RSS
Home
Back Surgery - Kathy's Story
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Little did Kathy know when she hurt her back five years ago that it would come back to haunt her with disastrous consequences.
The year 2004 was a good year; Kathy had a job that paid decent money and her husband, Frank had an excellent job. During a trip to Atlanta, they went to see a major country singer at the local arena. Kathy never thought about walking down cement steps in her sandals. Almost the minute her feet hit the steps, she began falling, six steps, and flat on her back. Frank tried to catch her, but it all happened too fast. Kathy did not think too much about her back at the time, she was worried about her wrist, which she had fractured previously, after falling off a boat. “There wasn't any alcohol involved this time," she thought to herself. She prepared herself to be sore and bruised the next day.
It was not until a few months later that her back went out. She lost almost a week off work. Her doctor put her on Darvacet for the pain. When that did not work, he switched it to Percocet, then Morphine. Every year Kathy's back would go out and she would follow the same routine, more medication, sometimes even hospitalization. Eventually her doctor put her on Oxycotin and Morphine together. Kathy went to a pain clinic that her doctor referred. Kathy had Cortisone shots, which would work for a while, and then it would happen again the next year. Everything stayed the same. More narcotics, hospitalization, and pain clinic. Kathy told her doctor "she was either a doctor's dream patient or horror patient." They would both laugh.
November 2008 was a year she will never forget. One Saturday morning, in November, she got out of bed to go to the bathroom. As she turned the corner, her back went out. This time it was different, she fell to the floor and had to crawl back to the bedroom to wake Frank. "Please, take me to the hospital," she sobbed, "I can't stand up." Frank quickly got dressed and helped Kathy get dressed. It was just past 6 o'clock a.m., so hopefully there would not be many at the ER. Tests were done and Kathy was admitted to the hospital.
After being in the hospital for five days, Kathy had a follow-up appointment with her doctor. He advised her that she would need to see an orthopedic surgeon and his office made the appointment. In the meantime, he told her she would not be able to work until the beginning of January. Prescriptions were written and Frank took Kathy home to rest.
In January 2009, Kathy and Frank went to see the surgeon and after examining her, he told her that she should see a pain management doctor. Kathy explained that she had seen doctors and had the cortisone injections but they didn’t work. The surgeon said they were just anesthiologists, not trained pain management doctors. Once again, appointments were made and prescriptions for pain written. She was told she would be off work until a decision was made whether she should have surgery or not.
Approximately a week later, Kathy and Frank were sitting in the examination room of the pain management doctor. He came in, examined her, and told her there were a couple options they could do. Try the cortisone shots again or start doing tests to see where exactly the back was injured. Kathy told him she would try the shots again. Days later, Kathy was in an operating room and had two shots injected into her back. She left the hospital still in pain. The shots had not worked. Another appointment was scheduled.
Once again, Kathy and Frank sat in the examination room waiting for the pain doctor. He suggested that they do tests to find the injury. Kathy and Frank agreed to have the procedures done. The doctor explained that he would be doing a series of x-rays and MRIs. He would also be doing a diagnostic procedure that involved a 3” long needle. Kathy asked if she would be put to sleep for that procedure and was told no.
The x-rays and MRIs were done and it was now the day for the 3” needle procedure. Kathy was scared to death as they wheeled her into surgery. The doctor greeted her and explained she would have to lie on her left side. He would then insert the needle into her side and guide it into the vertebrae that showed damage, then take x-rays.
The pain was horrendous. Kathy screamed as she pushed her face into the pillow that they gave her. In her lifetime, Kathy had never had such pain. Her two c-sections were nothing compared to this. Once the procedure was over, the doctor said, she did wonderful. The only thing that Kathy could say in between the sobs was, “You will never do that to me again!” She was then rolled into recovery and after about an hour, she went home with Frank, her side hurting from the needle insertion.
At her next appointment with the pain doctor, he told Kathy and Frank that she had a torn disk that needed to be operated on. He explained that he would forward his reports to the surgeon.
