Charlie's laminectomy was a success. the surgeon told us everything went as expected and he seemed to be very pleased to give us this good news.

The surgery was called "Thoracic laminectomy of T5 with a fusion of T2-T8", What this all means is that they removed the lamina (see previous entry for lamina explanation ) of the 5th thoracic vertebrae (we all have 12 thoracic vertebrae) and they placed 4 screws above T5 and 6 screws below. Then 2 rods were placed on either side of the spine, between these two levels, in order to fuse the vertebrae in-between together in an effort to stabilize T5 which has been weakened buy a tumor. The reason so many of Charlie's vertebrea were involved is because the surgeons wanted to anchor the rods in the healthy bones in Charlie's back.

Charlie's operation started at a little after 5pm yesterday and he was done in the OR by 8pm. He then was to go to recovery and from recovery to the ICU. He went to the unit is because anesthesia wanted to keep him on the ventilator due to the pain Charlie is expected to have post-op. This way they can manage his pain by keeping him asleep.

He will be in the hospital for an undetermined time at this point. Charlie will need to be evaluated to see if he needs rehab and what means they want to proceed with it. He may stay in the hospital and go to the rehab unit, or it is possible that he may be able to do rehab on an out patient basis.

Thank you so much for the prayers...we were all breathing a sigh of relief last night!

Although this picture shows the anchor pins in the lumbar vertebrae… it gives you a good idea of what the instrumentation looks like in Charlie’s back.

Thoracic laminectomy removes the small section of bone that covers the spinal cord, known as the lamina. Removal of this bone relieves pressure on the surrounding nerves as a result of spinal stenosis or disc degeneration. A fusion procedure can be performed with this surgery to join the remaining bones together.

                            The arrows are pointing to the lamina

Thoracic fusion surgery stabilizes the spine and allows for correction of spinal deformities. Fluoroscopy (live x-rays) and infrared image guidance systems can be used to allow for proper placement of the spinal implants.

The name derives from the Latin word "lāmina," which refers to a thin plate, sheet, or layer.