scoliosis surgery

What Do I Need After Spinal Fusion Surgery ?

The transition home from the hospital after scoliosis spinal fusion surgery can be a daunting one, but preparing with some adaptive equipment can make the transition smoother! 

I polled our Forever Fused facebook community to find out what types of equipment proved to be the most helpful after surgery and here is what came up:

1. Elevated Toilet Seat - It will be a while before you can sit comfortably on a lower seat, so elevating the toilet seat and having handbars is super helpful! 

2. Reacher - to pull up bed sheets, or reach to get something off the floor or on another surface.

3. Sock Aid - if you want to take the time to put on socks! Otherwise slip on shoes will be the way to go. 

4. Bed Rail - to help with transfers in and out of bed

5. Lumbar pillow - you might need this one for a while, both in the car and for sitting elsewhere

6. Extended handle razor - for women to shave the legs as bending forward is difficult for a while after spinal fusion

7. Shower Seat - depending on your endurance, sitting for showering might be more comfortable in the first few weeks after surgery 

8. Soft, seamless, easy to pull on clothing and slip on shoes! Use the reacher to hook pants and undergarments to put feet through and pull up using the reacher / dressing stick.

9. Squatty Potty - to help with the GI side effects of pain medication 

10. Body Pillow - for bed positioning comfort 

11. Back Scratcher - because healing itches! 

Jen's Journey

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photography by Andi Schreiber

+BACKstory

When I was 8 years old, I was crowned the "limbo champ" at my summer camp.  That same year, I was also diagnosed with scoliosis. Apparently, my spine was bending in every direction - front, back, side to side.

+Diagnosis and Bracing

Like most children who receive a scoliosis diagnosis, I had no pain. It was picked up during a routine screening at the pediatrician. There is a history of scoliosis in my family, so while juvenile idiopathic scoliosis is less common than adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, it wasn’t much of a surprise.

By age 10, my “S curve” had progressed and I was braced. The brace was a hard plastic shell in two pieces, connected by 3 vertical metal bars - a thick one in the front and two thinner ones in the back. It spanned from my armpits to my pelvis. It was just as awful as it sounds, yet I was diligent in wearing it - for 23 hours a day, for four years. I don’t think many children love those preteen years, but they are definitely not improved by wearing a metal and plastic shell around a growing, changing and scrutinized preteen body. It was hot and sticky in the humid Houston heat. All of my clothes had holes in them where I rubbed the metal bar running down the front of the brace against my school desk. I went to a school where we wore a formal uniform with a blazer on Mondays. Unlike most of my classmates, I preferred Mondays because the blazer hid my brace better than the white polo shirts we wore the rest of the week. A seventh grade boy who sat behind me in orchestra amused himself by tapping on the bars of my brace with his viola bow. Those were not the best years of my life. I was shy. The brace, in a way, allowed me to hide. I literally never came out of my shell.

Read more on Jen's Blog HERE

Harrington Rod Revision

For anyone having chronic pain 15-30 years post Harrington Rod surgery, please listen to this very informative interview with scoliosis patient, Karen McCann.

Karen provides a wealth of information on Harrington Rod revision, flat back "syndrome", and navigating the health care industry with this very difficult to treat condition. 

Click HERE for link to podcast. 

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