| I had my doctors appointment today with Dr. Sasso, one of the best spine surgeons in the state. I was VERY pleased with how the day went, and I came away pretty encouraged and the feeling that something actually WILL change for me. Basically I started the day out by going around to all the hospitals and retreiving my medical records. The file was huge...and my xrays were crazy. There were documents in there describing my surgeries and stuff...it was quite interesting. Ayway.......what my doctor said was that he does want to do surgery in the near futiue!!! There is a part of my back up in my neck that the rod is protruding out of. He said there is a huge bolt at the top of the rod that is too high and too big and it is growing weird with my spine. I could see it in the x ray and when he pushed on it, i could feel it. ( ill have to let you all feel it....its kinda gross..hahaha)Its actually cool, because it was exactly what i had explained to him and what ive been feeling over the years, and he pointed it out perfectly! So....he wants to take that part of my rods out completely. He says that it will pretty much releive all of the pain in my back, since the neck is what holds up your head and shoulders. I explained how I am so tired because i try to have good posture, but my neck always feels like its falling forward, so it basically just wears me out....he says all of that will be fixed. Down the road, he will put some sort of stabalizing fixture in my neck to be sure that it will not go foward anymore....but for now, all he wants to do is take some stuff out of my back that is hurting me.....and that is AWSOME news!!!! He doesnt really think that its necessary to take out all of the rods, and replace them with something else...cuz he said he doesnt want to touch anything that is already doing good work(holding my spine in place) And I am fine with that...In the beginning when I said i wanted to rods out....i could feel my rods hurting me, I just didnt know exaclty where......he pointed that out for me today, and so that is the part he will be taking out. He said the only thing that is really causing me pain is that one part, and with that gone...it would be a huge difference. He did say that with marfans, i probably will always have to deal with some stiffness in my back,....i need to just deal with that i guess, and im trying to deal with that realization....but he is also putting me in physical therapy which will basically teach me ways to move without hurting myself and stuff. The bottom part of my back is always hurting too, and he said that the curve down there actually looks pretty good....so its not the scoliosis that is hurting...its arthritis, which sucks alot, but he said the physicaly therapy and pain management routines will help with all of that. I told him I didnt want any pain medication, because i dont. I dont want any of that until i absolutely HAVE to have it. I think that made him happy, since most of the people he sees are just there to get pills......I think thats why he was so willing to find a way to help me. It was funny cuz he walked in after looking at my xrays and says in a cocky-doctor-ish way...." What would you do if I could just make all of your pain, just disapear?"......haha...i was like, ummmm i would think that you were awsome! hahahaha...and thats when he told me what he wanted to do. overall, i came out of that appointment feeling VERY accomplished and overall, just really happy. I know some people dont want to hear the word surgery, but I was really hoping this doctor would do something to help me...and I think hes wanting too! Again, i really feel like God is directing my steps. This surgeon is one of the best! He also talked very highly of my surgeons in the past! Honestly, I started to have an emotional breakdown while in the exam room before he came in....I had a long day....I had to wait for like 2 hours because he had an emergency and all of his appointments were behind. I had alot of time to think and I just didnt want to get turned away again. I didnt think I could handle hearing another doctor tell me" well youre just gonna have to live with this and move on"....cuz thats what some of them have told me. I started crying while sitting in the room, just cuz i started to think about all of the bad things he couldve said when he walked in....for some reason I wasnt being very optimistic....but it all worked out good and I actually got an answer to all of my questions that i have been wodering about for a long time. I know that my back problems are never going to go away...and I think that i know that now.....but at least there are doctors out there that are willing to help me deal with it as life moves on. As far as a timeline goes...Im not really sure what will happen. He hasnt told me any details, and we havent even decided if its a for sure thing. Im supposed to go through physical therapy for a month, and go back to let him know if I want to go through with the surgery. Ill keep everyone updated. I know when i wrote that blog months ago about all of this, you were all wondering about how it was all going to turn out, so this is the outcome for right now...thanks for thinking of me! have a good night :) |
