18 Yo young lady w 83 degree painful kyphosis fixed this am

Surgical time: 3 hr 30 min
Ebl: 400 cc. Cell saver: 115 cc.
Blood transfused: none
Complications: none.

Fusion levels: T3-L3 instrumentation and fusion with 3 apical Smith Peterson Osteotomies.

Correction: looking real good. Hump back gone!

FW: My Two Year Scoliosis Anniversary Today!

“M” had adolescent idiopathic scoliosis that was never treated until she was 47, when I fixed it for her a couple years ago at Duke Raleigh Hospital.  

It is always great to hear these stories of people getting back to life and enjoying a better posture and a better quality of life.  Thanks for sharing, M!  You go girl!!!

“M” gave her permission to share these photos and email with all of you, and requested us call her “M” here on the Blog.

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


------ Forwarded Message
From: M_____________________
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:37:32 -0400
To: Lloyd Hey <>
Subject: RE:  My Two Year Scoliosis Anniversary Today!

Hello Dr. Hey!
 
Today marks my two year anniversary for scoliosis surgery! In addition, I am attaching a few photos from the second annual Freedom Run, in Wake Forest, on July 2, where I won my division! I placed in the top 25% overall, out of 286 runners!   My time was 25:54…not bad for a 49 year old with scoli!  Amazing!? …Yes!  You are amazing too! Thanks to YOU, I am able to run a 5K again!
 
I frequent your blog and happy to see that you are enjoying your summer in between surgeries.
 
I will be making an appointment to get checked soon, to be sure everything is in order.
 
Take care and God bless,
 
M_____________ J


------ End of Forwarded Message

Doing well after kyphosis revision extension fusion - video

I got a chance to see Lynn yesterday for her one year follow-up. She is doing just great. She had a multi-level minimally invasive XLIF fusion, complicated by a compression fracture at top of her fusion with a painful progressive kyphosis.

I performed a thoracic pedicle subtraction osteotomy with revision extension instrumentation and fusion. In the included video, she tells how this has dramatically improved her quality of life and posture. You can see the before and after xrays in our picture together yesterday.







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

Lynn gave her enthusiastic permission to share this photo and short video with all of you.

14 young lady with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis straightened up Monday, home today postop day 3. Other updates.

So sorry for delay getting to the Blog.  Last week I enjoyed some time off with family and friends, including a family celebration for my in-law’s 50th wedding anniversary.  A good time was had by all, and it was great to sit around my folk’s pool up on Long Island and see everyone together.  

It was back to work, though on Monday morning, where I was greeted by Harper and her family.  Harper is a 14 yo girl who is a big time soccer player.  She also has a fairly big time right thoracic idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) which has been progressive and at times painful.  Her curve is now over 40 degrees and it has definitely become fairly noticeable.  She told me Monday morning that her soccer team won a big tournament this past weekend, and now she was ready to get her scoliosis fixed before going back to school in a couple weeks.

Her surgery went very smoothly.  Intraoperatively,  I got the pedicle screws in, and then pressed down over the right rib hump.  Her curve would correct a bit, but then quickly spring back to it’s original curved state.  While I am a big fan for chiropractic treatment for back pain, it really surprises me when I hear the rare chiropractor claim that they can actually correct scoliosis with manipulation.  Based on my tests, it seems to just go quickly back where it started off....

We obtained a very nice correction using a special double rod technique and gradual translation and derotation.  Her right rib hump gradually disappeared.   After locking everything down and inserting the bone graft, we did care plastic surgery subuticular closure and put on the Dermabond and SteriStrips.  Her estimated blood loss was around 300 cc, and she received no blood transfusions.  Surgical time was a little under 3 hours.  I then got a chance to meet with Harper’s parents who were so glad that everything went well, and were excited to see the postop correction of the deformity.

She was able to go to a regular orthopaedic private room after surgery where her parents were waiting for her and could spend the entire stay with her.  She is planning to start school on time on August 25th --- about a week --- which believe it or not is quite possible for return to school == 10 days to 2 weeks or so for many adolescents postop.  She’ll also be starting back to practicing soccer this fall semester with an accelerated exercise program.

During surgery I had a very special observer  --- Brittaney Swift — Hey Clinic’s latest hire.  Brittaney is a Family Nurse Practitioner, with extensive experience as a pediatric intensive care nurse in Winston-Salem.  She did her nurse practitioner training at UNC.  We are so glad to have her on our team, and she’s quickly getting up to speed with help from the rest of the Hey Clinic Team!  Welcome Brittaney!

In addition to a busy operating room schedule this week, I got a chance to see several very interesting families.  First thing Monday morning, I saw a 15 yo young lady and her mom for a second opinion for scoliosis which has become quite painful. There was a complex health history including possibly Hoshimoto’s Disease.  Curves were measured elsewhere over 45 degrees, but to our measure her double curves were in the mid-thirties.  Good news for her!  We’ll hold off on recommending surgery at this point, and suggest checking other X-Rays in a few months.

