New kid on the block

[TiredofPain]

Greetins all. Well, my surgery is complete. Although I still have pain it is different than before. The morning after the surgery my surgeon came in to let me know that it went perfectly. I received phenomenal care at the hospital and my pain was well managed with meds. I'm now home and going to start the recovery. I have already been doing alot of walking and will continue to do so. I'm pretty exhausted but felt as though I needed to give you the update. More to come after my first post-op appt. Thank you very much for being here for me and providing me with the support and advice you have given to this point. This is a great site.

Thanks again.
J

[Maria]

Hi J,
Glad you came thru surgery well and are doing well w/recovery to date. I look forward to hearing more about your surgery/recovery whenever you feel like updating as fusion will probably be the only thing available to me if it should come to the point/time surgery is indicated (it was I just chose not to do it).

Wishing you a steady progressive and relatively painless recovery! thanks for taking the time to update post op! Maria

[dshobbies]

top,

Very excellent! Glad to hear you're doing well. A word of caution if I may - take it slow. Several short walks are much better than one long one. The name of this game is slow and steady. I know there will be times you feel great and want to push - take my word for it, you will pay the price. However, we all learned that the hard way and I suspect you will too.

Congrats and welcome to the other side

Dale

[TiredofPain]

Hello Maria and Dale,

Although I have read many times not to over due it, what do you think the first thing I did was. You guessed it. Over did it. I thought that I had my room for recovery all ready to go. Still needed a few more things. Also, had a sprinkler system installed in my yard while in the hospital. Of course I had to walk around the house to check it out. Needless to say.... OUCH!!!! My wife has grounded me and I'm only allowed to get out of bed with her assistance. She has taken the next 2 weeks off of work to help, so she wins. I guess all of the anesthesia had not yet worn off giving me a 100 percent pain free feeling. Also, the short walks are the only thing on my agenda for the next couple of weeks or more. Well, off to the land of pain meds and sleep. Weird how I had all the energy in the world before getting home and now hard to keep the eyes open. Will update again soon.

J

[jsewell]

J
congrats on making it through the waiting game, which i find is usually the hardest part.
I agree with Dale i've been there done that at least twice!! And i sure paid.

Wishing you a great recovery and pain free ness!!!!
judy

[Maria]

Hi J
I think that's how we all learn our limits post op and/or at various times in our spinal journey. It's good to take it slow as mentioned though during the initial recovery and not to chance "messing anything up." At least this would be my suggestion!

Now just listen to your wife and stay grounded for a bit! You'll soon earn your wings again! take care and keep us posted!

[jsewell]

Hi J
I guess we posted at the same time yesterday. I am so glad your wife is home to take care of you. Listen to her,she has good advice. When you can't keep your eyes open sleep.! My most recent surgery did the same to me, i could sleep until noon easily for quite a while and did just that. Then i would still possibly take a nap and go to bed by 10. Lots of healing to do.
judy

[TiredofPain]

Greetings all. It has been just over 3 weeks and everything is still going very well. I did mess up and over do it again this past Friday, which left me on my back for Sat and Sun and half of Monday. All I felt like doing was laying in bed and sleeping. I guess I have to screw up twice before I really understand. So, now what I'm doing is acting like I did before surgery. Walk on eggshells in fear of the pain. My wife returned to work on Monday. I sure do miss her. I'm truly blessed to have such a wonderful wife. I want som much to do things around the house to help her, but she doesn't expect much and often asks me not to do anything just yet. My post-op appt went very well. X-rays were taken and everything is where the doctor put it. HA HA. I'm not required to wear the hard plastic part of the brace anylonger, but still have a brace. I still need the pain meds, but hopefully in a short time I won't. Will cross that bridge when I get there. The hospital gave me a really neat extension grabber that I can pick things up off of the floor without bending over. I'm easily entertained. lol Will post again soon.

J

[dshobbies]

OK, so you learned the hard way - at least you learned. Glad you're doing well enough for your wife to have returned to work. Caregivers are gold.

Listen to your doctors and pay attention to your body and you'll do great. It takes time so dont' rush it.

Dale