Broken Harrington Rod Pics

[Gymp]

I dug up these X-rays of my back from when they found the broken Harrington Rod.I didn't realize the rods were that long or that my back was that crooked.

Gymp

[LisaJoy]

Wow, that's some impressive hardware! Don't understand why they can't fix it.

[Summer25]

My back is funny. I was the youngest child at 3, the Shriners in FL had ever done. I was actually almost the first as well. So, mine had to be fitted for my size at that time. Thing is now, I have a ton of broken wires just floating around in my back...lol. I just had a shunt xray today and the little tech was asking all about them. Lisa, the reason they don't go in and fix it is because of the risk of infection and making things worse.

[Gymp]

I was told the best they could do as a last resort would be to to cut off pieces at each end of the break.To keep the broken halves from banging into each other.The rods were grafted/fused to my back using pieces of my hip.I was told to remove them would be extremely difficult and there was a good chance I'd be worse off afterward.

It took a while but I did get used to the two halves banging into each other,it used to stop me cold at first.I do have my bad days though and have a script for that.

I really don't want to have them go inside me again as it really really hurt getting those rods put in.

Gymp

[LisaJoy]

Seems like they could -- well, for lack of a better word, weld the two ends together, repairing the rod.

Simple-minded of me, I'm sure.

[Gymp]

No,not a simple minded thought.I actually asked if the ends could be welded or spot welded together and the doctor smiled and said no.

I found out that the temperature needed to weld surgical is in the neighborhood of 6000 to 8000 deg.C

Gymp

[Mustang Sal]

No,not a simple minded thought.I actually asked if the ends could be welded or spot welded together and the doctor smiled and said no.

I found out that the temperature needed to weld surgical is in the neighborhood of 6000 to 8000 deg.C

Gymp

Hmm, you certainly wouldn't want that kind of heat anywhere near you!

I'm no engineer, but I wonder why they can't attach something to join the rods together (other than welding). Is having them out your only option?

[Gymp]

Hi Sal,
I was told it's best to leave them alone,removal would be way too difficult (they've been in me for 34 yrs.)If the pain ever got intolerable they'd cut out the end pieces by the break so they wouldn't knock into each other when I move about.

I've gotten somewhat used to that feeling/pain and am going to leave it be,unless there's some drastic change.It's been broken for ~10 years.

Gymp

[Theresa]

How did they break? Wear and tear - or a fall? Aren't they worried they will cause more damage?

[Gymp]

Hi Theresa,
I woke up one morning and as I was rolling to get out of bed I felt a really big KaThunk in my back,followed by ahhhh this hurts.I imagine they broke through wear and tear from leading a fairly active life.Over the years I'd been in a few car accidents,been hit twice by cars while riding a bike and I was really rambunctious as a young adult.I suppose that roll out of bed was the last straw for that rod lol.
The Orthopedic Surgeon I saw said since I was still able to get around it'd be best to leave it be.They did monitor it for a year and a half (x-ray every 6 mon.) and since there was no visable change he told me I needent come back until there was some major change in how it felt.

Gymp

[dahliafaolan]

As least they're leaving you alone about it. I had my first set of rods put in when I was 10 years old. By the time I was 12, the doctors told me that the stabilizing rods in my hips were moving and creating holes in the bones. So it was back to surgery to remove those stabilizing rods. So back to surgery I went. Six weeks later, I was back in the hospital for emergency reconstructive surgery for a major CSF leak. Then about 2 years after that, they told me they had to replace EVERYTHING. Needless to say, I was not pleased. They were able to remove most of the first set and graft a new set in, but there's still a piece of wire from the first set that physically grew INTO my vertebrae. Doesn't that sound like fun? But now they say they have everything bolted in so I should be good now. But somewhere in all those surgeries, I lost a good bit of feeling in my right side. I used to be waist down paralysis. Now I feel like a stroke victim. From my left side of my waist down is paralyzed, but now from the middle of my right nipple down is partially paralyzed. I still feel all of my arms so I suppose I should be thankful for that, but the partial paralysis does my fun time with my boyfriend a bit more difficult.