2-level cervical ADR with Dr Clavel in 2 days

[Slackwater]

Originally Posted by AmyM

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Will update tomorrow...hopefully another night's sleep will help.

I wish a good night's sleep for you and that you get rid of the pain. You have my best wishes from California, S

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slackwater_sf

[AmyM]

In my last post, I was in a lot of pain, about a 7-7.5. Most I've been in. I was discharged Sat am and Sat pm and all of Sunday were very hard. Monday am Yolanda called & when I told her how I was feeling, she said she would email me a new rx for FORTECORTIN. The hotel front desk printed it for me, I brought it to the closest pharmacy, the pharmacist reached under the counter, handed me a box and 15 Euros (about 21 dollars) later I was out the door. Literally a one minute transaction. The medical system is amazing here. The FORTECORTIN is for me, a miracle drug. It's a steroid that works on bdecreasing inflammation in the nerves. With 3-4 hours, my pain went to a 3.5-4, and it stayed that way most of the day. My husband and I walked to Sagrada familia (about 45 min away), toured it, stopped for tea/coffee (the break was good), then walked back to the hotel to meet Leila. She is a miracle worker! I always feel so much better after her visits. She did the first massage with Fisiocrem that you mentioned, Donna, and then she did a demonstration on Stephan so he'd know how to properly help me. After she left, we again went for a long walk (walking really helps) and ended up at Gresca for dinner. Highly recommend, especially for those who stay at The Mirror as it's just about 3 blocks away. It's been written up in the NYT and was truly an event. It was the first real meal I've eaten and I wasn't that hungry, but portions are small so it was perfect. Make sure you have the egg soufflé with truffles and the spiced chocolate for dessert! I don't eat meat but my husband does so he had their tasting menu which included (among other things) sardines, cod, sweetbreads & pigeon along with a delicious piña colada dessert. I started to fade at dinner - they eat so late here!- and had more pain last night, but was able to sleep after taking a nolotil.
So between the steroid and the 4-5 hours of walking, yesterday went MUCH better. I'll keep you posted as my progress of healing continues. Thank you for all your support & well wishes!

[TPatti]

I am glad you are doing better, you will be in my thoughts for continued improvement!

[jss]

Amy,

That's great news. I'm glad you found something that works for you and that you'll be able to see some of Barcelona.

Good luck, Jefff

[2Confused]

Amy,

So glad you are doing well!!! The medical care in Spain really has opened my eyes to how screwed up our system is. Especially in regards to medications! So many I talk to who have had surgery in the states walk up on a morphine drip & are comatose, doped up for days post op. I never felt drugged, yet when the nerves became painful I was given something to ease the pain..... Yet not one time did I feel "over medicated"!!!
Glad you discovered the Fisiocrem the stuff is amazing and another patient is bringing me another tube back when he returns from his surgery.

So glad you are going well.... Keep in touch! And enjoy walking the beautiful streets of Barcelona!!

[AmyM]

Hi all,

Not sure if I should post my updates somewhere else, but since I already have this thread going, I will post it here.

12 days post-op and I have been home in sunny 77 degree San Diego for 4 days. It is so good to be home & back with my kids & my dog & sleeping in my own bed. We flew BCN-London after my one week post-op with Dr Clavel, and spent the night near the airport. I am glad we broke the trip up like this as it's a long haul home. The next morning (8 days post-op), we flew from Heathrow-LAX. It was my husband's birthday, so with that plus my surgery, we splurged & went first class on Virgin Atlantic. London was hit with a major snowstorm the day we flew out & my husband nearly had a heart attack getting me safely across the ice/snow to the airport. Hundreds of flights were cancelled but ours left (two hour delay, but it wasn't cancelled!). Since we were able to hang out in the Virgin Lounge, it was not exactly a bad situation (free massages, drinks & food!). The flight home was about what you'd expect a 10+ hour flight to be, but it got us safely home where a car met us & drove us the 1.5 hour ride back home to Carlsbad.

