I used the former group, FeistyFlatbacks, before making my decision
to move ahead with revision surgery this past March, but some of you
may not know or remember me so, to re-introduce myself, I will tell
you my story and try to keep it as brief as possible.
Like a number of you, I was operated on in the 60's for scoliosis
and for around 20 years was without incident. I began, sometime in
the late 80's to develop lower back pain and to notice I was no
longer standing up as straight as I used to.
At that time I was able to get an appointment with one of my former
surgeon's from Children's, then at U. Mass Medical Ctr. With
steroids and physical therapy he was able to eliminate the pain I
was having and I went on my merry way. Like some of you, I kept
complaining to my doctors over the subsequent years that I thought
something was going wrong, but they either couldn't see it or didn't
know who could help me.
Two years ago I was referred to Dr. Glazer, and although he
acknowledged he was seeing former scoliosis patients who were
running into difficulty, he never provided any detail, said I was
not a candidate for surgery, should continue doing as I had been
and to call him if necessary. My primary care who referred me to
him seemed to have no idea at the time Dr. Glazer specialized in
scoliosis revision surgery. So when I ran into trouble a
year ago last March I did not think to call Dr. Glazer at first
because he had led me to believe a mere 2 yrs before that my
scoliosis surgery was not a problem, so I assumed that that was
still the case.
After 6 months of going to other doctors for the pain, all of whom
were reluctant to recommend me to a surgeon, I took it upon myself
to finally call Dr. Glazer's office and ask for an appointment.
He took one look at my x-rays, threw a lot of madical mumbo jumbo at
me (scaring the you-know-what out of me), announced I would need
revision surgery and told me to call when I had made up my mind.
Needless-to-say, I was frightened by the news and not to happy with
his abruptness. After that appointment, with a medical dictionary
in hand, I went on the Internet to do some research.
I've learned over the years not to react to my first encounter with
physicians, so once I had a little more knowledge in hand, I sent a
letter to Dr. Glazer with questions about his diagnosis. He called
and said I had misunderstood a number of things and suggested I come
back to see him. On the second appointment he sat down with me the
way I wish he had done in the first place and took all the time I
needed to go over what the situation was and to answer all my
questions. Why he didn't do that the first time, I will never know,
but you never know what kind of day a surgeon is having.
Regardless, in the 2nd appointment I found him very open,
understanding and reassuring.
I then made an appointment with Dr. Rand for a second opinion. Dr.
Rand and Priscilla gave me far more time and information in my
initial appointment. Although Dr. Rand gave me the same diagnosis,
he had a slightly different approach to the surgery. In the end I
decided I was more comfortable with Dr. Glazer's approach and with
having the surgery done at the Beth Israel Deaconess.
I went in for my first surgery on March 1st this year and wound up
having 3 surgeries instead of 2 due to issues related to bone
density. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks instead of 7 to 10 days,
and due to the extra surgery was unable to get up on my feet quick
enough to avoid going to rehab where I spent another 2 weeks
(definitely not a pleasant experience).
Although this delayed the start of my recovery, I'm happy to say
that as soon as I got home I progressed quickly and caught up. I
was taking care of myself within a few days, and every day since
then has gotten better than the day before. I was driving within a
week after getting home, back to work part-time by the middle of
April and haven't had to take any pain medication, other than an
occasional Tylanol, since leaving rehab.
I must admit, this has surprised even Dr. Glazer, but I told him I
was a fast healer, he just didn't believe it.
Although, in the end, everything seems to have turned out well, I
must tell you all that my surgeries and stay in the hospital were
not without their share of difficulties. I am fortunate to have a
lot of family living in the area and I taxed them to the limit.
Their presence helped me to run interference whenever necessary, and
there were many times it was necessary, in spite of the fantastic
care. My one piece of advice to remember is that no one knows your
body better than you and you have to have faith in your ability to
sometimes make better decisions than the doctors and nurses. They
cannot administer any medical care unless you agree to it, and you
can and should say no whenever you are in doubt about anything.
In the end I feel I picked the right surgeon to do the job. I have
had very little need to speak with him since I got home, but he has
let me know more than once, when I have gone in for follow-up xrays,
that he is available when and if I need him. Still, communication
is difficult, so I make an effort to keep the lines of communication
open by not waiting for problems to arise to let him know how I am
doing. I drop him a line now and then.
My greatest difficulty now is being patient and allowing my body to
heal without pushing it too hard. I had a lot of bouts with
depression in the beginning, but I think a lot of it was due to the
medication which hadn't quite left my body. I still get tired easily
and I wonder if I will ever be able to do all the things I want to
do, but I comfort myself with the fact that at least I'm not in
severe pain anymore and that's a beautiful thing.
Hope I haven't gone on too long. Wish all of you the best of luck
and a positive outcome as you tackle this problem. Please let me
know if I can be of any help. Joanne