Memories. Ahhh Yes, Memories of My Life

Cervical Spine Surgery

My Cervical Spinal Surgery

         On 1/24 I had surgery on my Cervical Spine. This was necessary due to the numbness and associated weakness in my left hand and arm. I found out a couple of things after I'd been prepped for surgery. The resident doctor who would be assisting during the surgery stopped by and talked to me for a minute. He said something I wish I'd known earlier. "This is probably the most painful surgery we do." I was thinking, 'You just had to say that, didn't you.' There was one thing slightly different in my surgery than most. This surgery is normally done by accessing the spine from the front, making an incision in the front of your throat and moving your vocal chords and larynx to the side to gain access to the spinal column. I've had problems swallowing at times, not often, but often enough. When I mentioned that to the surgeon during our meeting, she decided she would access my spine from the back of my neck. As a result, I have a six inch incision starting right about the middle of my neck, going down. The reason I have so much pain is she had to cut my neck muscles and pull them apart to access my spine! Yeah, everything's been a pain in the neck for the last 8 days, pun intended. (I have a 'clean photo', taken after the bandages were removed, should anyone want to see it).

         The surgery itself took FOUR hours. Something else I didn't know. Doing this from the posterior side, they had to immobilize my head. So they used pointed rods in a brace type setup to hold my head in place. She couldn't have me moving my head at all during surgery, could she? I still have tender spots around my head where those rods dug into my scalp. She fused the C4, C5, C6, and C7 vertebrae together by placing a small screw in each, then using four 4 inch rods to keep them properly spaced. Surprisingly, I have almost full movement of my neck in all directions. I've lost some flexibility, but not a lot. I was sent to recovery, and ended up spending 3 hours there. The reason was my breathing. I took a few deep breaths as needed, but not near enough. Essentially I was still out of it, and wasn't breathing right. I'd take a breath, exhale, then stop breathing for a bit before inhaling again. They finally transferred me to my room. I guess that in moving me from the gurney to my bed, I flashed whoever was around as I thrashed my legs in the movement. I don't think that anyone who saw that was overly impressed.... I remember none of this, but 'you know who' recorded a video of the whole process. I only remember waking in my room around 4:30 or so.

         Monday was a blur, I went into surgery right about 8 am, I'm told I went into recovery right about noon, and was in my room sometime between 3 and 4. None of that is in my memory other than pre-surgery. In fact, I remember someone saying they were starting the meds to put me to sleep, and I said something about 'Good night everyone, see you later!" I was out very quickly, and remember nothing after that.

         Tuesday and Wednesday were better, it was when the doctor removed the gauze pads and tape from my incision that I asked them to snap that photo. She had inserted a drain on either side of my incision, they were removed Thursday morning. Tuesday and Wednesday I was in and out of it all day, mainly because they had me on morphine and Tramadol. I was finally discharged about 2pm. My home meds included Tramadol (an Opiate based medicine), and Valium. I took those Thursday through Saturday, but stopped taking the Valium after that. Right now I alternate Tramadol and Tylenol three hours apart. I do pretty well, as long as I can remember to take my pain meds. Even taking the pain meds, it's difficult to sit up right (even wearing the soft cervical collar) for very long.

         That's all for now. Aren't you glad? Till next time, y'all be good, take care of yourselves, and love those who love you. And of course, keep on writing!




Jim Dorrell