ADR Surgery w/ Dr. Delamarter on 4/20 - here I go!
 

So I decided to go forward with the Axiomed clinical trial. Thanks to the members of this forum I went and had a second and third opinion as I was concerned about my facet joints. Both Delamarter and the other ortho that I saw that does ADR said that my facets are just fine for this.

The ortho who I went to for the 2nd opinion had nothing but amazing things to say about Delamarter. He went as far as to say that if he had to have an ADR that he would only go to Delamarter. He also said that if I were his patient, based on how I present he would definitely recommend ADR before fusion. He noted that if it doesn't work, that fusion isn't that difficult after ADR since they just leave the disc in and fuse around it.

So here I am in LA all the way from Seattle. Axiomed agreed to let me into the study even though I don't live close to any of their centers as long as I agreed to fly back here for all of my follow-ups. I travel here for business anyhow so that was easy. I head in at 5:30a PST on 4/21 for a 7:30a surgery. When I'm up and around I'll post my results.

Thanks again for everyone's input. It really helped me to ensure I did all of my due diligence and now I feel at least 95% confident in my decision. Not sure I would ever get to 100%. Thanks mainly to annapurna - your posts were very thoughtful and direct and really helped. Hooch, thank you for your concern over my facets.

Here we go!

Oops, title should read 4/21, not 4/20.

Jason,

Being 95% certain of your decision is probably about as certain as one can get before the fact. Good luck today!

Jeff

Best wishes. In my thoughts today. Had a dream about my own upcoming surgery last night, and all went well. Maybe a premonition for both of us!

Good luck!

Keeping you in my thoughts!

All the best
 

Now that you made your decision the hard part is over. I wish you great success with you surgery. The device looks like a good one. Keep us posted on how you are doing post-op.

JPJH

Hey everyone. Well, it's done and I'm out of the hospital. I got the new Freedom disc - it is the one I wanted so that's good.

Everything went as expected. Delamarter did tell me that there was more degeneration in my vertebrae than they could see in the pre-op images, but he mentioned that he cleaned it up (this is what he told my mom so I'll need to reconfirm at my post-op appt). My guess is he was talking about some arthritic bony formations that he probably chipped away?

Recovery so far has been pretty much as I expected based on everything I've read. My back pain as I knew it before has definitely changed. There is one specific movement that used to cause me pain that still does - it's a forward pelvic tilt. Maybe that's my facets or maybe it's just too early to do something like that as it puts pressure on the new disc and my recovering vertebra with spikes sticking in them :-).

I woke up from surgery in a ****load of pain. Incision and back. It took them 3 hours to get it under control - but man that was some pain.

The incisional pain was definitely the worst. Now I know what my wife went thru with 2 C-sections! It took about 2 full days for that pain to be tolerable for me.

I didn't have any nerve issues until today and I'm guessing that is because I've had the most activity today. I have some nerve pain down my left leg - guessing it's distraction pain. If it remains at this level I'll be fine. They offered me Lyrica at the hospital but I didn't take it because I've had a bad experience with neurontin before which I think might be similar to Lyrica. However, I think I'll try the Lyrica so I don't need full narcotic for the nerve pain if I don't need it. Anyone experience with Lyrica for distraction? Dose?

So now I'm resting with my mom at a house I rented in the Hollywood Hills, just down from the Hollywood sign. Nice place to recover. Will be here until Friday then flying home back to my wife and kids.

I'm preparing for a 6-12 week recovery and I'm prepared for my ups and downs, again thanks to the descriptions in this forum.

Jason,

Congratulations on what sounds like a successful surgery! I know that you're glad to have gotten it done. Sorry, but I don't know the answers to any of your questions.

Please keep us posted on your progress.

Good luck, Jeff

Distraction Pain
 

I had an ADR 3/29/11 with Dr. Nunley where I received the Freedom disc. The disc was placed at L5-S1. I have distraction pain centered in the right foot and will be trying Neurontine to combat it. At this point I have no pain from the lower back or the incision site so remaining on Loratab 7.5/500 seems foolish. I'll let you know how the Neurontine handles the distraction pain.

If the distraction pain gets bad this has been my morning routine to combat it:
1. Bath tub with hot water and epsom salts filled to below the level of the incision (incision covered with 3"X4" CVS nonstick sterile large pad cut in half, held on with Nexcare 3M Gentle Paper tape, with thin layer of bacitracin over incision).
2. Gentle massage with lotion after tub, I use Neutrogena Daily Therapeutic Lotion.
3. Slow walk based on your pain level. I was advised that the only real cure for distraction was to get the nerves used to action at their new tightness.
4. Remove shoe and sock and place foot in dish pan with ice water in it if it feels swollen at all.
5. Repeat lotion massage.

Nothing real earth shattering, but between the routine and a few cold gel packs its kept me functional. Some people have had luck with a TENS unit, but the relief doesn't seem to last long for me. I'll let you know if the neuroleptic medication helps any.