Spinal fusion Surgery pain medicine

[floodmaster76]

I had a Spinal fusion surgery at L5 S1 level just about a month ago. I am still having a lot of pain and it is time for a refill on my medicine. I just needed Valuim 5 mg. and Dilaudid 4mg which my Dr. has me on. I called my Dr.'s office today but he is on vacation. The covering Dr. said he won't write that kind of prescription because he only writes for Lortab. I already have a few Lortab from before the surgery and they don't cut through the pain. ...and he said he won't write for Valuim at all. I asked them can't they look at my chart so they can verify what I was taken the Didlaudid and the Valuim and they told me they already saw that thats what I have been on but the covering Dr. won't write them he will only write me the Lortab prescription. My Dr. won't be back to the middle of next week and I can't sleep and I am in a lot of pain. Does anyone have any suggestions?  

[Tuckamore]

I am glad we were of help... that's what why we're here. :o)  It's always nice to hear a thank you. We don't get a lot of those.... so thank you!!

I'm glad you are meeting with the "team".  I think it will help ease you fear... and don't forget your list of questions!

We'll be waiting to hear how it goes.

Good Luck our Friend,
~Tuck

[mikeinohio271]

well i go for preop testing tommorow then meet with my pain management doc tues then my nuerosungoen on wed i took nurseaudreas advice and have three pages of questions for both docs and they agreed to meet with me together to ease my worries so we will see how this goes god help me im really nervous and scared and so are my two kids my daughter keeps askin if im coming home in a wheelchair?
ill post once i see all these guys it 315 in the am and once again i cant sleep thank you all for your feedback and support you guys and gals are all i have besides my kids and my mom so really thanks
mikeinohio271

[floodmaster76]

Audrea gave you a lot of great advice and she knows what she is talking about. As she said I have been having problems because of pain control because I never knew I needed a pain management doctor (PMP). My surgeon fixes the problem but don't help your symptoms. I now have a PMP and things are going to be much better. Make sure you have one before your surgery because it takes a little bit to get the ball rolling with a PMP at least it did me. Mine is a Workers comp. case and everything takes longer because of the need to get everything approved.

As far as my surgery goes... my surgery took 3 1/2 hours and I was only supposed to be in the hospital my surgeon said 2 days, but they had to keep me a 3rd day because I ended up running 102.7 temp. other then that they would have let me go in 2 days. Also like Audrea said every surgery and doctor are different so surgery times and stays may be different. The surgery does hurt but you will be in good hands at the hospital and they will be able to manage your pain very well. I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to go home if I was to do the surgery again because when you come home in can't be controlled so easily. You will be ok if you decide to have it done. I don't know what your first 5 surgeries were but I'm sure you know what the pain feels like, it's just more intense. They will control it better with a fusion though. I hope all the best for you and if you want to know anything more about what I went through I would be happy to talk to you about itOnce again I hope everything works out for you and god bless. My thoughts will be with you!!! Your friend, Tony

[mikeinohio271]

thank you for your reassurance i had heart surgery five years ago and woke up in the middle of the procedure and could feel everything they were doing as a result i had an acute mi on the table and it really traumatized me i was diagnosed with ptsd from that so you see why i am so scared to go into another surgery, again thank you for your support and god bless you hope you are well!

[nurseaudrea]

It would really help if you asked your question in a new thread. You will get a lot more responses that way. Usually with a fusion the hospital stay is three to four days. The surgery can take anywhere from 3 to 5 hours for a typical fusion, it depends on how difficult the case is and how much scarring you have from previous surgeries and if there are any complications. What kind of fusion are you having? Are they doing it posterior, from the back, and using instrumentation-rods and screws? Or are they doing an interbody fusion anteriorly? Sometimes they will do a 360 and use cages in the front of the spine and then put rods and screws in the back to make sure it is secure and stable. I ended up with this three years apart. I started with the cages and three years later had to have the instrumentation put in from the back. I have spondylolisthesis. That is where one of the vertebrae slides forward over another one due to pars defect, this is where the vertebrae are supposed to connect but instead of bone it is more like cartiledge so the vertebrae is weak and breaks at the area where the vertebraes connect so they cannot be held together. It is a congenital defect I was born with and had problems with starting as a pre-teen with my first growth spurt but did not know until I was 21. I had pain starting at around 10 the first time my back went out. And then it would happen about every two to three years until finally I had pain at 21 all the time to where I could not straighten up. I had to walk bent over.
I have gone through 4 spinal surgeries so I understand your apprehension. My last one was two years ago to remove all the hardware because two of the screws had become loose. That does not normally happen, so don't worry about that. Before that it really helped me a lot. It stabalized my spine and gave me my life back. I won't lie, it does hurt, a lot. But you do get through it. As long as you are prepared going on and have a good mindset you will be okay. Make sure you have pain management set up and have proper medications for after the surgery. As you can see from the above poster, he has had problems with proper pain control. I have been through that and because of that have said I will never have surgery again. But I did and the last one was just fine. I made sure my pain management doctor and surgeon were well aware of my fears of my pain not being controlled during my hospital stay and we had a plan for action just in case and it was executed just as planned and never even had to call the doctor while in the hospital. My pain management doctor even gave me his cell number just in case because I was so scared. I think I had made three extra appointments just to talk about this. I actually left the hospital two days early because my pain was controlled so well. I did not even need to stay on the PCA for more than 20 hours.

So all I can say is talk to your doctor until you are blue in the face and if and until you are satisfied before you have surgery. The last thing you want to do is go into surgery being anxious or scared. It's expected to be a little anxious, but not to the extreme.
Hopefully this has helped and given you a little information. You still have plenty of time to get with your doctor(s) ahead of time to get any questions answered.

Good luck and God bless.
Audrea

[mikeinohio271]

i am scheduled for a L4L5S1 fusion on oct 5 i have had five previous surgeries on l4 l5 and now they want to do fusion i am scared and apprehensive about the surgery however i am in lots of pain and if it works doc says lots of relief how long was your surgery and how many days in hospital just worrying thanks hope you are feeling relief