All,
I received the following message in reponse to an email I sent and thought it should be share with all of you. So far, I am impressed with my experience, though I won't have surgery until April 2nd.
Please read the following message if you are contemplating having surgery by Dr. Di or at the CC. This is only one of many good stories I've heard!
Blessings!
Lori
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Hi Lori!
Yes, by all means, use my explanation all you like - whatever helps others to understand our situation is fine with me.
{{I am inserting her description of the ED procedure here: My surgeon, Dr. Xiao Di (Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA), has a patent on doing the surgery via endoscopy. Dr.Di has performed over 200 of the surgeries, 92% success rate, and the incision only being about 2cm. He is going to do the decompression, remove part of C1, and do a dura scoring instead of the full duraplasty. I have read a lot of promising studies on the dura scoring. Although, if there is a lot of scar tissue, he is going to open up the dura and do a "tonsilectomy". The recovery time is considerably less than traditional surgery, only about 4-6 week or less without the "tonsilectomy" and 6-8 weeks with "tonsilectomy".}}
I L.O.V.E. Dr. Di and Clevelenad Clinic - they are absolutely the best!! We never waited for anything, all appts were on time, even when I thought there would be no way thought could be. The staff that cared for me was top notch, all are neuro rehab trained. I have referred a couple of people over there now, and they all have high regards for Di and the CC. If you are on Facebook, there is a fan page devoted to "Dr. Di Fan Club" and you can meet his patients.
I do not have SM. Only CM. I have a 8mm herniation which caused a lot of issues. I went undiagnosed for over a decade. I woke up from surgery just fine and well medicated. The first couple of days after surgery are a bit rough due to nausea and vomiting - since the surgery is centered around the cerebellum, it takes a few days for the nausea to subside. The nurses were great though, they figured out I could have anti-nausea meds every 3 hours and they would walk into my room the moment it was due - I never had to wait. I think if you go into the surgery knowing that you may have 2 days of headache and nausea, it makes things much better.....kind of like childbirth, you know what to expect so nothing comes as a surprise. I am the type of person that I would rather know what is coming so I can prepare for it, rather than have it thrown on me to deal with.
My incision is only about an inch and healed well.
I am 3 months post op, today. I only have 1 or 2 remaining symptoms, and have went back to work full time. When I came home from the hospital (3 days post op), I was able to shower by myself, care for myself (except my mom combed my long hair) and I was also to cook for myself. I wanted to be as independent as I could, and Dr. Di recommends getting up and back to normal as soon as possible to decrease the risk of DVT's in the leg or lungs (blood clots). I think I took the dog for a walk at 10 days post op. I think I had sex again about 7 or 10 days post op. We do have a weight limit of 25# for the first 3-6 months, so prepare for that if you have little ones. About two weeks post op, I would start to do little things around the house....dusting, dishes, etc. I still don't vacuum though. When I get discouraged, my family is quick to remind me that the first year post op is still considered recovery.
Let me know what else I can do to help you - ask any question you want too, nothing will embarrass me. :)