6 weeks - hows it going?

So, its been a little while.

I saw the surgeon last week, who was pretty happy with how it was all going. That was reassuring. Its great to actually sit down for half an hour with an expert who has seen it hundreds of times and have all your questions answered. Very reassuring.

So how is it right now, at this moment? I'm hurting. Jeez it's aching. Its crazy. It's hard to tell if it is the bone, or if its muscular (and you can't even do the whole, bend, twist, stretch thing to check!!) I haven't done anything stupid, I'm not mowing the lawn, moving furniture, or re-tiling the roof. I've had 24 hours with absolutely zero pain killers of any kind. I think this may have been a bad idea. Will fix this tomorrow.

I'm not doing anything stupid, but I'm able to do vastly more incidental things now, I'm much more active overall during the day. I emailed the surgeon to ask his thoughts on this. Naturally, my thoughts go to all the bad places on this - the spacers have moved, the screws have come loose, I have to go have the surgery again to fix it, ruining my time frame for recovery.

It was again reassuring to have the surgeon give a calm, considered response on this. He said is common for a bit more pain around this time, as people generally become more active. That, coupled with the decrease in pain killers will do it. The advice, very unlikely its anything bad, most recent X-rays look good. Scale back the activity for a day or two and see how it goes. By all means, see my local doc, and get some X-rays to check, see a physio, but it should be fine. It was enough to calm me down.

That said the pain is still there. Its different from the pre-surgery pain, but it hurts like hell. I'm glad I have another 2 weeks before I go back to work part time. The last thing I would want to be doing is rushing back before its too soon and jeopardising the recovery.

I think its a good stage for reflection on this.. Its six fix since I had major surgery. I couldn't dress myself, get food, or do anything for a while there. I needed help for everything. Now I can do these things. Its important to manage my expectations and have a reality check on this. Yes, I'm in pain (for a good reason, I had surgery and they drilled 4 screws into my vertebrae!!) but I'm in different pain. Also, I find taking a macro look at things help. Don't focus or over analyse the day to day stuff. Compare today with a week ago, what about the week before, or last month? Hell, I'm heaps better, much improved, more mobile. Sure, I've had some new pain kick in, but its a reminder that I need to pay attention to my body and how it recovers. That I will always have to be conscious of this. This new pain, I'll manage that, I'll get through that too.

32 days recovery - new xrays!!

Yesterday I had some new X-rays done prior to seeing the neurosurgeon on Wednesday.

I was very keen to have a look at how its coming along, not that I'd be able to see too much!!
I had a laugh at the radiologist how noted in his report that:

"A posterior fusion has been performed at L5/S1 with malleable rods and pedicular screws.  A disc spacer has been placed at this level."

Even I can tell that's happened!!

Anyway, overlapping the scans, they don't appear to change at all, which I suppose is good? the spacers haven't moved. I suppose I'll wait until tomorrow and get the neurosurgeon's opinion.

PLIF Recovery - 4 weeks

Today is exactly four weeks since the surgery. A pretty big milestone.

How is it going? Pretty good I think.Yesterday I managed a total of 2 hours walking around, covering 7km. I'm starting to test my tolerance for sitting. This is something the doctors haven't excluded, more me being super cautious over the last few weeks. I've finished all the drugs I was prescribed too.

I'm getting a little bit of jarring type pain when I walk (only on uneven ground, or if the foot path drops out from under me unexpectedly). It's only on the right hand side, it feels a little more muscular than bone or joint. Nonetheless it is something I'm worried about - have I been doing to much, did I do something stupid to set it off, or is it just because of the drugs wearing off?

I'm very keen for the X-rays on Monday and to see the surgeon on Wednesday. I really want to see if anything has moved, how the fusion is coming along, and check in with all the medical milestones again.

The biggest thing for the moment though is managing the frustrations. I've had a few cranky moments over the last week. I've struggled with these, but am working through them ok. These are simple frustrations, like I'm sick of lying down, I'm sick of not being able to contribute, I'm sick of doing nothing. It's not like I want to going mountain climbing, kayaking, play rugby or take up MMA, its just that I'd like to be able to put my socks on myself, I wish I could take the garbage out. I wish I could reach the bottom cupboard with the dish washing liquid so I could wash up. These are the frustrations I have.

I have my computer, a playstation, TV, books, a Kindle and an iPhone, all to keep me busy, but still, I'm bored. I want the stimuli of work, of engaging conversation, new challenges. None of which I can get while being on my own.

I'm glad I knew these frustrations would be coming, the insights gained from my last surgery have been invaluable and have allowed me to develop coping mechanisms. If you had this surgery with no preparation, it would be really hard. I think you'd struggle with your own expectations on recovery time, and what you could do and what you wanted to do. For anyone about to have this surgery, please, make yourself aware of this and put plans in place.

I find if I'm frustrated for a day it helps to keep the bigger picture in mind. I think back to last week, how mobile was I then compared to now, what about the week before, and the week before? In bigger chunks the progress is noticeable, if not day by day

Day 24 of PLIF recovery

Been a few days since my last post. I've been distracted by Assassins Creed 3 and test cricket (jeez the Aussies are struggling at the moment)

The facts:
3x 30 min walks. Stride is freeing up, walking much more freely and looking less and less like a senior citizen. I'm walking between 4.5 and 5.5km a day. The pain is very manageable. Probably 2/10 if I forget to take pain killers. I'm using pain killers less and less.

My Mum went home this morning. It was awesome to have her up here for a week. Someone to take the pressure of looking after me off my 25 week pregnant wife. It was great to have someone do all those little things around the house; washing dishes, hanging out clothes, making lunch etc. All the little things that add up. Plus with baby on the way, there were plenty of stories about what my brother and I got up to as kids, some hints, tips, methods to cope etc. Also, living 3 states away, it was great just to hang out, watch a movie and have a chat. Thanks Mum.

The other point now is that I largely feel OK. I sense that this is the "danger zone" (Archer quote there - you like that Jarrod?). An example; I'm spending most of my days lying in bed. My iPhone is next to me. I get up for lunch and my phone rings. Sure, I feel fine, I'll just lean over and grab it  - NO - don't do it. I find I'm picking myself up on these types of things. Constantly reminding myself not to over do it, not to twist, bend, lean, lift, all those little everyday things. Very frustrating and a major exercise in self-control. I've got the time off work to recover, use it, don't do anything stupid to risk the recovery.

I have an X-ray this time next week, followed up with an appointment with the neurosurgeon back up in Sydney. I'm very keen to get this done, and see how its all going .