Also saw a 56 yo woman referred to me by Dr. Dan Albright from Raleigh Orthopaedics with a very painful scoliosis. This patient obviously had a adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, with right thoracic curve which was never treated.  40 years have gone by, and her thoracic curve has progressed a bit. But the BIG problem is that the lumbar compensatory curve below that curve has gradually degenerated and collapsed, causing increasing debilitating pain which has unfortunately limited her ability to work!  I added a green arrow to the picture to show the downward and to the right collapsing direction for her spine.  This is why I get so excited about the importance of early detection and early intervention for scoliosis --- it can help prevent big time problems later in life where the “fix” is a much bigger surgery at a time in life where the curve is bigger and stiffer, you don’t heal as quickly and well, and there is more chance for complications.  Also, we all know that life gets more complex as we get older, as people depend on us more, rather than being able to lean on our parents and others.

Today I saw a very thankful 50 “ish” woman back for follow-up who had surgery with me a year ago.  She had a multilevel XLIF fusion done elsewhere, and then developed a very severe proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) at the thoracolumbar junction.  She was in a lot of pain and had a large hump on her back for this otherwise very attractive lady.  She was told that nothing could be done.  We did a thoracic pedicle subtraction osteotomy with extension instrumentation and fusion for her.  She’s done great postop, and now looks great and feels great!  I left her picture and video clip on my camera in clinic this evening, which she said I could share with all of you.   She actually runs, and exercises every day and is some sort of a dancing leader in a marching band!  She gave me a big hug, and we got a “graduation” picture of the two of us together with her X-Ray.  Great way to end clinic.

Was on the phone last night with John from California about his concerns about pain after thoracolumbar instrumentation and fusion for scoliosis a couple of years ago as an adolescent.  Differential diagnosis would include pseudarthrosis with loose or broken hardware, adjacent level failure / severe degeneration or pain related to hardware itself hitting muscle or other tissue.  Hope you get some relief John.

Our little girl Olivia we did Early Onset Scoliosis Surgery a week or so ago is doing very well recovering at home.  

Take care and have a great weekend.

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

Hey Clinic Early Onset Scoliosis T-Shirt Time. Serving patients and physicians in eastern North Carolina.

Got this nice email and picture yesterday from Maggie’s mom, our most recent early onset scoliosis (EOS) reconstruction using Shilla technique. Maggie’s family got together with Janelle’s family on Friday, and got this nice picture of both girls in their Hey Clinic T-Shirts. Both families gave their permission to share this photo and brief email with all of you!

I am on vacation this week, which is great. I am also visiting some patients and clinics in eastern North Carolina yesterday and today as well. Met with Dr. Jamie Crosswell, a family practitioner in Beaufort, NC and got him a scoliometer and some diagnosis and screening tips for scoliosis and kyphosis. Increasing awareness for the importance of scoliosis screening and follow-up across the full age spectrum can result in earlier detection and better confirmation of possible curve progression by allowing for accurate measurements over time. This can also result in earlier interventions which may be less or non-invasive.

Dr. Crosswell has generously offered to have me use some of his clinic space to see some of our patients from Eastern North Carolina, where Hey Clinic has developed many relationships with patients and physicians, chiropracters, and physical therapists. I was impressed with Dr. Crosswell and his staff --- he’s compassionate, and always eager to serve better. His staff are well organized, and his clinic is clean and comfortable, right on Route 70 in downtown Beaufort.

I’ve been seeing patients from eastern North Carolina since my early days working at Duke when I had a clinic in Smithfield NC in Dr. Bylciw’s office.

This morning I am heading up to visit a patient in New Bern, NC and then will likely take the rest of the day off and go out to Cape Lookout National Seashore with the family.

Here’s Maggie’s Mom email that accompanied the cute picture of Janelle and Maggie!

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

Hi Dr. Hey! Our family had the blessing of spending some time with Maggie's family at their home Friday night!!
Katrina and I took this precious picture of the girls in their Hey t-shirts. We wanted to share the joy with you!!

Blessings!!
Lisa

New Friendship Created Through Hey Clinic Scoliosis Network

Got this nice note from Pat, one of our out of State scoliosis postop
guests, who got together with another one of our guests. There is a whole
supportive network of relationships, that sometimes results in long-term
friendships. Pat and Nancy gave their permission to share this short
email and photo with all of you!

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

------ Forwarded Message
From: Pat
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 19:51:30 -0400
To: Lloyd Hey <>
Subject: Emailing: photo (14)

Hi Dr. Hey! Just thought you might like to see the friendship you
created!!!!! Nancy and I finally got to meet after 2 years of
communicating by phone and email! We had a great lunch together. Thanks
again for everything!!!! Pat

One of our kyphosis teenager surgery patients doing great and working as an elementary teacher.

