My Treasonous Back

First it was the great L4-5 Disc Rebellion of 2010 and this January marked the terrifying Melanomic Insurrection of 2012.  If I didn’t know better, I’d think my back is trying to kill me.

Make sure you check your moles often and get anything you find suspicious cut out ASAP.

Mine was full blown Malignant Melanoma, though only Stage T1a (.79mm Breslow thickness, Clark level III, non-ulcerated, 0/mm2 mitoses, absent Angioinvasion & Neurotropism) – but a mighty scare, nevertheless. It’s out now and I have a >90% chance I’ll be ok, but you don’t seem to know its in your lymph nodes until its too late.  Needless to say, I’ll be watching these other little f_ckers with an eagle eye from this point on.

Ironically, the country that probably wrecked my disc with manual labour, is also the country that most likely poisoned my mole with UV… Australia!

Scary stuff.  All this talk of us wearing our ADRs out, when there is a high probability they will outlast us!

UPDATE:
The incision hurt like heck until about the 4th day post-op. They did end up going pretty deep and wide on the re-excision just to be safe. The scar is a little bigger and WAY uglier than my ADR incision. It’s crazy that a tumour less than .80mm thick calls for an excision like this!

I wasn’t sure I should post this on my site, but I think it is very important for us ADR patients to think as far down the road as you can.  I hadn’t really thought about the repercussions of ADR with any other life-threatening conditions years down the road, but I sure as hell did last week.  It’s great to lessen our back pain, but can an artificial disc increase our likelihood of adverse reactions if ever immunosuppressed?  This is an important question to address for peeps like us!

Feb 28th Update – I got the results back from my re-excision and the margins are all clear.  My follow-ups are now only every 6 months for the next year or so.  Thank god!

-Brett

Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Bacteremia in Patients with Joint Replacements

Richard, over at ADR Support, was kind enough to send this link along to me… a valuable read for us TDR folks.  Bookmark it!

“Bacteremia from a variety of sources can cause hematogenous seeding of bacteria onto joint implants, both in the early postoperative period and for many years following implantation.2 In addition, bacteremia may occur in the course of normal daily life3-5 and concurrently with dental, urologic and other surgical and medical procedures.5 The analogy of late prosthetic joint infections with infective endocarditis is invalid as the anatomy, blood supply, microorganisms and mechanisms of infection are all different.6

Recommended Antibiotic for each procedure below:

6 Months

Well, I’m finally here and I’m doing quite well considering my spine was opened up and “fixed” back in July!  I still can’t believe they go through the front.

The tingles/numbness in my left hamstring/buttock and toe are still sometimes here, but not as strong as before or nearly as often.  My back pain is almost non-existent.  There is a little tightness/pain back there when go into deeper flexion, but I hope it will subside with time.  I can only imagine how long it will take for my back to get used to the new ligament tightness, disc space and lordosis.  I can honestly say I feel 90% better than I did last year at this time.  I can sit, run, sleep when the kids let me, bend and pick things up, get in the car and put on my socks without the cringing pain.  I realize these aren’t huge milestones, but I’ll take them.

I’ve been able to start yoga up again gently… I’m avoiding extreme flexion/extension/twisting.  Instead, I’m doing a lot more of the “flow” type movements, focusing on core and stretching the hammies/back/hips.  My hammies are still VERY tight.  Pre-injury, I could bend forward at the hips and touch the palms of my hands to the floor.  Let’s just say, I’m a good few months or perhaps a year from that point.  I’m in no rush and will get back there in time.

Mr. Boeree was very pleased with my 6 month xrays as they show great movement of the device and retained placement.  By 6 months, osteo integration has probably occurred and the implant should stay in place for the foreseeable future.  I raised a few questions with him about the longevity of the device given how people speak in the forums about never playing sports again… he answered that the M6-L has been tested rigorously in lab beyond a normal human lifetime and that it shouldn’t be an issue.  Again, there is no long-term human evidence to support this, but I’m certainly going to take it out for a spin or two!  I’ve missed the ice and pow for two winters already. 🙂

I let him know that I was planning on ramping up my yoga for the next 2 months to regain some strength and flexibility and he had no problems at all with me trying out hockey at around the 8 month mark.  In celebration, I sold all of my “bad luck” hockey gear and bought some custom gear today – arrival estimate is 8 weeks.  I’ll post picks when they get here.

