Help I need some Answers re Fusions.

[Stars- in- the-sky]

Since my neck fusion of C5,C6 & C7 6 months ago i am still in much discomfort. Anterior and Posterior fusion. Pain is going away but slowly. I was told it takes about 1 year to feel ok again. Everynow and then I get this weird sensation upper chest area too. Almost like that area is heating up, warming up , or a slight hot flash. Its hard to explain. My heart has skipped a beat or two once or twice. It does not last too long and it comes and goes. The plate in my throat also feel like someone has a grip around my throat. I talked to my Dr. and he said because they had to cut through a bunch a nerves in the front of the neck that could be causing the problem. I dont know what to think. It causes me to panick and I hate that. Its very scary for me. I have never had any problems like this before. Would anyone know what this might be and if this is common with fusions? Has anyone gone through this?

[TomRL]

I had a C4-5-6 fusion years ago and didn't experience the symptoms you are describing. Make sure you tell your doc all the symptoms, especially about the heart rhythm. It could have a totally different explanation unrelated to the surgery.

[smokymtn memories]

How did they do an anterior and posterior fusion at the same time?

[firesmurf]

i am just wondering,considering what took place in that area,if your sympathetic nerveous system didn't take a hit.this could explain the skipped beats thing?after my spinal cord surgery,everything went a bit crazy for me in that and other departments,but by this time they had pretty much confirmed my SNS damage.it started out with a huge irregular heart rhythem while i was still in recovery and i NEVER ever had any sort of cardiac problems before then.then the horners syndrome set in in my L eye.that was the clincher.if i remember right the c7-t1 area is kind of a junction area where alot of nerves meet(and others do loop back up into the head again too) and the SNS is more prominent or something?i would have to go back and look at all my research info.that 'heat' thing you are feeling is most likely the more perceptionary type of sensation/pain that you get when your cord becomes damaged,or from the nerves being 'cut" or just plain old nerve damage.not too certain just what they had to actually cut there but the vagus nerve could also have become damaged and also could cause irregular beats too.it runs alongside the carotids and down thru out a pretty large area of our bodies.

one big thing i have noticed from all of my seperate nerve damaged areas,espescially within the L side of my face,is whever i bend over,the whole side of my nose just feels heat,plain old heat,not burning,just really hot.soon as i go back up again,its gone.wierd.but i also feel heat 'flushes' inother areas of my body too.small areas just flash a bit of heat every once in a while.usually when i change a posistion.

just some advice for you if you want to really know much more about your extent of injury and just what was done while you were in that surgery and in the hosp,obtain all of your medical records from the hosp that treated you,espescially the "op notes'(if you were first seen in that ER,get those too)?these are the notes every surgeon has to make after every single surgery that tells what they did,what they used as far as equipment.but i am sure you would gain at least some knowledge from obtaining all of this.ask for everything they have on you there in your central medical file.i do this with every surgery.just call that hosp and ask for the medical records dept and they will send out a document for you to fill out and sign and in about a week or so,all those records will be sitting in your mailbox.it really is pretty simple and you do get to read what went on.and also how well they took care of you too.you can also do this with every doc who you have seen since then too.they also have to make clinic notes after every doc appt you have.this too can give you at least your docs impressionon a few things concerning your overall condition.these do help to kind of 'sort you out'.

i have learned alot about my overall condition and extent of injurys just by doing this.this also gives that little glimpse into your treating docs heads.at the very least,you need to read thru those op notes.let us know how things are going.marcia

[Lee555]

I think Marcia has it pretty right about the nerves in the neck. The tightness you might be feeling would be the muscles the support the trachea and esophogus (SP?)which may have been nerve damaged. Same with the chest tightening. I get that feeling of the heart thumping away when the chest or should I say, rib cage, starts to get tight from muscle spasms. It will feel like your heart is skipping a beat, but I beleive it's more like you are feeling the heart at its expansion beat, hitting against the constricted chest wall muscles at the peak of the hard spasm.

I got to ask, is your doctor giving you anything for the nerve issues and maybe something like Xanax for the hightened sense of anxiety? I would ask for it if this was happening to me. I too was concerned about what I was feeling until I realized it was muscle spasms that was causing me to feel the beating of my heart a little more intimately.

[Stars- in- the-sky]

You know I am not on any medication at the time. I was taking Lyrica, Vicodin and Robaxin. It was all making me sick so I stopped. I know just eat well and take vitamins. I am still uncomfortable. The heart thumping seems to be going away. The tightness as well. Its comes and goes. So I do think it is a sign that its must just be nerve damage. Sometimes I feel very light headed like as if I could faint. I got copies of my medica reports. Wow I had some work done definitly LOL!!

This 30 year old female with C6 burst fracture with neurologic deficit. The patient will require a C6 corpectomy and C5 to C7 anterior and posterior fusion with titanium cage, screws, plate and rods with allograft bone.

Procedure:
C6 corpectomy
C5-6 and C6-7 diskectomies
C5, c6, and C7 anterior interbody fusion and arthrodesis
Fusion ith Medronic Titanium cage
Fusion with Nuvasive titanium plate and screws
Fusion with allograft (grafton)
Fusion with auto graft

I guess with all this work - is the reason I still feel so crappy.

[firesmurf]

honestly,with all that was done in that one very small area,i am not suprised that you are 'feeling' things there.there was alot of new stuff added to your neck area.the chances of real nerve damage or the nerves just being irritated and affected in some ways would be pretty high with what you had done.i would just keep track of your healing process and any strange things that keep occuring in a little journal or something?this REALLY helped me alot when i had my follow up appts with my NS during mostly that first year following my spinal cord surgery.it really does help to see patterns as you tend to forget things when they just pop in and go away?this puts it all down on paper and makes it sooo much easier to explain things when you see your NS for follow ups.just a suggestion for you that really helped me.it is also really interesting to be able to go back and read the hell i went thru that first year and the unbelieveable things i felt and other things that occured.its kind of a record of your healing process ya know?just a thought for you since i know you are feeling alot of new things and other things are changeing.it helps.please keep us posted,Marcia