Milemarkers
Sitting in the Design District of Istanbul
It’s Thursday morning and Cindy is still making progress, but not as fast as she would like.
Positives:
Her GI system has given her permission to order a normal breakfast and an omelet is on the way!
She has been able to get up multiple times, get the back brace on, move about and then get back to bed.
The staff are been incredible, attentive, and encouraging.
Challenges:
As part of the back procedure, “material” is put within the cage, the round wedge device that is screwed into the vertebrae, to accelerate bone growth to complete the fusion of the bones. We knew this, but the mystery material was not on our radar screen.
The magic sauce is made up, in part, of BMA - Bone Marrow Aspirate. We thought that it came from the vertebrae above and below the cage, but in fact it came from Cindy’s left hip.
Bone marrow aspirate (Clicking on this link helped me understand the situation better) is a procedure used in conjunction with anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) spine surgery to help stimulate bone growth and fusion. A bone marrow aspirate is a sample of bone marrow fluid collected using a needle.
The sample is usually taken from the top of the hipbone, but can also be taken from the front of the hip.
The procedure is relatively straightforward and involves minimal discomfort.
The active component of the sample is the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC), which can help create a regenerative environment.
For super nerds who want to understand the grafting procedure read this link
When Cindy woke up, the pain she felt was on the left side and she believed it was part of the main incision, however, over time it has become clear that the majority of the pain she is feeling is from this BMA procedure.
With regular pain meds and ice packs, she is able to keep the pain manageable, but as the ice warms and the pain meds diminish, the discomfort rises. This is the source of her greatest frustration.
This is the prayer request for today - that the pain in the site of the BMA begins to diminish.
She got up, took a walk, ate some breakfast (not as much as she hoped, “I’m not sure the rest of my body is ready for food.”) and is now waiting patiently until it is time to go for a second walk and get back into bed.
What follows are some pictures from inside the room.
