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My mother is undergoing chemo, and also has osteoporosis. She has been diagnosed as having a vertebral compression fracture, and is experiencing quite a bit of pain.
A friend of hers from church is the same age (81), and recently had a procedure called kyphoplasty, which is basically the use of a ballon to restore the vertebral body height and shape.
It was an outpatient surgery, but it is not without risk. My mom's friend that had the procedure does not have cancer, so she had no issues with the surgery. But it seems that the risks I am reading about may complicate my mother's chemo treatments. Of course, we're going to run this by all of her related physicians before proceeding.
Has anyone had this procedure, and if so, how were the results?
I have bumped this up, because I’ve just had one, and I was not prepared for the pain or the length of recovery. I’m not sure if it was just my particular situation, or if it’s typical. Maybe someone else has had one since 10 years ago. A kyphoplasty is when they insert a small balloon into the cracked/collapsed vertebrae, inflate it and then squirt in a fast drying glue.
I have had nerve pain, including sciatica, requiring nerve blocks every 6 months or so, for years. I fell and cracked a vertebrae, so needed a kyphoplasty. The ER said I needed a neurosurgeon, not orthopaedic . I thought, Oh good, maybe all pressure will be off my nerves and I will not have backaches anymore.
I was in terrible pain, so I basically wanted it fixed asap. The kyphoplasty is outpatient and laparoscopic. There are two staples and a bandaid on the incision. The site of the kyphoplasty is painless. I was kind of led to believe the operation was like flipping a switch. You take the pressure off the nerves and never have nerve pain again.
I’m hoping that will be the eventual outcome, but the first week and a half, I was on oxycodone and still in pain.The pain moved around. First it was the right side, then the left side, then the spine itself.
It’s been 2 weeks and 3 days. I’m still on hydrocodone a muscle relaxer and a nerve relaxer, and I think I’ve turned the corner. I ve had many surgeries more serious than this and this is the first time I’ve taken narcotics for more than a few days.
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