We have some action

Mum had her spinal consultation today with Dr Laherty. His recommendation was that Mum have surgery on the fractured vertebrae to remove it and replace it with a combination of a cage (to replace the bone) and a plate to hold it in place. The plate will be screwed into the vertebrae above and below the cage.

The surgery is called a vertebrectomy and the purpose is to:

1. Relieve a significant portion of Mum's pain which is caused by the collapsed vertebrae and restore her spine's function allowing her to regain most of her movement (there will be some loss of flexibility from before the fracture but it will be largely restored).

2. Remove a significant portion of the suspected cancer that is in her bone.

3. Provide a viable sample of tissue to test so her disease can be diagnosed. This will allow treatment to be determined for the cause of the disease that is impacting her bone.

Here is an animation of a similar surgery that I found interesting. It is not a video of a person, it is computer generated images ==> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYwPyoDIEfM

There is a chance the disease has impacted the pointy out bits on the vertebrae (they are called the pedicles) and if so, there may be a need to perform a follow up surgery to remove the pedicles. This needs to be done from the back rather than this side so cannot be done at the same time. It is hoped they are intact so this is not necessary. After the removed bone is tested, follow up treatment will be determined which is likely to be radiotherapy.

The expected diagnosis possibilities for the cause of the bone degradation are:

- Melanoma (suspected due to Mum's history)

- Myeloma (due to Mum being diagnosed with the pre-condition to this cancer)

- Osteoporosis (which is considered unlikely as the full body CT has shown no signs of other osteoporosis symptoms)

There is of course a chance it is something else so it is all guess work until the removed bone is removed and tested.

The risks of the surgery are:

- Bleeding due to Mum being on a blood thinning medication and also that melanoma is a tumour which has a large number of blood vessels (and this is one of the possible causes of the bone fracture). Mum has been taken off the blood thinning medication so this risk is going to be controlled as best can be.

- Spinal cord / nerve damage. There is a very low risk of paralysis and a small risk of nerve damage that may lead to numbness or tingling in the legs.

- Cord fluid leakage that can lead to increased recovery times.

- Other standard risks of surgery (the above are specific to this type of surgery).

The doctor described it as being a big surgery but not uncommon (and one they have the requisite skill to perform well). He also recommended that it is performed as soon as possible as if the cancer is aggressive, the earlier the better (this is a precaution in the event it is melanoma).

So the benefits of this surgery are it will fix Mum's pain (largely) and restore her back function. This will get Mum off the pain medications (at least significantly reduced) which will reduce the grogginess she suffers. Also, they will have a real sample of tissue to test for cancer so we will get a firm diagnosis. Overall, we think it is the right thing to do. Mum is scared and that is very natural going into something like this.

The details:

- We are going to the pre-admission clinic on Thursday at Midday. We will speak to a nurse, doctor, surgeon and anaesthetist. This is a chance to ask any questions we have before the surgery.

- The surgery is scheduled for Friday with the time to be determined at 4pm on Thursday (that is when the following day's surgery schedule is finalised).

If you have any questions at all, please post them to this blog or email them to me (myprivateradio@gmail.com) or Mum. We have our chance to ask them on Thursday so everyone's input would really be appreciated. This is happening really fast and we may not think of all of the important questions in advance of the clinic. I have update the blog settings so anyone can comment. Any well wishes you would like to offer would also be appreciated!!!

I will update the blog Thursday evening after the clinic.

EDIT: The recovery time for the surgery is hospitalisation for 1-2 weeks