Thursday, my husband had a wreck on his way to work. He has had a cough for a few weeks and went to the doctor and it still hasn't gone away. He was coughing and coming up to a T in the road and missed the stop sign. He slammed on the brakes and held the steering wheel so tight that as he slammed into the ditch it bent the steering wheel and he stomped on the brakes so hard the light wouldn't go off once this was over. Anyway, in the course of this slamming and banging through the ditch he managed to receive a compound fracture of his L5 vertebrae. This is an unusual vertebrae to break apparently. Anyway, he went to the emergency room where they discovered the extent of his injury. The next day we went to a spinal surgeon who will be doing a kyphoplasty surgery this coming Wednesday. He is in tremendous pain and can barely walk. A friend loaned us a real nice walker without which I don't know how we would of made it to the doctors office. Thank God for pain pills as he is in so much pain when they begin to wear off that it makes him cry. Its very hard to see a big strong man cry from pain.
ky·pho·plas·ty
ˈkīfōˌplastē/
noun
the surgical filling of an injured or collapsed vertebra. This procedure restores original shape and configuration and relieves pain from spinal compression.
The procedure is very interesting and is supposed to relieve pain almost immediately. He should be able to walk with out pain right away. The healing time will be from the incisions which may be a little larger due to the fact that he is a large man. We asked if there was a chance of the body rejecting the stuff they inject and were told that it will make that bone the strongest one in his body and he would not reject the composite stuff they inject. That is good news.
When something like this happens it really makes you thankful for good health and a body that works.
Oh no! I will be praying for him.
ReplyDeleteHow is he doing?
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