An aquaintence of mine is going to have to have back surgery in the near future. From what I understand, about 8 years ago he fell out of his attic (presumably injuring his back). Anyways, he’s been putting this surgery off for quite some time, seen many doctors who all recommend this surgery and is having so many problems he’s finnaly decided to have it done. From what I understand this surgery is going to leave him bed-ridden for about a year, and he’s going to need years fo speech therepy to relearn how to talk. I also understand that this surgery will involve opening him in his back as well as in his chest (I think near his neck). My question is, what kind of surgery is this? What are they going to do? Why will he need to learn how to talk again? Has anyone ever heard of this? Anyone gone through this or know anyone who has?
There are such a wide range of problems that can cause any kind of back pain. I`ve had a herniated disk for over a year now.
Hope your friend is going to be ok.
By the way I live in the Milwaukee area and have been around the block with chiro`s and doctors recently. Make sure your buddy has had several, many opinions.
I also have the aid of medical personel in the family to steer me in the right direction.
We would need to know more about the procedure and the injury before anyone can really give you good advice.
Back surgery, even for a cervical disc, takes only a few weeks for recovery, if successful. (Big “if.”) There are many possible back surgeries depending upon the problem, but none of them involve opening the chest. None of them would interfere with his ability to talk if he can talk now. Slurred speech and speech therapy sounds as if he had a “stroke.” But if he doesn’t have those problems now, that’s not the problem. Either he or you has been misinformed or there are other factors that he did not tell you about.
I’ve never heard of such a surgery, but would venture to guess that it is to do with the back as well as the brain, which would occur at the top of the cervical spine. The part about cutting him open in the front as well as the back sounds a tad misinformed.