failed fusion

[rlharwick]

i posted yesterday on this and have not had any replies. i'm set to have a bone scan next week and then appointment with the surgeon the week after. can these cages just fall out or sever my spine if i decide not to have another surgery? they are lt cages. invented by the surgeon who did my first surgery. my faith in these people is so low i don't know if i can trust this new doctor and decided to post here. has anyone ever had these cages?  this one has moved but if the bottom did fuse can it fall out or sever my spine? thanks, rlharwick

[carrie80]

HI this is carrie80 im new on here,im 29 yrs old and i got on here because i have to have revision surgery done on my neck because i have a break clean through my c-5 vertebra. I had doner vertebra ,fake disc's and a titanum plate with 4 screws put in my neck in Jan. of 2007. now this year in Jan. I had surgery on my lower back my l-5,6 and s-1,they put a cage in my back 2 rods n pinsand then used my own bone marrow and wrapped it around my cage. I used a little machine kinda like a ten unit but it sends out ultrasonic waves 2help the bones fuse quicker and heal faster. It helped me out alot and so far my low back is doin ok,now my neck___im scared to death cause i know the pain was horrible the first time,now i got to go thru it all over agin except this time they are putin a cage in,instead of a plate. what is so bad is i don't know nothing about this revision surgery,but i do know about the cages and they are wonderful,hope this helped and if n e 1 knows about this revision neck,please comment back cause i am clueles to what im heading into. thanks, carrie80

[rlharwick]

thanks mike. my daughter worked for these people up until this spring. she seems to think he knows what he is doing. he is not the original surgeon for this. i had this done at uw madison by one of the inventors of the lt cage with synthetic bone marrow. he was supposed to be tops in the  field too. he never would even admit this sugery failed for me and ended our relationship because of distance. i am an hour and a half from uw madison.i guess even the best surgeon has bad days but i lost all faith in doctors after the treatment i've received with my former pcp and this surgeon. all these websites say if first surgery is a failure don't bother trying again it just gets worse. i'm thinking pain management till this fall and then having the revision surgery. right now i think it would take a long long time to recover.  once again thanks, rlharwick

[mike1105]

i for one would not want a piece of dangling metal in my spine. it sounds like something that needs to be addressed. why dont you write down your questions, go seek a few more opinions, and then make an educated decision??? The bone scan is to help aid the surgical planning, ie it is not a treatment. Fabricate your opinion from speaking to doctors who have spent their lives on studying/treating the spine, not from a website, and not on your own.

[rlharwick]

thanks for writing me back. i've spent almost all day researching this and am leaning towards pain management. the surgeon ordered a bone scan with dye but in reading at spine universe i don't think this will help.i feel like leaving it the way it is but fear it falling out or somehow severing my spine.  rlharwick

[mike1105]

You may want to get another opinion at this point. I would seek out a large teaching facility or a clinic like the Mayo or The Cleveland Clinic. I'd be hesitant to allow the same surgeon to operate if it already failed once in a relatively short time--- at least not without getting at least 2 or 3 new opinions.