Dad Is Through Surgery: Successful :)
Added 2024-01-04 01:26:22 +0000 UTCI’m in the hospital with him right now. He’s got a big neck brace on. What does he ask the moment I get in? lol. Hey, Scott, can I have some sippage? Basically his way of asking me to help him drink some soda, haha. He is doing well.
The surgery and cause is below:
1. Reason for the treatment (diagnosis, condition, or indication): pain and discomfort caused by damaged disc or pinched nerve.
2. Treatment/procedure: This procedure achieves decompression of the cervical spinal cord by surgical removal of disc(s), ligaments, and bone spurs. The spine is the stabilized using grafts, a plate, and screws.
3. During the operation, this patient is positioned face up. The surgeon makes an incision in the neck, and the muscles and great vessels (carotid and jugular veins) are pulled to the side and held using a self-retaining instrument. The surgeon can then identify the target with an x-ray. The vertebral disc is removed, allowing the surgeon to see the bone spurs protruding against the spinal cord and nerve roots. The bone spurs are removed, and often the posterior longitudinal ligament is also removed.
The spine is then fused in the area where the vertebral disc(s) used to be, by applying a graft, covering the graft with plate, and attaching the plate to the vertebral bodies above and below with screws. X-rays are used to confirm the proper fusion, and then wound is closed. Sometimes a drain is included, and comes through a lateral incision.
