Prodisc Surgery With Dr. Goldstein

[Eddie G]

It's almost 2 weeks post-op. Dr. Goldstein said my operation was a success from his standpoint. My stomach pain is alot better (4.5/10) and I can lay on my side in bed now. I have to sleep with a pillow on my belly because my cats tend to walk or sometimes even JUMP on my belly. (OWeeeeeOW OW OW) I have a soft brace that I bought that also helps with the cats and any coughing/laughing I may experience.

My physical therapist comes 3X a week. He doesn't do much with me now except stretching me and walking with me, and I am walking ALOT. Today we must have walked a mile in the park. I do alot of walking by myself and use the walker for safety. The weather has been really nice lately so the walks are a pleasure. I also plan on going for some light massage therapy this week.

My back pain is an 8/10 and also with some leg pain which feels different from my previous leg pain. My only relief (besides the pills) is walking/stretching. I walked around the mall for 3 hours yesterday with Sweety. I need to do some walking every day. Walking really helps my pain (while I'm walking) I hope this back pain goes away soon. It's bad.

I was hoping that I was one of those miracle cures who had no pain after a few days......NOT

I heard of one guy who had sex 3 days after surgery and wound up with retrograde ejaculation which went away (I'm certainly not that guy) It may be a few months for me since it took longer for my bowels to even start working properly in the hospital. I guess I'm just a slow healer. The swelling of my belly is going down a little bit more each day.

I have an aide who comes every day to help me. She usually goes shopping, does laundry, and helps me with whatever I need for 4 hours a day. Anything I need to do myself is set up for me to do without bending. For example, the cat food is now on a table instead of on the floor.

I was up a few times last night. The pain makes me lose alot of sleep. I take morphine & wait.
My Pain Manager is switching me to Roxicodone as he thinks the effects are less "loopy" than morphine. I will try it today.