Got this nice note today from Erin, who is several years out from her kyphosis surgery we did before she went off to college at Appalachian State to become a teacher.
We always love to hear back from our guests as they continue to grow up and move into new chapters of their lives, and send us updates on how their new posture and spine health is a part of their long-term quality of life.

One of the services we offer for our guests is to check X-Rays locally after surgery, and review them at Hey Clinic.  This really helps people like Erin who live 5 hours away.... Or some who are even further away, even international.  Reviewing films and touching base via email or Skype or mobile is a great way to stay in touch and minimize disruptions for work and family.   We always LOVE to see families back at Hey Clinic, but we do work hard to keep the trips to a minimum.  Sometimes people plan return trips to do fun things in North Carolina, like visit Raleigh, local college shopping, or go to our beautiful mountains or crystal coastline / beaches.

Dr. Lloyd Hey
Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery

------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2011 15:22:56 -0700 (PDT)
To: Lloyd Hey <>
Subject: X-Rays

Dr. Hey! So sorry I did not return your e-mail sooner, it got sent to my spam folder somehow.  Thank you for checking those x-rays.  I just wanted to make sure everything was still looking good.  I am doing great! I teach 4th grade at Hayesville Elem. and I am getting married next June. Yikes! I almost sound like a grown-up! My back feels great and I still have no problem with exercise.  Thank you so much for all you have done for me.  You are awesome! I hope all is well with you! I wish you all the best!
 
Erin

8.5 Yo girl with early onset idiopathic scoliosis fixed today

Ebl 450 cc
Cell saver 250 cc
Surgical time: 3 hr 05 min.
Complications: none
Correction: quite good!

We've been bracing little Olivia for a few years, but her curve has continued to progress fairly rapidly.

She is a total joy to our whole clinic. Today she surprised me in PReop with a wonderful fancy ball tip pen that has "best doctor ever" engraved on it! It came in a black box with my name on it. I have never had such a fancy pen. Her hand made card was absolutely precious as well.

One of Our Hey Clinic College Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) guests shares her trip to Thailand.

Email I received recently from Samantha with some pictures from her trip to Thailand that she said we could share on the Blog!  -- Dr. Lloyd Hey

----------------

My Mom and I went to Thailand to visit my foreign exchange student from a couple years ago. We had a 25 hour flight, which was torture, of course. We stayed in Bangkok for eleven days, went to their mountain house in Saraburi, and also stayed at the beach, Hua Hin, for a couple days. We did everything! Swam in the Thai ocean off their boat, went jet skiing, saw a ton of temples, ate dinner on the Chao Phraya River, went shopping at the floating market, and most impressive, road elephants, it was simply amazing. Everything was beautiful. We were fortunate enough to be present for the changing of the Emerald Buddha's coat at the Emerald Temple. Every wall, statue, and alter is covered in gold leaf, which is breathtaking. I remember walking from building to building within the ancient temple site, in complete awe of the way the sun kissed every mosaic tile, exploding with glittering light.
Riding the elephants was definitely my favorite activity. Elephants in Thailand are like horses here, which I found incredible, for obvious reasons. The elephant we rode was almost eighty years old. I will treasure that experience always. Although rest was very hard to come by on our trip, my back held up very well, all thanks to you and your team.

Without my third spinal surgery, I would never have been able to go on this once in a lifetime trip. Nattacha, my foreign exchange student, had to watch me suffer with a broken rod the entire year she was with us. She took care of me and we became more like sisters than just friends. It was the greatest feeling to finally be able to have fun with her without worrying about my back and all the pain. We walked everywhere all day everyday and I could not believe how well I did. Unfortunately, I broke my toe a few days before we were set to leave, fell over a tree stump at the temple and cut my leg in front of some monks, and got sun poison at the beach, but my back, my back made it through with incredible stability and very little pain. I am truly so thankful to you all. Dr. Hey, you made it possible for me to not only accomplish a great dream of mine, but to more importantly, enjoy it. 

My spine will now continue to get better and better all because you have put me back on the right track. I'm confident that if I could make it 9,024 miles to Thailand with my new back, that I can now do so many other things I could not do before. You guys really saved me. You guys are the reason I could reunite with my sister all the way across the world. I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.

One last thing about the trip, which happens to be one of the very few negatives I have about Thailand, from a scoliosis patient point of view, the traffic was the absolute worst I've ever experienced. If anything was hard on my back it was the traffic, bumpy roads, and constant stop and go. Since we've been home, I never complain about the roads of North Carolina :) which may be a good thing. If you have any further questions feel free to e-mail me.

Samantha



---------------------

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