Hi and welcome to the broken back blog – details of what’s happening to me and my recovery from a fractured vertebra that I suffered at the end of last November.
This post is a quick summary of what’s in store over the next few weeks, heading towards a return visit to the hospital (Uni-Klinik Frankfurt Friedrichsheim) on Monday 21st March for a review with the specialists who operated on my spine last year, and the day after to the orthopaedic doctor who has been looking after me for the past couple of months since escaping from the hospital.
Before then, there’s a CT scan in a couple of weeks to check out how the spine looks and especially how the fractured vertebra is healing.
The operation involved insertion of a metal cage screwed into the vertebrae above and below the broken one to hold the broken bone together, supporting the spine and helping the fractured parts of the broken vertebra to grow back together.
In the meantime, I have to continue wearing a big velcro corset L like this one:
which keeps my back straight and stops me from twisting during the day. It’s no different to wearing a tight-ish rucksack (with a big piece of metal up the back) and wearing a big sweater pretty much hides it. Fortunately, the corset gets taken off in bed J - I shouldn't complain too much though as the corset is a lot better than the alternative that they offered me: a full plaster cast around my torso for three months!!
So enough for the first post - it would be good to hear from you if you have any comments!
