ortho nurses!!!please advise

P_RN, ADN, RN · Dec 16, 2003

Did you ask your surgeon about the films?

When do you see the doctor again?

What kind of hardware did they use?

Did you have donor bone or your own bone for grafting?

Have you had a follow up film since the post op one?

Are you in a collar or have you just come out of one?

http://health.yahoo.com/health/centers/back_pain/411.html

You're what 4 weeks postop? See what the doctor says. And sometimes lines on a film are not fractures.

P

OCCHCanada · Dec 16, 2003

I have to agree. It's time to follow-up with the surgeon to review all your questions or concerns. Worrying about it is not helping your healing.

If it's nothing, then you've worried for nothing but if it is something that needs to be addressed - it must be addressed asap.

Good Luck

Keysnurse2008 · Dec 16, 2003

I had a titanium plate and 4 screws placed.My dr reviewed the films and kept me off work another 6 weeks to allow it to heal...he never had me in a c collar even post op i didnt have one.He is a workers comp doc and I have fought a battle to even get seen by him.....so I will probably go to an individual consult doc to evaluate me...because when all is said and done....I will be the one left with the injury results ...not risk mgmt or the workers comp doc.In answer to your question...I was never given a c collar.They did the discectomy and fusion and shipped me out to home like 3 hours later.......so ........how much trust do you think I have in them?

dragonfly954 · Dec 16, 2003

My mother-in-law had cages(2) and a pinched nerve repaired at 9 am and they sent her home at 2 pm with a brace and oxycotin.I stopped by to see her not believing they sent her home.supposed to be a 23 hr stay or more because of a severe reaction to anesthesia the last back surgery and hx of dvt.well her lips, her face'eyes were so swollen,respirations 8 and apneic,pasty white skin.i thought for sure she was dead.Medics thought she had been dead for a long time when they first saw her.She had a bad reaction to a drug again.She stayed in ICU for 2 weeks.The insurance company really saved a lot of money on that early d/c. :devil: :She retired as a nurse from that hospital and she won enough in court to retire forever.She is on disability.call and demand to get them to see you or refer you to someone else........yesterday.

Keysnurse2008 · Dec 16, 2003

you know......i love my job and the people i work with........if it weren't for that id quit and be out for blood.!!!!!!!!My esophagus was soooo swollen after this drive by surgery,... that i had to crush my pain pills and mix them with small sips of ice cold juice ....just to squeeze them through my swollen esophagus in liquid form.I am being seen by a competent dr who was the one to diagnose my problem(not a wcomp doc) ,...and she and the radiologist are going to take films of their own and evaluate me tommorrow.I tried to contact my neurologist and he was out of the office.....and i kept getting this recording. so perhaps tommorrow i will know more.

Keysnurse2008 · Dec 16, 2003

good for your motherin law!!!!!!I am sorry she had the experience ...but .....perhaps ....with cases such as these......it will make risk management see we are PEOPLE....just doing our JOBS....and that we didnt ASK for the INJURY....and that they should treat us with the same care as the treat other patients!!!!!

dragonfly954 · Dec 17, 2003

now the mother in law is on 150 mg methadone a day and still in pain,muptiple pain mgt trips,etc.nothing helps.I'm not saying the surgery did her any harm but she could have been managed better .Pursue a qualified person to give you answers if you are not happy.