| Which Injury is medically worse? - Click HERE for Original Thread |
| SilverNeonRacer |
I know bad place to ask since we're all Doctors and such...
On a military training exercise I fractured my L5 in two spots, got two buldging disks, and roto-scoliosis(sp) from a compression injury(carring logs up hill with short people in the middle).
I had a spinal fusion with a graft from my iliac crest and a full spinal decompression.
Vet Affairs rated me as 3% disabled after I was forced to be medically discharged. My orthopedic surgen said "Sure you can be in the Army, You can be a cop, firefighter, carpenter.. but in 2 years you'll be in a wheel chair" and that I could expect to repeat the surgery every 15-20 years. I live with cronic pain, my range of movement is good compared to the "norm" if not better than the norm one Doc said, but I've lost a decent amount of my range of movement. I've been stuck on the floor, X-ray table, wheel chair, etc a couple times due to not being able to wieght bare.. when I was in the wheel chair I was holding up my torso with my arms cause I couldn't handle the weight on my back. I was diagnosed with cronic arthritis in my back when I was 18, the injury happened when I was 17.
where as I know somebody who ruptured a disk(nurse) had surgery, the removed a good portion of the disk... I dunno the finer details of the "fix" but this person on average is in less pain than I am, and I have a highier pain threshold. Officially they have been put on permenant light duty work.
I just went in for a re-assement and I won't hear anything for another 11 weeks or so.. I know what the other person got for a settlement and I know what I got and theirs was about 25 times mine.. is their injury really that much worse than mine? Or is it the other way around, is mine actually worse, and I just got screwed?
Thanks for your time. |
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| AudiInProgress |
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| SilverNeonRacer |
quote:
Originally posted by AudiInProgress
Nice one Rob, but it's a pic of a girl.. sooo umm yeah... I'll admit I'm a lesbian :P |
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| sixsixii |
quote:
Originally posted by SilverNeonRacer
Nice one Rob, but it's a pic of a girl.. sooo umm yeah... I'll admit I'm a lesbian :P
ha ha. I'm lesbian too! |
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| JustinL |
Where is your fusion? A small fusion should have a negligible effect on your range of motion.
Where is your rotoscoliosis? If your damage is to just L5 then your fusion should be from S1 to L4 and that should have taken care of any bulging disks between them as well as corrected the scoliosis. If you had idiopathic scoliosis before your injury, then that's a different story.
Your bigger concern is probably the arthritis. Removing discs and fusing vertebrae is a pretty common and it shouldn't really hold you back.
I compressed my L1 when I was 17 and I've had almost no pain or limitations as long as I keep my core muscles in good shape. There are a lot of good surgeons and spine specialists around town if you wanted to get more opinions. PM me and I can give you some names if you want. |
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| SilverNeonRacer |
Dr. Mahood did my surgery.. they didn't fuse any disks together(or that's my understanding)... the doctors called it a fracture, but that those bumps you feel at the very back of your spine(Spinous process).. I broke that clean off from L5 so my spine was sliding forward off the Sacrum and pinching nerves.. so they took a graft from my hip and fused it to L5 to re-make that bump. I had buldging disks between L3 and L4 and L4 and L5.
While looking up the names of these thing I found this name: spondylolisthesis I think I remember one doc saying I had it too.
The rotoscoliosis I believe was whole spine involved... I have troubles now where my spine will move and a rib will get stuck out of it's normal track.
What exatly is idiopathic scoliosis? I found this "Structural lateral curvature of an unknown cause." currently my spine curves left then back right going from bottom up.
I was told I lucked out and that origininally they where going to use metal rods, but due to newer methods there was a better way to do it without the rods. |
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| ptemomo |
| Keep fighting VAC. I know it sucks, but its the only way you'll get any money. You should be entitle to a full medical pension if you get discharge. How long were you in? Not too long im gussing since it happened when you were 17. But just keep calling them. Even use your MP if you can. They will try to screw you but they always give in in the end. Good luck man. |
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| SilverNeonRacer |
Well I can have a re-assessment every 2 years. I wasn't in long at all, barely a year when I was injuried, a little over 2 years by the time my discharge was finalized.
part of the problem is I'm only pensoned for lower mechanical back, but I've been having neck and mid spine problems as well, which to me makes sense... the log was on my right shoulder when my lower back went pop.... the wieght had to go through the rest of my back to get there...
When this assessment comes back, sometime in Sept, I want to have all the information I can to maybe appeal it or something. |
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