Am I the only one with a ridiculous surgery count? The good news is that many of them have been minor surgeries, such as trigger finger. But this is ridiculous. I was diagnosed at 35 years old and I’m 51 years old now. Only the first 4 surgeries were prior to being diagnosed.
Exploratory laparoscopy, ovarian cyst
L4-L5 laminectomy/diskectomy
L4-L5 laminectomy/diskectomy and scar clean up
Tonsils
Right base of thumb laxity
Left thumb trigger release
Right thumb trigger release
DeQuervain’s release right side
DeQuervain’s release left side
Right shoulder AC joint
Left eye cataract
Right eye cataract
Left foot bone graft and hardware placement (idiopathic fracture)
Removal of hardware
Removal of ganglion cyst, right foot (that was just a week ago)
Well, you must be in the top 3 contenders for 1st place! Looks like material for some kind of “Hurtin’ real bad” country song in the making but it’s hard to find something that rhymes with “tonsils”!
My mom definitely has me beat, but I’m not too certain whether we just fall into some weird category or whether this is somewhat typical. She’s had revisions on carpal tunnel on both hands, as an example. Her back is a disaster and she’s had (I think) five surgeries on her back, with multiple rods and fusions.
You’ve certainly got me beat Stoney, I’m at 9 all up and that’s enough. Unfortunately I’ve been told I haven’t finished yet, so I might end up catching you I do hope they’re wrong, I HATE the waking up from anaesthetic, just horrible. Add the post surgery pain and I’m worse than a bear with a sore head. My wife tells me I am NOT a nice patient. Last bunch of op’s I apologised to the staff even before they admitted me. Basically, LEAVE ME ALONE!!!
With neurosurgery post-op they keep checking the obs (observations) every 1/2hr. One of their checks is to ensure no brain bleeds. To do this they compare the iris size and reaction with a VERY bright light, every 1/2hr throughout the night they shine an OMG strength spotlight right at the pupil and by the end of it I’m about ready to kill. The less of all of that, the better IMHO
Oh my goodness. Yes that is a whole lot of surgery. Now if you included biopsies and colonoscopies I’d come close! (but most of them are not a big procedure and really don’t count - except the bone marrow biopsy - ouch!)
I can only blame inflammation for 4 surgeries so far (two bowel re-sections and two carpal tunnel). Unfortunately the carpal tunnel started recurring only 9 months after surgery, so I’m not sure what comes next (see the hand guy tomorrow). Must be some sort of unfortunate world record.
Scan-wise though, I think I’d be head of the pack. Can’t be bothered counting, but I’m going to say conservatively 25 over the last 12 months
That sounds awful Merl! I usually wake up being told to breathe, but other than that it’s straightforward. And I’m usually numb when I wake up, so there’s that to be said for it.
You might have to beat my mom on the carpal tunnel. She’s already had the release done twice on each hand, and I think is going in for a third soon.
You know what, I didn’t even count the two biopsies that I’ve had. They were minor enough. A bone marrow biopsy is something that I hope to never ever have.
19 PsA related surgeries here. 3 more joint replacements on tap. Spinal surgery recommended (3 areas) but unless there is loss of function that simply won’t happen. Though a move to a different climate has helped delay the immediate need…
That’s my biggest concern is spinal surgeries. Having had two in the past I would much rather avoid any further. I know what my lower back looks like and it’s a mess. I suspect there’s some stenosis.
I did see recently that it looks like artificial disks may be a real option in the not too distant future.
Hoping that replacements will wait a long while. That’s why I really need to make sure that the meds I’m on are doing the best job possible. Right now that’s not quite the case
Instead I have a competition of who can perform the most surgeries. It’s still the hand doctor at 5, but then he retired. So sadly, I suspect that the foot surgeon will ultimately catch up and bypass that
Gosh! That’s a lot. I had the beginning of de Quervains in my right hand but we managed with finger splints to stop anything occuring. I have some knotty lumps (very small) in the palm of one hand but all ten fingers work fine.
The only other surgery (excepting gyny stuff, tonsils and appendix removal most before I was 35) was the surgery which ignited my PsA name a bunion correction operation aged 54.
And the bunion correction is something I would like to avoid like the plague. I’m not surprised that started things off for you. That’s a tough surgery and recovery
It actually wasn’t that bad. Once I got into the weird shoe after 10 days I was coherently mobile but still unable to drive only because at the time I drove a stick shift so needed two feet!
I was astonished though around 8 weeks later my body literally started to blow up with inflammation.
I’ve since learned that your immune system can just have a hissy fit at a teeny piece of metal and an even smaller screw and decide to go completely insane and ergo I developed PsA.
Adding in a few more. This will bring me up to a nice even 20
Second removal (of the same) ganglion cyst
Left middle finger trigger finger release
Soon to have right knee arthroscopy for a medial meniscus tear and cleanup
What!!??? And you didn’t get the FSPC? (Frequent surgery points card) You would be maxed out and wealthy! And with the card, every fifth surgery is free. I wonder if @tntlamb has you beat?
Can correlate many of your surgeries to PsA or is that too hard to know?
I would say that the vast majority are PsA related. All of the releases certainly are. I think the ganglion cysts are also more likely with autoimmune arthritis.
The broken metatarsal that I had two surgeries for I can only assume is related to autoimmune stuff, but still haven’t quite figured out the connection. I’m up to four fractures in my feet with no good reason.
I do hope they’re wrong, I HATE the waking up from anaesthetic, just horrible. Add the post surgery pain and I’m worse than a bear with a sore head. My wife tells me I am NOT a nice patient. Last bunch of op’s I apologised to the staff even before they admitted me. Basically, LEAVE ME ALONE!!!
