pararich
12-25-2006, 08:38 PM
I am very visually oriented.
I go to Google images and type in spinal lesion or some variant.
I get indistinct MRIs.
I have long rods in my back. They cut down the center of my back from neck to butt.
My doctor (Vacarro) said the damage was the worst he'd seen (this is hard to believe). Was he saying this to make me aware of what he'd done for me?
What was The procedure? The doctor said they were concerned that I might not make it, because of bleeding that was hard to control. I had transferred from Hannemann to Jefferson and the operation was about 4 days after my accident. Apparently, by opening me up, the blood held back by surrounding tissue now flowed freely. They thought my aorta might be punctured. Could it really have been that dicey?
Not only am I interested in and awed by medicine, I also want to know what happened to my body.
It amazes me that they did what they did.
They also collapsed a lung and did an operation from the front a couple of days later.
When I saw the surgeon I wasn't ready to ask for specifics and also felt intimidated. I felt "less than" when he asked me about myself. He said I had a very nice family but he didn't know much about me.
It was like, he's a very good doctor, he did a difficult life threatening operation on me, and now he wanted to know about me.
I wanted to impress him and I did not feel impressive! I was a carpenter and made a modest living, I'm unmarried, no kids etc.
My back is stiff as a board. It doesn't feel good. There was no return of function or feeling below T6 or 7. At the first hospital I think they said one option would skip the rods. If this is so, what was better about putting in rods?
What is this operation called (putting in rods)?
Where can I see actual pictures of the procedure?
Are doctors considered some kind of high priests or something so that their procedures are sort of secret?
Is it just too gory to show graphic procedures to lay-persons?
Ideally, there'd be a system which would animate, in 3 dimensions, the inside of my body based on input from actual imaging devices. Flying through blown up images would be a nice touch. There could be different layers ie: skeletal, vascular, nervous systems, which could be viewed separately or in various combinations.
I go to Google images and type in spinal lesion or some variant.
I get indistinct MRIs.
I have long rods in my back. They cut down the center of my back from neck to butt.
My doctor (Vacarro) said the damage was the worst he'd seen (this is hard to believe). Was he saying this to make me aware of what he'd done for me?
What was The procedure? The doctor said they were concerned that I might not make it, because of bleeding that was hard to control. I had transferred from Hannemann to Jefferson and the operation was about 4 days after my accident. Apparently, by opening me up, the blood held back by surrounding tissue now flowed freely. They thought my aorta might be punctured. Could it really have been that dicey?
Not only am I interested in and awed by medicine, I also want to know what happened to my body.
It amazes me that they did what they did.
They also collapsed a lung and did an operation from the front a couple of days later.
When I saw the surgeon I wasn't ready to ask for specifics and also felt intimidated. I felt "less than" when he asked me about myself. He said I had a very nice family but he didn't know much about me.
It was like, he's a very good doctor, he did a difficult life threatening operation on me, and now he wanted to know about me.
I wanted to impress him and I did not feel impressive! I was a carpenter and made a modest living, I'm unmarried, no kids etc.
My back is stiff as a board. It doesn't feel good. There was no return of function or feeling below T6 or 7. At the first hospital I think they said one option would skip the rods. If this is so, what was better about putting in rods?
What is this operation called (putting in rods)?
Where can I see actual pictures of the procedure?
Are doctors considered some kind of high priests or something so that their procedures are sort of secret?
Is it just too gory to show graphic procedures to lay-persons?
Ideally, there'd be a system which would animate, in 3 dimensions, the inside of my body based on input from actual imaging devices. Flying through blown up images would be a nice touch. There could be different layers ie: skeletal, vascular, nervous systems, which could be viewed separately or in various combinations.