Hi from Barcelona

[elorpar]

Originally Posted by phillyjoe

Vitamin C is also said to assist in soft tissue healing. I am curious....is this surgery covered under your health insurance in Spain? assuming you have health insurance. I think I paid around 42K Euro more or less for mine with dr clavel. Be patient with your recovery but in beautiful Barcelona you can easily walk more than 30 min a day!. Good luck

Thanks Phil, I am taking a sysadoa multivitaminic so I am covered by vitamine C as well.

Hospitalization is covered (around 13K for 2 nights), Clavel expenses not (10K). I had to pay all from my pocked as my insurance denied to pay for a precedent problem.

In your case I guess it was more expensive cause it was 3 levels, plus hospitalization, plus operation time with al indirect costs etc

Have you considered to revise your M6 fused level? Which kind of exercise do you do for preventing HO on the other levels?

[annapurna]

Consider increasing your dosage of Vitamin C. Too much and you'll end up with some GI distress but it is water soluble and should therefore not build up beyond what your system can handle. Laura dug out that you consume an enormous amount of Vitamin C growing, or creating new tissue. We're now each taking multiple grams per day with no problems and signs of improved health.

[elorpar]

Thanks Jim, I am taking Orthomol Arthro Plus with 500 mg of Vitamine C plus other vits/mins and sysadoa. I recommend it, it is very complete

[phillyjoe]

I just do side to side turns, chin to chest , and up and down neck movements. Sometimes elastic band chest pulls -and 50 push ups every other day-nothing special. Yes, I do plan to get the HO at C6-7 addressed but not so easy to find someone in the US with experience other than far from where I live. Other surgeries unrelated might have to come first. Just turned 66, sucks to get old. Good luck with your continued recovery and please keep us updated on your miracle surgery of fusion reversal!

[elorpar]

2 months update:

- Neuropatic left arm reduced, specially when I move behind my neck, however I can sleep on my left side
- Creepy sound when I turn right keeps as before
- I have some weird pain on my right backside neck part, when I relax my shoulders. My incission is still inflamed so maybe related.
- I think neck mobility is regained

After my fusion I was pretty fine as well and I had pain again at 6 months.. I will tell you at 3 and 6 months how I am doing.

I am doing stretching every day and walking, taking sysadoa and vitamins

[elorpar]

Today I have woken up with a unsustsndible dizness, afraid that could be a csf leak.

Till monday my doc does not open again, thinking about to go to urgency hospital service.

[elorpar]

Hi there,

I attach my 4 months post-op X-ray.

- Flexion X-ray one does not look to me, maybe I had to flex a bit more my head or my CP-ESP does not move flexion-extension at all and is stucked at extension position? Maybe a core failure? (Upper plate seems a bit displaced to behind)

- Also, front vertebrae body seem erased from day 1 X-ray.. can that bone be erased further? Should I be concerned?

[Harrison]

Hello and thanks for posting. A few questions:

- it looks OK to me, but I am not a doctor.
- What did you doctor say?
- Are you in pain?
- If so, what are you pain levels?
- Are you taking NSAIDs, like ibuprofen?

Thanks!

[elorpar]

Originally Posted by Harrison

Hello and thanks for posting. A few questions:

- it looks OK to me, but I am not a doctor.
- What did you doctor say?
- Are you in pain?
- If so, what are you pain levels?
- Are you taking NSAIDs, like ibuprofen?

Thanks!

Hi Harrison, thanks for your follow-up

- I repeated my flexion picture, now it seems moving a bit. The implant position/size and bone ingrowth seems that forces a limited range of motion flexion/extension but at least now I know my ADR is not stucked/collapsed at extension position.. we will see how it developes in a future..

[IMG][/IMG]

- My doctor said that vertebraes were moving but I think that was not possible to deduce looking at the first flexion/extension picture..

- I am in very mild neuropatic pain, sometimes I wake up with my little finger slept for a minute or so, I feel my head so unstable and at the end of the day my trap zone is so stressed and painful (right and back side) as well as there some dislocation/cracking sounds when I turn flex/extend my neck into that area.. my Doc says are caused by my facet joints being damaged by my former herniated/fused level, low movement of that zone during 2 years and ligaments removed due two operations

- I do not take meds, the only thing that helped me in the past were opioids/cannabis but I prefer to avoid them at the moment as pain is not as bad as before and I had bad psycho side effects in return. The only thing I take is glucosamine/condoitrin but I do not think it is effective at all.

So my new questions are:

If my facets, removed/damaged ligaments were damaged due to my herniation/acdf/adr.. do you recommend me something like prolo/prp/stem cells at 4 months post-op? I am so tired of trying things but maybe it is worth to try it. Also I am exercising with soft chi kung exercices.. do your recommend me any other kind of exercise? Swimming and others are terribly boring to me and I am not so regultar so I was looking for something more social (before of my injury I used to play table tennis and tennis).

Thanks in advance for your kind feedback bud!

[Harrison]

I know this may not be what you are expecting, but I would recommend minimal upper body exercise. Walking is perfect. I would also try cycling through different classes of NSAIDs, starting with ibuprofen.

Also consider low inflammation diets, and especially reducing inflammation with natural fruits, enzymes and other supplements. Working on your gut health will also help.