C3-4, C5-6, C6-7, T1-2 ProDisc-C Nova ADR blog

treefrog · #1 (**permalink**) 05-03-2009, 06:23 PM

Mark, I hope you have started taking some of your own advice, and are taking things a little easier. Yep, you only have one shot at healing correctly. You don't want to blow it. Take it slow, and easy.

guymontag · #2 (**permalink**) 05-07-2009, 12:10 PM

Hey Mark. Glad your doing ok. I amazed how quick you are recovering. Ditto on everybody's advice for giving your body to time to slowly adjust and get out of this relatively pain free.

You remind me of this Anime series called "Ghost in the Shell". It's set in the future and technology of the day can allow a transplant of your whole brain and spinal cord and stick it into a artificial body. Most of the people of the time have artificial implants of some sort. It's a great series if you want to lay in front of the tv for a while.

Take care. Hope you keep on powering along.

mmglobal · #3 (**permalink**) 05-13-2009, 08:33 AM

Turned 5 weeks post-op today.

I'm still limited in my uptime... but the limit is VERY high. B the end of the day, unless I quit early (after 5 or 6 hours) I get into significant pain when laying down... rolling over (knife in low cervical or upper thoracic). I also get the pain in R chest and back on deep breathing.

When I had my big setback 3 weeks ago... these symptoms kicked in and stayed for more than a week before I started to turn around. For the last week, I've gotten better and better each day. (evidenced by my uptime improving and the when the pain kicked in, it did not last.)

This was proven to me last Thursday. I had a very busy day, but I had a MUST ATTEND event at night - ceremony for Jason getting masters degree in education (way to go Jason!) I knew I was hurting pretty bad early in the ceremony, but there was no way I was bailing out. Thursday night, I was worried... it was pretty bad, but Friday I was OK. In fact, Friday was the first day since the big setback that I was actually running around saying "I haven't felt this good in years."

Same thing Saturday... busy day preparing for graduation party... lots of pain Saturday night... but OK on Sunday. I don't know how much longer I'll be dealing with this, but I see myself getting better and better each day.

We'll see how I do the next couple of weeks... I leave in a few hours for Germany. I have a few clients lined up in Munich and Straubing and will spend the next 2 weeks doing the marathon that is a surgery trip. I usually do much better on the trips than I do at home because the activities are so varied... I don't sit at a desk all day. As long as I don't fall asleep on a flight with my neck in a goofy position... I'll be good. Wish me luck.

Sorry I have not been able to post more. It's not because I'm bad... it's because I'm busy. That is a good thing!

All the best,

Mark

Maria · #4 (**permalink**) 05-13-2009, 06:14 PM

And then again sometimes we are bad while being busy!
take care of yourself Mark, pace yourself and delegate ~ make someone else carry your bags at the airport!

Cheryl · #5 (**permalink**) 05-14-2009, 04:34 PM

Best of luck!!

mmglobal · #6 (**permalink**) 05-17-2009, 10:56 PM

I'm sorry I have not been able to post more. There are a lot of important discussions I want to weigh in on. I'm here in Straubing... midnight Sunday night. It seems like today started at 5am Wednesday morning in California, when I left for Germany. I arrived here on Thursday and hit the ground running. Every day since then involved little sleep, up VERY late, long stressful days (including standing w/lead apron for hours observing surgeries), and a fall that I was worried would fire everything up. If the bad news is that I'm too busy... the good news is that I'm tolerating it well. I'm still taking pain meds because I'm afraid to taper off while the demands on me are so ridiculously high. I expect to return home on little meds compared to when I arrive. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. Hopefully, I'll be able to get involved in more discussions soon.

All the best,

Mark

mmglobal · #7 (**permalink**) 05-24-2009, 01:08 AM

Wow... It's 2am Sunday morning. I go home Monday after almost 2 weeks here. Tuesday will be 7 weeks post-op. The tough part of the trip is over. 2 of 3 clients are gone... the 3-level lumbar client is out of the hospital and doing quite well. It's been an amazingly busy time and I cannot believe that I was able to sustain the pace that I did. I had been afraid to cut the pain meds in the middle of such a demanding trip. Today, I cut them in 1/2. (This was possible because here you can get 5mg oxy... something I wish they would bring to the US... this is such a great dosing option. It would make it so much easier to finish your taper off of oxy with this option.) We'll see how I do on the lower dose and I still have to worry about the flights home.

I KNOW I'm better because I won't wait for the elevator. I'd rather sling my backpack over one shoulder and run down 5 flights of stairs. I'm getting glimpses of feeling better than I have in years. I'm beginning to realize that over the past few years when I thought I felt good... I did not. It's a strange sensation to really feel good... almost giddy. As Sam Perroni said... "the absense of pain is a sensation".

I still don't know how good I'll get. I'm only getting glimpses of feeling really well and am still taking substantial meds. However, I expect to leave the meds behind very soon. If you all will help me and come hit me with a stick if I work long days again... and if I get to PT, work on my core strength and take Baumbach's advice for frequent mud baths... I expect to do VERY well.

All the best,

Mark