cover a longer stay, if needed?

[sahuaro]

I was in the hospital overnight. My one-level cervical ADR took several hours I think because of also doing foraminotomies and difficulty with the size of the disk.

BTW, you can ask the hotel to meet you at the curb with a wheelchair.

[winecaptain]

One night for me, surgery at 10:30 am and in recovery room before noon. Out the following afternoon around 4:00 PM (wished I could have left sooner, as I really wanted to get home to my own bed and surroundings). When you are discharged, you are heavily medicated, so I would not be afraid of the walk or elevator though. Mine was done at a busy spine center/OR at a hospital about 40 minutes from my house. Your concerns were some of the key reasons why I chose not to travel for my surgery, besides wanting the ability to be able to be close to my Doctor, if I were to need post surgical follow up care (which I did see him about 1 week out with bad pain).

The idea of a hotel room (with a marginal or questionable mattress) as compared to my house with my Temperpedic, just didn't work for me. For the first week, I could not lay flat, so I was sleeping propped up, almost L shaped - sitting up in my bed, with 7 pillows. Over the next week or so, I was able to reduce the number of pillows and within 2 weeks was sleeping horizontally. Add to that, a flight or long drive, and my decision was even easier to have it done locally. I know that a lot of people travel for surgery, but I agree with your aprehesnion 100%! This is not as simple as it sounds. I am 7 weeks post sx today and still not back to 100%, but feeling better though. I am going to PT 3 x weekly and doing exercises at home along with electric stim and ice 3-4 x daily. I wish you the best!

As Jstukey points out, the hospital is incentivised to get you out as quicly as possible, as they are paid for the procedure, regardless of you length of stay (in most cases - standard fee structure based on the CPT Code and negotiated insurance rates). This is partly why they only will cover 1 disc (at a cost of $6K ish to them). My entire hospital bill was $62,000, but they accepted $12,200 from my insurance company (including my co-pay). At $12,200 in reimbursement and a device cost of $6K ish to Synthes, you can see that their margins are running very thin and turning over your room becomes critical. An extra night means that they have to feed you, provide you nursing and medical assistant care, etc, for another day. They have all ready used 90+ minutes of OR time (nurses, staff, etc), plus countless anesthesia $ and medicines, trays, etc. Way too costly on a procedure that they are squeezing a net $6,000 out of.

[mrunc136]

Be prepared it is a big deal! I had a 4-5 replaced with a freedom and stayed 3 days. No way I would have been ready to go home after one day, but I had a 2 hour drive. Be ready to walk around the house for the first couple of weeks. I am into the 12 week and I still have to do a little and then rest. It is major surgery and the rehab is SLOW!

Originally Posted by Vicki_in_Florida

This is such a big decision. The doctor's who perform this talk like it's not that big of a deal.
I was told the surgery should take 90 minutes. 24 hours later, you are released.
Wow, it just sounds all too simple. I know from reading on this forum that the surgery isn't like having a mole removed. This time frame just gives me the jitters!
The thought of them putting you in a wheelchair, rolling you to the front door and then you have to get into a car, drive to your hotel, walk to hallway or even elevator, etc...
just seems mind boggling to do this 24 hours later.

This is freaking me out more than the surgery part is!