The Possible Surgery for Nick

[Bluebear]

The Possible Surgery for Nick - *Bumped* Don't Panic

Nick is likely to have a microdiscectomy.

The image on the left shows the disc (white) bulging onto the nerve root (yellow) which emerges from the spinal cord. Surgeons go in and remove the bulging material to remove pressure from the nerve root.
With Caracella and Johns the bulge was directly back onto the spinal cord, not to the side onto the nerve root as with Stevens.

It is generally about 80-90% successful, and he is likely to have some problems with it down the track.

Good luck to Nick and his Surgeons.

 

[BLUEBOY1]

I hope all goes well for Nick and it's as successful as can be.

 

[oaksy]

Nick is likely to have a microdiscectomy.

The image on the left shows the disc (white) bulging onto the nerve root (yellow) which emerges from the spinal cord. Surgeons go in and remove the bulging material to remove pressure from the nerve root.
With Caracella and Johns the bulge was directly back onto the spinal cord, not to the side onto the nerve root as with Stevens.

It is generally about 80-90% successful, and he is likely to have some problems with it down the track.

Good luck to Nick and his Surgeons.

thanks for that doc

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

Is it fair to suggest that it is unlikely he will play AFL again?

 

[HBF]

Is it fair to suggest that it is unlikely he will play AFL again?

You can never be to certain with any sort of operation AWG, but lets not count our chickens just yet. The Docs appear to be confident he can resume playing next year, and I think all of us supporters should stick by him and give him all of the encouragement he deserves.

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

You can never be to certain with any sort of operation AWG, but lets not count our chickens just yet. The Docs appear to be confident he can resume playing next year, and I think all of us supporters should stick by him and give him all of the encouragement he deserves.

But it's a neck injury, not just a hammy or a knee. This is spinal. I doubt nick will risk it in a year. We'll have to wait and see if he does or doesn't. Hope it all goes well for him, and the recovery is successful and fast.

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

You can never be to certain with any sort of operation AWG, but lets not count our chickens just yet. The Docs appear to be confident he can resume playing next year, and I think all of us supporters should stick by him and give him all of the encouragement he deserves.

But it's a neck injury, not just a hammy or a knee. This is spinal. I doubt nick will risk it in a year. We'll have to wait and see if he does or doesn't. Hope it all goes well for him, and the recovery is successful and fast.

 

[HBF]

With the way surgery is done nowadays, Nick should feel pretty confident of getting back out on the track, and then resuming his AFL career next year. As I said, you can never be certain about these things, but at least he's giving himself the best chance of coming back by having the surgery and then resting his neck.

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

With the way surgery is done nowadays, Nick should feel pretty confident of getting back out on the track, and then resuming his AFL career next year. As I said, you can never be certain about these things, but at least he's giving himself the best chance of coming back by having the surgery and then resting his neck.

I understand that you are very hopeful that STevens will be back and playing, and i'd hope that he can too> however i was just stating that his health will be more important to him than any football game ever will be. As BB said, he is likely to have some problems with it down the track. I'm still very skeptical, because it is the neck and is near the spinal cord. I'm just saying, if his health were to be at risk in the long term, i doubt very much that he will play on.

 

[AndyWalkersGirl]

Stevens is out of contract at the end of this year.

Let's come back to this thread in a year's tiem adn see what Stevens has decided to do with his Footy...

 

[Bluebear]

There are too many variables to consider to say whether he will play or not. It really depends on the state of the disc and the ability to fix it without compromising the spinal cord.
All I can say is that Caracella and Johns didn't have surgery, which suggests to me that even with surgery the integrity of the disc would not have been enough to guarantee safety when playing a contact sport.

from what I understand with Nick, the bulge is postero-lateral, impinging on the nerve root.......not the spinal cord, which is much easier to access surgically.

Short term complications largely reveolve around a return of the pain, altered sensation/weakness/strength in the arm (depending on level of the bulge in the neck).

In terms of longer term complications, same as short term, and also more likely to develop arthritic changes in the joints surrounding the affected level - the shock absorber is shot - the joints take more load. Post career stuff, which most footballers aren't too concerned about at the time.

Not life or disability threatening in the way that people are thinking. If it was he would have retired today IMO, and not had the surgery, but let it settle and see how he goes.

its not the first option we suggest for patients, but footballers are not your average patients.

hope this helps.

 

[Lukesta63]

BB serious question are you in the medical field??

 

[Bluebear]

Something like that.

 

[The Old Dark Navy's]

Something like that.

Dr Edelsten I presume?

 

[audas]

That picture dosen't llok anything like nick Stevens....pfft.

 

[Bluebear]

Just caught Nick on The Footy Show, and read this on the CFC webiste

“First of all, there will be a bone graft placed in Nick’s neck, which takes some time to heal.

Nick described them removing the disc, and then putting in this bone graft.

As I said with Fev's descriptions of his own injury.......footy players are often the worst people to tell you whatis going wrong........

