The walking Hardware Store

Today Chris had her second post surgery follow up visit with Dr. Holte. It's hard to believe that three months have passed since that bitter cold morning in early February. Our lives have surely changed since that day and continue to do so for the better. The level of pain that Chris experiences now is virtually none. What discomfort there is comes form the healing process post surgery. The pain that she as dealt with from the last 5 years is gone. Praise the Lord!


Chris' follow up went well. The Doctors says she is right on track. The hardware is still solid and he is able to see that the various bone grafts are starting to knit with her tail bone and vertibre. This fusing of the grafts and her bone is the most critical part of the post surgery recovery. Some patients bodies don't accept the grafts and the fusion never happens. When we heard the storys during consultation that a procedure was not successful, it was generally because of this lack of fusion. In those cases the hardware is the only thing holding everything together. What the hardware is supposed to do is hold things in place so the grafts can fuse. So thankfully the early indications are that the surgery was a success.

I've included several photos of Chris' X-Rays in this entry. The top one is a view from the back which shows all the main hardware that was installed during the second phase of the surgery which went in from the back. In it use can clearly see the screws, brackets and rods that are holding the L5 vertabre and the tailbone in place. You can also see the snaps on the pants that Chris wore to the appointment! They are the little rings on either side of the hardware.

The photo dated 3-1-07 is the side view X-Ray taken on her first visit back in March. This was the week that we got 28 inches of snow if you'll recall. In this photo you can see the bone graft that is in the place where her disc used to be as well as the screw and washer that are holding the graft in place. The bone graft is kind of wedge shaped and without the screw could have the tendancy to slide out of place. That would NOT be good! In this photo you can also see how long the screws are that are holding the brackets and rods in place.The last photo dated 5-1-07 is the same side view two months later. In it you can see the bone graft is less clearly defined and actually seems fuzzy. This is a good thing as it shows that the donor bone is knitting with Chris' natural bone.