Craig's Date With the Doctor

Well, we have a date for Craig's surgery--June 23. This allows Craig to go white-water rafting the week of June 15 and hopefully be able to start school, at least part time, on August 13. We had a good visit with the doctor, very informative, and I am quite comfortable with him doing the surgery. We found out lots of cool things, like they use a cell saver machine that recycles the blood that's lost and eliminates the need for a transfusion. They also have some way of monitoring his spinal cord so if they injure the cord during the surgery, they know in a matter of minutes when they can successfully solve the problem. He told me if they don't discover the problem until the patient is in recovery it's bad news.

The doctor is going to try to get the insurance company to cover the cost of the artificial bone that will be used in the spinal fusion. A bone graft is very painful and opens up another surgical site, but artificial bone is expensive and insurance companies balk at the cost. Craig's medical diagnosis comes into play here because it is inadvisable to open another surgical site. The best part is the doctor's office will handle the insurance company for us. I have successfully fought many a battle over bills with them, but I don't enjoy the process, only the victory, so I am happy to let someone else go to war for me this time.

Craig has developed a compensating curve up in his neck which is a bit of a concern. It makes the surgery trickier and a little more risky. He said he'll have to wait until they are in there to decide how to handle it.

They did a traction x-ray to get an idea of how flexible his spine is and how much curve correction they can expect. For a traction x-ray, two people pull on each of the the patient's legs and the doctor grabs him under the arms. Then they pull in opposite directions and an x-ray is taken. He expects a 50% correction in the curve. I think that's pretty standard.

Craig has taken everything in stride, except for the details that I had managed to keep from him until he asked. He's not happy about a catheter and firmly stated that he'll use a bedpan. It is unlikely he'll be capable of using a bedpan the first few days. He wanted to know if having a catheter hurts. Having only had the female version I can't truthfully say, but I suggested he ask his sister, who has inserted and removed several at the VA. I think that was TMI. He was horrified when I told him about sponge baths (he called them a violation of his privacy) and has declared that he'll bathe when he gets home. Unfortunately for him, he won't be in any position to fight it in the hospital.