......anyway, sounds a bit like a disc replacement, which to be perfctly honest, is so new in this country I haven't actually heard of one being done in a neck, though they obviously have been

“There have been several elite athletes both in our code and even in rugby that have had these types of procedures done and they’ve been able to lengthen the time they’ve been able to play at the highest level,” he said.

This will sound weird, but the donor site for the bone graft (his hip) will probably cause him more difficulty post op than the neck as they are very painful.

Will try to find out more on the type of surgery.....needless to say, much, much more complicated than the run of the mill discectomy........which also explains why its not being done tomorrow (as they would with a knee). They would need to wait for the right specialists to be available........... he may well go to QLD to have it done.
Mr Scott-Young on the gold coast has been doing Lumbar disc replacements for a little while and may be the man to do the surgery.

See what I can find out.

 

[Bluebear]

Having listened to Nick and his doctor again (was a bit tired last night), it sounds like a straight fusion, with a bone graft instead of screws/rods.
They'll remove the dodgy disc (very technical term), and remove a sizeable piece of bone from his hip. The graft will go into the disc space and fuse to the vertebrae above and below the level.
This maintains the space to allow the nerves free passage, but he will lose movement from that level.

Bone grafts can be notorious for taking a while to "take" or to grow into the adjacent bone. Once it takes, it will be fine with regards to playing (much more stable than a replacement or discectomy), but longer term the joints above and below the fusion, now having to work harder will become susceptible to increased wear and tear......which over time will start to put the other discs under increased load as well.

Things Nick will confront after retirement, not so much during his career.
Should be able to commence running once the pain in the hip subsides from the donor site (often worse than the neck itself).........6-8 weeks, and may even resume football training before the end of the season depending on healing of the graft IMO.
In terms of contact the fused level will be as strong as any other bone in the body, though with the loss of movement, impact to the neck may cause more soreness (than a normal neck), as it has a decreased ability to distribute the forces.......however, it probably won;t be as sore as the neck with a disc bulge. So Nick will probably feel it holds up better with contact than it did before.

Good luck to Nick and his surgical team, and lets hope that 20008 brings better luck.

 

[Bee]

From personal experience I can sympathise with Nick. I have had a cervical spine injury for the last 5 years. The pain at times can be excrutiating. I have had everything from nerve blocks, to pain killers and valium to alleviate the problem. Surgery has been pushed at me a few times and I have always decided against it. The fear that something could go wrong when they are cutting into my spine is too much of a risk for me to take.
I can control the pain with medication and I also need to be extremely careful of what I actual do in the terms of lifting anything too heavy or any activities which may make the injury worse.
I know what Nick must be going through at the moment because until I got this problem I never realised before just how serious cervical spine injuries can be. Do the wrong thing and you can end up in a wheelchair.
I hope Nick comes through this okay and I hope he can resume his career, but if it is too serious for that then I'd rather see him retire and live the rest of his life happy and healthy than to risk it by playing football.
Good luck Nick.

 

[Bluebear]

Sorry to hear that Bee.

 

[Bee]

Sorry to hear that Bee.

You sound like you have some medical knowledge Bluebear. So if I tell you what I have is disc damage at the C5 and C6 with nerve inpingement and a fusion of the C3 and C4 you will know what I am talking about. I am not sure it's the same as Nick's but I know how bloody painful it can get.
I just hope I can avoid surgery in the future. Anyone coming near my spine with a knife scares the hell out of me.

 

[Bluebear]

You sound like you have some medical knowledge Bluebear. So if I tell you what I have is disc damage at the C5 and C6 with nerve inpingement and a fusion of the C3 and C4 you will know what I am talking about. I am not sure it's the same as Nick's but I know how bloody painful it can get.
I just hope I can avoid surgery in the future. Anyone coming near my spine with a knife scares the hell out of me.

yep, I know exactly what you are talking about. I see a lot of people in this situation.....and of course patients knowing I'm a Carlton man ask me the instant someone gets injured whats gonna happen to them.......so it pays for me to keep on top of it.

The decision to go to sugery is much easier when it means match payments and $400k a year (or whatever he is on), but long term he will have problems. I usually see surgery as the last, rather than the first option, as its sound like you have, but as we all know sportsmen (and women) are different in terms of their perception of disability and their own function and often go for the quicker fix.

Hope it works out for you.

 

[Salaryman]

Bluebear, I went out drinking one night and the next morning i lost about 50% of strength in my right arm, since then I have had to wear an elbow brace for volleyball, what have I done?

 

[AndSmithMustScore]

That picture dosen't llok anything like nick Stevens....pfft.

Looks like Mil Hanna

 

[Bluebear]

Bluebear, I went out drinking one night and the next morning i lost about 50% of strength in my right arm, since then I have had to wear an elbow brace for volleyball, what have I done?

Its referred to as PAFO (pissed and fell over ).....the only solution is to amuptate the thumb, index and middle fingers on both hands to prevent you being able to grasp glasses and bottles etc

 

[Salaryman]

Its referred to as PAFO (pissed and fell over ).....the only solution is to amuptate the thumb, index and middle fingers on both hands to prevent you being able to grasp glasses and bottles etc

That's it, career over