A few weeks later, the surgeon told Frank and Kathy that she definitely needed back surgery. It was late March, Kathy wanted to schedule the surgery, but there was one problem. Her son was getting married in July. She didn’t want to attend his wedding in a wheelchair or using a walker. She asked the doctor if he could schedule it for August. He replied that she had suffered with the pain this long, what would a few months matter.
Kathy continued to battle the pain her back caused her, but she felt that she had made the right decision in waiting for the surgery. The months flew by and finally it was the day of her son’s wedding. She was still in horrible pain; however, she smiled through it. She accompanied the bride’s mother to the alter to light the unity candles. Upon returning to their seats, Kathy and Sonia hugged each other. Suddenly, Kathy’s back went out and she let out a little cry. She went to her seat searching through her purse to find tissues. She thought to herself that people would probably think she was crying because her son was getting married. Kathy sat through the ceremony, crying softly. Maybe a little for the ceremony and a little for her back pain.
The reception was wonderful. Kathy knew she would have to put on a brave face. She had to dance with her son for the Mother/Son dance. During the dance, she playfully pulled out her son’s handkerchief from his tuxedo and dabbed her eyes. This time she cried because her relationship with her son would change forever. In the middle of the reception, Kathy was walking back to her table when her back once again went out. Frank and Kathy's brother, Jim helped her out to her car where she sat sobbing. Frank found one of her pain pills in her other purse. After several minutes, Kathy went back into the reception with the help of Frank.
Two weeks after the wedding, Kathy was scheduled for surgery. She would be having abdominal spinal fusion surgery. One surgeon would be making an incision through her abdomen, moving out her internal organs, and then the orthopedic surgeon would be taking a piece of her hip and putting it into the disk that was herniated. A steel cage would then be put around the disk.
The day after the surgery was the first day Kathy remembered. The pain was awful, resonating from her belly to her hip and back. Kathy wished she had never made the decision for surgery. Little did she know there were complications awaiting her.
Kathy was taken to her mother’s home because she had first floor bedrooms. For the next several days, Kathy slept, only waking to take her pain pills and antibiotics. About a week and a half after the surgery, Kathy went into the bathroom and discovered she was bleeding from her incision. The incision had split open, blood everywhere. Kathy called the surgeon who performed the incision. He told her to come to his office right away.
Once there, he told Kathy and her mother that she would need to have the incision packed on a daily basis. His office contacted Visiting Nurse Services. The nurse would come, pack the incision, and examine Kathy for any infection or fever. After a few days, Kathy was informed that Visiting Nurse Services would no longer be able to come due to her insurance regulations. One of Kathy’s friends, Marsha offered to pack the incision on a daily basis. The incision finally healed after a few weeks, however; the pain continued in her back. Kathy decided to schedule her physical therapy session as prescribed by her surgeon.
On the first day of her physical therapy, the therapist was examining her as she lay on a table, the therapist raised Kathy’s left leg into the air toward her chest. Kathy cried out and said she thought her incision had split again. Sure enough, upon leaving the therapy, blood was all over her jeans. She went to her mother’s and immediately called the first surgeon who made the abdominal incision. Again, another trip to his office where he packed the incision, telling her that it would need packed every day until it healed. Marsha, Kathy’s friend, again started packing her incision. Finally, after a couple of weeks, her incision was healed for the second time.
Today, a year after Kathy’s back went out, she is still in constant pain. She walks with a cane, cannot sit, or stand for long periods of time. She is on disability through her employer, although her job has been abolished. Kathy was told by her employer that she had to file for Social Security Disability. She had to go through withdrawal from all the Morphine, Oxycontin, Percocet, and Darvacet that she had been prescribed. Kathy is homebound because she cannot walk very far, although she is trying to, by walking with a neighbor. Unfortunately, after walking, her back goes into spasms and she has to reach for her pain pills and muscle relaxers. Kathy knows that the surgery didn’t work for her and as each day goes by, she wonders what her life will become.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
.jpg)
