sally's surgery

[Unregistered]

I am Jenny and I am a friend of Sally's. I am writting from her computer as an unregistered guest as I do not know her password. I am staying at Sally's house taking care of things while she is recovering in the hospital from her last surgery. I planned on staying only a week but things arent looking to good so I may stay another week or so after she comes home.
It has been almost three years since Sally had her surgery to correct a curve of more then 110 degress caused by her Scheurmann's kyphosis. At that time they went threw her chest and threw the back. She had 6 or 7 discectomies. She had 36 screws and 2 rods and 2 cross links from T2 to L2. It was a long recovery.
About six months ago she also had surgery to fix the area of C5/C6. She had a fusion with plate and four more screws done at that time. This was caused by a car accident she was in. This left her with only two vertabra inbetween the two surgery's and they were damanged as well. She is now in the hospital recoverying from this surgery as she had to have the rods extended from T2 up to C4. Sally is now fused from C4 all the way down to L2 OR L3. Her surgery was done five days ago. The doctors are thinking that she will have to stay in the hospital untill next week sometime and are not sure if she will be released to go back home or have to stay in a rehab unit for a fw weeks untill her body has time to adjust.
Sally is having a painfull recovery both emotional and physical. She can not nor will she ever be able to turn her head or look up or down again. There are so many things that she will have to get used to. To name a few so you all understand. Eating. Can't look down at the plate. Has to have the plate way in front of her so she can see it. Using the computer. She can not just use a key board the normall way as she can not look down to see it. So many things she has to adape to compared of the way she has done things all of her life. Even getting dressed is a challange at this moment.
Sally seems to be a good sport threw all she has gone threw. I can see threw her though and I know she has a harder time dealing with things then she will let on.
After a few months Sally will have to return to the hospital to have her lumbar disc surgery as she also damanged one in the accident.
I just can't thank the lord enough for the good days I have and that I have never really had to suffer. It is not untill you have somthing happen to you yourselves or you actually see the pain and hopeless feeling from one of your good friends, it is then that we all can be thankfull for what we have.
It is hard for people to realize that yes someone may have had surgery but they just don't realize that some people will be affected by it for the rest of there lives.
I will fill you all in another time as I really do not know what Sally really wants to share at this time. Hopefully she will be able to return home soon. Maybe the two of us together can send you all an up-date at that time.
I just wish that I could do more for Sally as she has no one else to help her. No family support or anything.. That alone makes it tougher to recover.
Sally will never work again and that right now is what is causeing her to be so depressed. It is somthing she new as she has not been able to work since her accident but she would not believe it. Now after this surgery she understands that the working days or over.
She just keeps saying that this is all because some dumb girl decided to talk on her cell phone while driving. So people please don't talk on your cell phones while you are driving, that is how a lot of accidents happen.
Thank you all for the support I assum you give Sally. I will be in touch when I am able to have Sally help me with what she wants to say.
Jenny

[madmclw]

Wow, I totally did cry at that. What you must understand, is that we understand. When you wake up from surgery, there are so many things you can't do, and when you're home, and you just wonder how you're meant to cope. Now I know my situation and that of most of us is not like Sallys - our fusions are not so high - we can type and eat and dress now. But she will adapt, that I know. Even the simple problem of bending down to pick something off the floor - we can't do that anymore, but we've adapted, and now have our own ways of doing that. She'll find ways to eat, to type, to dress herself, just give it some time. She's a strong person, and an even stronger one for having us behind her.

Keep the faith,
Maddy
xxxxxx

[twizzlegirl]

i totally did cry at that too. it doesnt seem fair that good people have to go through all of this, but she's obviously an incredibly strong person and i'm sure she'll get through it. i hope she has a good recovery. xxx

[GillyG]

I'm so sorry to hear of Sally's bad fortune at being involved in such a bad car accident. It's bad enough having kyphosis or scoliosis and having to undergo surgery in the first place, let alone then needing to have such a high fusion due to the damage caused by her accident. As Maddy says, I'm sure in time she will learn to adjust and find alternative ways of doing things, but she will need to be very careful for the first few months of her recovery. Please let her know we are all thinking about her and will support her in any way we can. She's very lucky to have such a caring and supportive friend as yourself. Sending hugs ...

:squeeze::flowers:

[tonibunny]

Oh poor Sally, I do hope that she feels better soon. She's been through such a lot and it's very early days yet so it must feel very daunting to her.

As Gilly said, it's incredibly sad that Sally has suffered so much from the car accident. Lots of us understand how difficult scoliosis/kyphosis surgery can be, and it must be awful to have had the effects of the accident to deal with too. Please let her know that we're all thinking about her.

I'm sure though that she will come to be able to cope with having a high cervical fusion, as she is such a strong lady. There are others here who have experienced being unable to move their neck, through wearing high-profile Milwaukee braces and plaster casts for years - I am one of them, so I know that you do learn to adapt. Things like eating with the plate far forward and turning the whole body to look around just become normal. I do hope that is of some comfort to her :hug:

Lots of love to you too Jenny, you're obviously a caring friend and we will all do our best to support Sally. She's not alone - sadly there are quite a few people here who have longterm problems following surgery, simply because they had very severe or unusual cases or were treated many years ago when techniques were not as good, but everyone cares about each other so much here and we pull each other through the bad times. Please keep us up to date with how Sally is doing and hopefully we can help support you too :squeeze:

Toni xx

[sins]

Hi Jenny,
Please pass on our very best wishes to Sally.
She's been a part of our community for quite a while now and she's given so much of her time to share her experiences with others.Take good care of her and hope she'll be on line soon.
Sins

[kidz taxi]

Just wanted to send my love and best wishes to Sally,please tell her we are all thinking of her in this difficult time:ghug::ghug:

[mark]

I remember when Sally used to post here regularly, she was always so supportive of others. It pains me to read she's having so much trouble

My heart goes out to her

mark

[Bows]

Thank you Jenny for letting us know about Sally.
Please be assured that we will all be thinking of Sally and sending lots of love her way.
Please give her our best wishes, she is lucky to have you :ghug: