19 yo Stuart's Scoliosis Surgery: When can you get out of bed after surgery?

Stuart just finished up his exams at college, and came in to get his scoliosis fixed the next day.
I performed his surgery as usual over at Duke Raleigh Hospital next to Hey Clinic, in North Raleigh.
Our new high tech laminar flow operating room was used, with “Moon Suits”, and the latest infection prevention technologies.
His surgery took 2 hrs 20 minutes, and got an excellent correction.
Subcuticular skin closure was performed, which gives an excellent cosmetic skin final result.
His evokes sensory and motor evoked potentials were normal throughout surgery.
His blood loss was under 700 cc, and most of this blood was given back to him as cell saver.
He was comfortable and awake in recovery room, and was reunited with his family up on the orthopeadic floor an hour or 2 later.
When I came by to see him about 5 hours after surgery, he wanted to get up and take a walk.
Indeed, he did get up and walked all the way up and down the hall, and “hung out” at the nurses’s station for a while before heading back to bed.
He stayed 2 nights in the hospital, and went home doing very well.

Stuart and his parents actually watched one of my scoliosis surgery videos before surgery, and actually found it very comforting, so they understood the entire process.

Get well, soon Stuart, and enjoy your summer with your new shape!

Dr. Lloyd Hey
Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery
Raleigh NC  USA
http://www.heyclinic.com

FW: Alyssa Seagle Prom '08. DANCING ALL NIGHT AFTER L5S1 DISC REPLACEMENT

Below is an email from Alyssa, who had a very painful L5S1 annular tear that I fixed through a small anterior approach with an ALIF cage and plate a few months ago.
Her Xrays and story are on earlier blog entries.
She sent me this email today to let me know that her final outcome is beautiful!

Dr. Lloyd Hey
Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery
Raleigh, NC USA
http://www.heyclinic.com

------ Forwarded Message
From: Alyssa
Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 16:18:21 -0400
To: "Dr. Lloyd Hey"
Subject: Alyssa______   Prom '08

Dear Dr. Hey,  Here is a picture of the back that danced all night, THANKS TO YOU!!!!! You're the best!  See you soon!  
 

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FW: thankyou

From: Lesley
Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 00:06:42 -0400
To: "Dr. Lloyd Hey"
Subject: thankyou

just wanted to say thank you again for doing such a wonderful job today. I'm a little groggy, but wide awake from sleeping all day, so thought I would drop you a line.
I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the x-rays taken, what a difference!
I also wanted to thank you for making me feel so comfortable prior to surgery. Especially thank you for the prayer offer- for me personally prayer is a very private matter, but I think it's wonderful that you offer that support to your patients.
The spine blog is a great idea, and my parents and I were very excited to see it!
Thanks again,
 
Lesley

23 yo with hypokyphosis and scoliosis. Hey Clinic Surgery May 1, 2008

Today we helped a young lady who had an unusual long R thoracic scoliosis.
Her spine had severe hypokyphosis, so that the front to back diameter of her chest wall was way too thin, giving little room for lungs and heart.
This also gave her back a very “sunken in” appearance in addition to the rib hump and shoulder asymmetry.
I performed her surgery today at Duke Raleigh Hospital, keeping her parents posted during surgery.
She did great.
EBL 1200 cc.
Blood transfused: None.
Surgical time: 3 hrs 10 minutes.
Evoked sensory and motor potentials normal.
I was able to get an excellent correction, while sparing many of the lumbar discs for motion.
I was also able to “pull out” the chest, to get rid of the hyphokyphosis and that “sunken” look, increasing the size of the chest cavity for lungs and heart.

Postop location: private room with 2 beds for her and mom (and dad if he decided to stay)
She looked awesome at her postop check, wearing her cool hat and not complaining of much pain at all.
You go, girl!
She’ll probably be with us in the hospital 2 nights, and will be up and around tomorrow.

MUCH easier surgery with much less risk and MUCH quicker recovery for this 23 yo compared with the 70 yo yesterday, who had a severe thoracolumbar curve.
It is always better to find, and follow scoliosis and kyphosis starting at a young age, and seek to treat it earlier in life if necessary, since the results are much better, and the risks are far less.
However, surgery, when indicated, can definitely improve quality of life for the child, adolescent, young adult, middle-aged and older adult.


Lloyd A. Hey, MD MS
Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery
Raleigh, NC  USA
http://www.heyclinic.com

14 yo Adolescent Scoliosis Patient Dana takes 3rd place in 5k Running Road Race!

 

Got this nice note today from one of our scoliosis moms!

DR. LLOYD HEY

HTTP://WWW.HEYCLINIC.COM

Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery

Raleigh, NC  USA

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From: Patti
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 10:34 AM
To: Dr. Lloyd Hey
Subject:

 

Dr. Hey,

    Thought you would be interested to know that our daughter, Dana (14 years old now---scoli revision July 2006) took 3rd place overall in the womens division of the Morehead Lookout Rotary Spring Road Race 5k in Morehead City last Saturday, April 26. Her time was 23:32. She won a $50 gift certificate to Sanitary Restaurant! I know how scared we were before her surgery, so feel free to share this story to your patients that are pending surgery. She now has Regionals coming up this Saturday for high school track: 4x800m, 1 mile and 2 mile events. Pray for safety and swift feet! Thanks also for taking care of my long time friend and former teacher assistant Linda T_____ who you performed surgery on a few weeks ago. We are all grateful to you and your team as well as all the folks at Duke Raleigh Hospital for all you do for all of your patients.

Have a great weekend and a wonderful summer.

Patti ______________

 

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