Just over a week since I had my surgery - hard to believe.
Let me get you caught up.
Surgery was about 3 hrs, give or take, and the Dr. said everything went very well. There was quite a bit of scar tissue from the last surgery that he was able to remove which also helped in freeing up pinched nerves. The fusion went well also. Rather than using cadaver bones to join everything together, they were able to use my own "nice strong bones". So now, my 5th lumbar vertebrae is fused together with screws etc. and there is no more disc to ooze out and create problems.
Your probably thinking that "that has to hurt"! Yeah, it does, but it is a completely different type of pain than what I was experiencing before. This is an incision/healing pain that I know with time will go away. Plus, pain meds are life savers! I still have the numb/tingly foot which may never go away, but at least I no longer have the pain down the side of my leg!
The 2nd day in the hospital I was fitted with a back brace that I will wear once the stitches come out, and it was get up and walk, walk, walk! I even did some stairs! Overall the 3 1/2 day stay was not all bad. I discovered that instead of asking help from the nurses to roll over in bed (not a pleasant thing with an 8-9inch incision and 2 drain tubes) - that it is was just as easy to get up, walk around to the other side of the bed and lay down. I threw several nurses for a loop as every time they would come in, I would be laying on my other side, or sitting on the edge of the bed at 2am! Rolling over at home is still a challenge, but instead of getting up and walking to the other side, I sit up, move some pillows around and my head goes where my feet just were and vice versa. Works well!
Overall, I think things are healing pretty good. I'm still very tired and it soooo easy for me to nod off. I tried e-mailing a friend the other day and it took me about 2 hrs. because I kept nodding off! I'd wake up with some random letter filling up the page! Reading or doing anything crafty is pretty well out of the question too, as I just do not have the stamina - quite annoying. Ah well, this too shall pass.
Well, that pretty much covers it! Again, I so appreciate your positive thoughts and prayers.
Take care and stay healthy! - Elizabeth
4 comments:
I'm so glad to hear that all's well-ish! I've been thinking of you lots-did you feel the vibes?? Glad it was successful and that 'all' you have to do now is heal. The residual general anesthetic can have odd effects on one, guess your nodding off is one of them! Still, they do say one's body does the most healing when sleeping so I hope thats good!
You take it slowly now!
So glad for the update. We're all thinking about you and wishing you a speedy, uneventful, successful recovery. Troy says "hi", as do gals from the old Beehive.
Take your time--gather your strength--and don't handle any vehicles or power tools till you're away from those powerful little pills!
Tell you mom hi.
Thanks for the update and glad you are doing better and getting better with every day that passes. Listen to your body and sleep when your body wants sleep and move around when your body wants to move around. Good luck. You are in my prayers.
I'm so glad it went so well for you Elizabeth. You sure are a fighter... in a good way. Those pain killers will do a number on you sleep wise. I hate it when I wake up to a whole screen of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz *LOL* Take care of yourself. Love your hallowe'en background
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