Blood Pressure:  After ceasing my supplements/vitamins for the past month or so, everything is back to normal.  I’m going to keep it this way for a while and maybe just take a normal multi-vitamin for the time being.

Edit:  I forgot to mention that since I started some deeper hamstring/hip/back stretches, the pain in my shins has completely subsided.  Also, I haven’t had to take an NSAID or pain killer since August.  Again, there are good and bad days… but I’m pretty happy at this point.

I also didn’t mention that I finally heard back from my Provincial Healthcare provider this week.  They are sending me a cheque for $2900.  It’s better than nothing, but I’ll be re-applying to the Out of Country board for the rest… I just have to convince one of my doctors to do the application.  It should be interesting, but I’m not holding my breath.

 

First Physical Post-ADR

5 Months today!

Just a quick update for December.  I’m doing well and find that the more stretches and activity I do, the less sore/tight my lower back is.  Again, any pain or discomfort that I do feel, is nothing like the pain pre-op.  I’d say right now I’m feeling about 85%.  I’m still being very careful not to push myself too hard and can’t wait until I’m cleared for some real sports.

According to the physical, I’ve gained both a few pounds and an inch!  The pounds make sense with my lowered activity levels, but the 2cm was a neat surprise!  I’m now 172lbs and officially 6’1″.

The core work and walking are boring, but still needed.  Shovelling the walk hasn’t been too much of a challenge either, thank god!  We’ve had a good amount of snow already up here.

Anyway, good luck to all of you who are looking for back answers and Merry Christmas! 🙂

*One more thing – I’ve slipped on the ice a couple of times already this winter… nothing major, just normal slips, no falls.  Last year, I would have had some serious pain in my back and some numbness in my legs/feet afterwards, but nothing of the sort this winter*

**Almost forgot.  2 more things to report – I’m still getting some weird bruisey feelings in my tailbone if I sit for too long and my blood pressure was abnormally high during the physical.  When I left the Dr. Boeree’s care 5 months ago, I was sitting around 119/70 and  my physical this week was 145/85… I had just taken my vitamins and had 2 coffees… but it scared me a little.  I’ve ceased my vitamin/gluco supps for a couple of weeks and will go back to get re-checked**

-Brett

First Work Trip Post-op

It’s 5:30am and I’m in a cab on the way to the airport for a 7:00am flight to Toronto. Tomorrow, we will be undertaking an office and data centre move and it will continue on through the weekend. This will be a pretty good test for my back!

I’ll post again when I know how it went.

-Brett

Normal Beer

“…and one normal beer for me because I am normal.” – In Bruges

I had a spinal re-assessment with my physiotherapist today and I’ve been declared “normal” (lol – my wife would beg to differ!).  My ROM far exceeds my original assessment back in April and I’m back to the same ROM as joe citizen.  Now, my goal is to get it back to where it was in 2009, at the height of my yoga practise.  I have plenty of time to do that and will not rush the process, mind you!

I was given a couple more neural flossing exercises and sent on my way.  I’ll continue my core workouts/stretching, but I’m officially done formal PT and only need to return if I have any problems.  So far, so good.

As I was finishing up, I overheard the doctor next to me giving the same spiel to another poor soul about a 2.5 year wait for their surgical referral.  My Canadian appointment is still set for June 2013.  🙁

-Brett

Week 17

I don’t have a lot new to report, but my final physio session is tomorrow.  I’m still plowing through the core work and waiting patiently for the 6 month mark!  Everything has gone well (knock on wood) up until this point and I really hope it continues.  It looks like Mike, Tim and Jstuckey are doing well too.

Like Tim, I probably won’t be posting as much going forward… just milestones or setbacks as they occur.  I had another little milestone today. 🙂

Vintage me, 11/08/2011.

We had a photoshoot at work and I was asked to don some retro gear on the ice.  I jumped at the chance!  While my lower-back is still a little tight, the discomfort was a far cry from the old pain.  I could feel everything stretching back there as I slowly and purposefully went into my crouch.  There were no action shots – just stills and I’m no worse for the wear.  Hopefully, a sign of things to come!

I’ll add that it was quite emotional for me to step back on the ice in skates and gear.  It’s been over a year since I had to give it all up.

The old seats don’t seem as uncomfortable any more either. 😉

-Brett