ALIF L5/S1 Impossible0ne

ImpOssibleOne · #1 (**permalink**) 02-24-2009, 05:30 PM

The pain an numbness continue and are still worse than it was pre-op, though the location of the pain has changed. Yesterday my surgeon, though he didn't come out and say it directly, said that my pain should be less than it was pre-op at two weeks. I don't know about that one. Since my irritation was chemical, there were no nerves being impinged, and it's not simply a matter of removing the pressure. It's just a matter of taking out the leaky disc and waiting for the nerves to heal. I think my time frame is going to be different but I walked away thinking I was expected to be playing tennis by two weeks.????

Meanwhile I'm walking an hour/day, in divided moseys of 15 or 20 minutes. Popping 2.5 Vicodin + 1 tylenol every four hours or so and this seems to damp down the pain somewhat. If I take an entire Vicodin, I'm out on the couch.

Otherwise, all well. Got the staples out yesterday, which is nice and I'm enjoying an abundance of bad TV.

phylly · #2 (**permalink**) 02-24-2009, 08:18 PM

I am so sorry that your pain continues at such a high level. I have my stitches out tomorrow and have some questions to ask about the fusion. I wonder if you are taking enough medication right now to help the pain? What about some nuerontin to help with the nerve pain. Are your legs or feet numb all the time? What did your Dr. say about that?
Walking an hour a day is a lot. Do you think that is causing more pain? I count walking around the house walking at this point and then one 15 minute walk outside but I think I will get instructions to walk more.
I can't wait to shower when the stitches are out and I won't need help to cover the incision with waterproof bandages. Hang in there, and I hope each day will be better and better.
Phylly

ImpOssibleOne · #3 (**permalink**) 02-25-2009, 07:25 AM

Yeah, I think the hour/day may be over doing it too. The blurb from Stanford says one should be doing an hour/day at 6 weeks, although my particular surgeon seems to think I should be doing that now. Phily, I'll be curious to see what they recommend for you at this point. There seems to be a wide range.

Tomorrow I'm just going to putz around the house, give the nerves a day off, then go to 15 minutes twice a day for a while. I also need to up the pain meds, i think. I'm hardly taking anything...the equivalent of 2 Vicodin/day at most.

My legs were numb before the surgery but now they're number. Everyone seems to think it's just a reaction to the surgery and that when everything simmers down, the numbness will too. Hopefully.

phylly · #4 (**permalink**) 03-06-2009, 03:22 AM

Hi Adrienne,
How are you doing I have not heard from you. I have continued to walk about a mile each day and then around the house and up and down the stairs. I will up that amount as soon as I can drive and go shopping to help the economy. I don't want to mess this up so I may be aiming a bit low. Are you feeling any better? Please post so we know how you are doing.
Phylly

ImpOssibleOne · #5 (**permalink**) 03-06-2009, 06:29 PM

Phily, I'm glad to hear you're doing so well. I'm doing pretty well too. Walking 25 minutes 2x/day...probably 2ish miles total but maybe less. This is more of a mosey than a walk. I do have pain but I'm taking nothing but Tylenol and very little of that because it doesn't work. I would take the pain meds but I can't stand them and the pain is semi-manageable. I can't wait until I can take NSAIDS. I'd kill for a celebrex.

The really good news is that the leg weakness/numbness is going away. It waxes and wanes, which I guess is part of the program, but last night my left leg felt completely normal for the first time in two years! They're itching like crazy, which hopefully is a sign of healing but at any rate they feel 'better connected' now, which is great. Hopefully the trend will continue!

I drove a little bit the other day, just around the neighborhood to see how it felt. I even gave my husband and son the OK to leave for the weekend as I feel conficent to take care of myself now, though I did send my 70lb dog,with a tendency to over-zealousness, to the kennel.

All well, so far.

ans · #6 (**permalink**) 03-09-2009, 04:09 AM

Wonderful news! Keep it up and Phylly, my best to you. - ans

ImpOssibleOne · #7 (**permalink**) 03-17-2009, 08:53 PM

Nothing much to report. Same ol', same ol'. I seem to have hit a plateau in the recovery and am biding my time. I'm walking an hour/day, but it's really more of a forced march. The one improvement is in sitting, which I can do a lot longer now so it must mean some of the swelling is going down.

I had been feeling some new weirdness on the front of my lower thighs and, naturally, thought it must be another disc level gone bad. They were going over like dominoes! Took me a few days to realize it was caused by the heat given off by my laptop.

In other good news, they say I can start taking NSAIDS at six weeks and I am X'ing the days on my calendar. I so can't wait! Tylenol does nothing and I hate the narcotics...so I'm probably in more pain that I should be right now.

All in all, I'm making progess....albeit slowly.