Post From VATS surgury patient ( 2 level fusion of thorasic T3-4, T6-7)

I'll be more than happy to answers any questions you have about the VATS surgery. VATS stands for video assisted thoracic surgery. It is now becoming standard procedure for other thoracic procedures like heart surgery. There are only a handful of Dr's in the United States that can perform the operating technique on the thoracic spine. The problem is that the learning curve for the doctor is so high and the relative rarity of thoracic disc problems leads to no incentive for doctors to learn the procedure. Dr. John Regan helped pioneer the procedure in the early 90's and he is the one who just did my surgery. The benefits for the patients are enormous in that the doctor can go in from the side with 4 small holes and do a complete fusion rather than just a microdiscectomy. The thoracic spine is so stable due to the ribs that there really is no need to consider an ADR even if they were available. The length of recovery is greatly reduced. I had two levels fused on Friday and I was up and walking today. That being said it is still an extremely complex surgery and a lung had to be deflated to access the area. I did have a chest tube up until today as well. The procedure is also backed up by many studies and the insurance companies generally approve it with no fuss. Dr. Regan and most doctors who do perform it usually don't participate with the insurance companies, so it was out of network for me. Thankfully I have great out of network benefits.

If you have been following my story you know that I have been very frustrated by people not being able to understand the extreme intensity of the levels of pain I was in. Since the pain started it was so severe that I was not able to feel any emotions. I could not feel happy, sad, excited, etc. Only severe pain. This was very different from a depression. I would say that this was more something like depersonalization due to severe pain. I will definitely need to seek counseling of some sort when I return home as I am feeling a flood of emotion that is returning that has been completely foreign to me for two years. While most of it is good, I am experiencing periods of complete rage directed at the medical care professionals who ignored the correct diagnosis and refused to listen to me while I was dying from the pain and losing my home a the possessions that I had worked so hard for. Remember the first MRI two years ago diagnosed everything yet the proper diagnosis was ignored and I was written off.

Well anyway, I think the issues that I am facing and will face in the near future will pale in comparison to what I've made it through. I am on pretty high doses of IV dilaudid right now so I may not have answered everyone's questions. If you have any more, please do not hesitate to ask. I hope everyone here is doing the best that they can.
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Chiari 1 malformation - successful surgery 1-22-09
C5-6 herniation (extrusion) with moderate central canal stenosis and bilateral foraminal stenosis.
Prodisc-C @ C5-6 5-28-09

Herniations/Buldges @ C4-5, C6-7, C7-T1, T1-2, T3-4, T6-7, T11-12