So to backtrack - the last time I posted I was just given Fortecortin, which is a steroid that reduced the inflammation in my nerves. That was on Monday (my surgery was on Thursday) and Monday was a really good day, pain-wise. However, Tuesday was not good and Wed. am I was back in touch with Yolanda/Dr. Clavel asking for help. My shoulder and right side of my neck were back up to a 7. Dr. Clavel prescribed Lyrica. This RX has a ton of side effects, including weight gain (grrrr) but I was desperate. The ibuprofen and the accord (paracetomol) did nothing, and even the metamizol was not touching the pain. The Lyrica helps a bit, but it makes me feel like I've had a few too many glasses of wine....which may sound good, but it's not at 10 am. Since it's not quite been a week, I'll continue with it for a while longer, but it doesn't seem to do much other than make me feel loopy.

Dr. Clavel wants me to continue with the ibuprofen for a month for ossification reasons, so I am doing that, but otherwise I don't have any medicinal pain relief.

I am varying between a 4-7 pain-wise. I can deal with pain less than a 5, but when it gets higher than that, it is tough. Last night was really bad, with the right side of my neck & my shoulder just burning with pain, and pain shooting down just below my elbow. I had a long walk on the beach yesterday, and my pain was about a 5 during the day, but it was 7.5 last night. I ended up taking a oxycontin that was prescribed to me when I was in my car accident in April 2011. I never took the pain killers then, so it's ironic that I took one now that I have had surgery to correct the problem.

At my post-op appt a week after my surgery, Dr Clavel said the pain is normal and it's just my nerves finding their way back down a now not-compressed path. He said it should subside in about 2 months.

Besides the pain, my right arm feels weak. I am trying not to use it much, since that makes it hurt more, so maybe that's the problem. Typing/texting and other small movements bring immediate pain to my arm/shoulder & right side of my neck. I am doing my exercises that Laia gave me (how I miss her and her healing hands!).

I am still not driving since I am very careful with my neck and the Lyrica makes me loopy.

Has anyone else had pain like this? Honestly, it's worse than before the surgery. It is maybe slightly better than a week ago, but not much. What do you all use for pain control? I do not like having to take medicine and rarely use it, so the fact I am seeking pharmaceutical help is indicative of the pain I am feeling. Do you think I should follow up with Dr Clavel or my doctor here in the US? The "good" thing is, although I get occasional flare-ups during the day, it's really only a 7 at night. Strangely, nights are worse than mornings (it was the other way around in Barcelona).

On the plus side, my incision is healing nicely, I am sleeping much better and my body temperature seems to be back to normal (that was a weird side effect!). Other than the pain, my neck is great - rotation, etc.

I'd love to hear from others who have been through this and hear what you did for pain control.

I'm going to try to upload a picture of my new bionic neck (my two M-6s are so pretty!), and one of Dr Clavel, Yolanda & me. The two of them - along with Laia, the physical therapist - are an amazing team!

[AmyM]

I should also mention that I had a good-sized ossification removed that Dr Clavel felt was a direct result of my car accident. Maybe this is part of my pain issue, since they had to literally use a hammer & drill to cut into my bone?

I also want to say that my heating pad is my best friend right now, I use it every evening and it really seems to help. In Spain I bought (with Laia's approval) those patches that heat up (they look like large bandages). These were especially great on the flights home. Dr. Clavel said that tells him that I have some muscle tightness as well, probably due to compensating for my burning nerves.

[Jstuckey]

Glad everything is going great for you and you're home safely. Keep up the good work.

[jss]

Amy,

I'm sorry to hear that you're having such a problematic recovery. Here's hoping that it eases up soon. Please keep us posted. And, thanks for posting your picture. It's always cool to get a look at each other.

Good luck, Jeff

[Lillyth]

Originally Posted by AmyM

I should also mention that I had a good-sized ossification removed that Dr Clavel felt was a direct result of my car accident. Maybe this is part of my pain issue, since they had to literally use a hammer & drill to cut into my bone?

I've been wondering how much the bone is going to hurt myself. As a result of my Hoffman's/Babinsky's I have a nice large contusion on my left shin. I have been probing it gingerly thinking that might give me an indication of how much cutting into the bone will hurt? Anyone with ossification removed feeling this kind of pain? I think you should call Dr. Clavel and talk to him about all this, rather than your stateside doc. He probably won't know what's what.

I really hope your pain eases up soon!