follow up with surgeon two weeks after

Met with the doctor and all is progressing as expected. Lumpier bits in the scar are where internal/dissolvable stitches were placed.

The fluoroscope image has been rotated, flipped, and minimally annotated to help show what’s where. The hardware is:

• polymer / carbon fiber disc replacements at C3-C4 and C4-C5. These materials are radiotranslucent so the new discs have little Tantalum (Ta) beads set in them so the surgeon can locate the “invisible” prosthetic in fluoroscopy.¹ Ta also allows later use of MRI.²
• titanium prosthetic to replace the C6 removed during corpectomy. This device also replaces C5-C6 and C6-C7 discs.
• titanium plate from C3-C7
• titanium screws fixing plate at C3, C5, and C7

Next followup is in another 9 weeks when x-rays will be taken. That should reveal whether or not fusion is occurring and if everything is in the right place. As of now I’m cleared to walk (outside, even!) as much as I can tolerate. I should be able to drive in about another month when the brace comes off.

1. “While Gold (Au) has historically been the standard for radiographic contrast, Tantalum (Ta) offers superior mechanical properties and reduced artifact generation in specific modalities, particularly Proton Therapy and MRI-guided workflows… Tantalum occupies a ‘sweet spot’ in the periodic table. Its K-absorption edge (67.4 keV) is ideally situated for standard fluoroscopic tube voltages, ensuring maximal absorption where typical medical X-ray spectra peak.” - source (pdf). ↩

2. “An incidental consequence of its use for durable surgical implants is that tantalum implants are considered to be acceptable for patients undergoing MRI procedures because tantalum is a non-ferrous, non-magnetic metal” - source ↩