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Recovery after Surgery


JohnWesleyHardin

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Friends, I have to have Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) surgery Friday.  One disc, two vertebrae.  If anyone has had this surgery, how long was it before you could start shooting again?

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Sorry to hear this pard. If ya need anything let us know. Just guessing on my part but I would figure on 3 months. 

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Dr.  been a little vague about when I can shoot.  I am hoping I can still go to Land Run.  I might not miss any matches but a lot of practice time for sure.

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1 hour ago, Chili Pepper Kid, SASS #60463 said:

Sorry to hear this pard. If ya need anything let us know. Just guessing on my part but I would figure on 3 months. 

 

Yup.

 

https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/spinal-fusion/3-weeks-3-months-after-acdf-surgery

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 Prayers for a speedy recovery.  I agree you need to work with your surgeon.  It would be a shame to rush and take a risk.  I had a spinal fusion of L3 and L4 and pushed the recovery in 1988.  I have paid for it.  Recovery would be much faster today, but I still would follow the advise of your pt or surgeon.

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3 hours ago, JohnWesleyHardin said:

Dr.  been a little vague about when I can shoot.  I am hoping I can still go to Land Run.  I might not miss any matches but a lot of practice time for sure.

Meticulously follow your MD advice.  They really do know much more than we do.  There are some big risks with doing things that reinjure your cervical spine area. 

Also better be finding some  light loads, particularly SG, at least for a time. 

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by all means follow the dr directions to a tee , i know  a couple trap shooters - one followed and is doing well , one did not he is in a bad place , they generally wont fix it if you dont , better to be safe than sorry , miss a shoot to get to make all those in the future you want to do , better than sitting on the sidelines , just sayin , 

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On 1/1/2020 at 5:37 PM, JohnWesleyHardin said:

Dr.  been a little vague about when I can shoot.  I am hoping I can still go to Land Run.  I might not miss any matches but a lot of practice time for sure.

 

Pard, please do not rush your recovery. I share clinic space with Orthopedics and I hear them every week talking about someone who rushed into things and have a bad outcome. Landrun will be there in 2021 if it don't work out this year. Sgt. Duroc & JB Kid will still be around for you to beat. 

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23 hours ago, Dusty Devil Dale said:

Meticulously follow your MD advice.  They really do know much more than we do.  There are some big risks with doing things that reinjure your cervical spine area.


This is absolute truth.
My neighbor did not do this, went back to being active too soon, and is now permanent and stationary in pain.

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Holy cow hope it all goes well. After having lower back surgery I can repeat what has been said. Follow your post surgery orders to the T. If assigned therapy do it, all of it! Hope to see you at the Social, mend well!

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Yes, had it done, C6-C7 and C7-T1 at the base of my neck.  I have a plate spanning those 3 vertabrae and 2 screws in each anchoring it, with cadaver bone in between.

 

This was before I started cowboy shooting, so I can't speak to a time table.  But I agree that is a question to ask the medical professionals that are familiar with your case.

 

Since shooting long guns provide impact in the form of recoil to your shoulder, and the bones take time to fuse or grow together, I would want to be as sure as possible that I wasn't going to mess anything up.

 

That said, I was scuba diving on the great barrier reef in Australia less than a month after surgery with the blessing of the surgeon more or less....

 

 

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Thanks for all the advise.  Home from surgery.  Everything went well.  Feel pretty good actually.  Doc pretty vague about when I can shoot.  Sounds like I will miss Landrun at the least.  

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Now the biggest thing will be...Listen to the therapists and the doctor and NOT to some of your"buddies". Glad everything went well and here's to a speedy and complete recovery. Get yourself back to abnormal by shooting time.

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Glad to hear it went well.

 

Have you checked in with Dr Duroc and Dr Kidd yet?:D

 

But seriously, I would go a bit longer for recovery. We aren't spring chickens anymore, and don't heal up fast. If the Doc says 6 weeks, I'd go an extra week just to be sure. Three months, still give it an extra week or so. Trust your instincts. If it just doesn't feel right, say so, and go from there. Tell the Doc everything during recovery. There are no dumb questions.

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I had to have that in my lumbar.  I lost 6 discs and 4 vertebrae, it was a long recovery about 18 months (your mileage may vary).  But of course it's neck vs. lumbar, like apples and oranges.  I hope your recovery will be speedier than that.

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12 hours ago, JohnWesleyHardin said:

Thanks for all the advise.  Home from surgery.  Everything went well.  Feel pretty good actually.  Doc pretty vague about when I can shoot.  Sounds like I will miss Landrun at the least.  

 

Glad to hear everything went well. 

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I had C5-C6 done a little over 10 years ago (titanium plate and cadaver bone... I wasn't sure if that made me more Terminator or Zombie).  I was getting ready for a hunting trip to Missouri where my cousins are friendly with all of the farmers and have permission to hunt on all the private land during the black powder season.  I was all set, already had plane tickets, etc when i got diagnosed.  I asked the doctor at the time about a hunting trip and he said to go ahead if I didn't mind the possibility of permanent damage.  So I cashed in my plane tickets and put the front stuffer back in the safe.  I was off work for 1 month after the surgery.  When the dr cleared me to go back to work, his biggest warning was to "not get rearended on the freeway"... How in the heck am I supposed to control that?  In any event, he put a 6 month time line before shooting any guns.  6 months to the day after my surgery was a work day... but I brought along something to take over to the local range at lunch just because I could.  I still waited a few more months before shooting anything too big just to be sure.

 

Listen to the doctor... dont do anything you are not supposed to.  My little dogs at the time were a bit upset with me, they only weighed about 11 pounds but that was above my lifting limit for a while.  

 

 

TITANIUM-PLATE-LOW.jpg

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JWH<

 

I had one done in 2017 that looked like Crazy Guns but went through 4 discs and five boney parts all reassembled with Snap-on tools with steel plates screws and carbon fiber washers (Discs).  I was from the end Of EOT until our Regional in April,  I did exactly what the Doc and Therapist said  EXACTLY  it worked better than expected and I missed a few great shoots but I am 95% to go the rest of my life without paralysis and pain.

 

Take your time healing according o the specialists.

 

Ol'  #4

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In real life, my initials are 'MD'.   My advice is:

Follow the advice of your doctor, surgeon, etc.....

 

I sure hope you recover completely, regardless of time.   

 

P.S. - when you get to Land Run, tell Red Knee you saw me getting out of my truck..... :lol:

 

..........Widder

 

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Thanks for all the advice.  I will do what I am told.  It sounds like it may be 6 months based upon Crazy GunS Barney's experience.  I was hoping for 3 months down time.

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