Day Four - PLIF recovery

Holy crap. Now I know what pain is. Didn't sleep at all Monday night. I couldn't shake off the pain until about 11am when the doc gave me another shot of morphine.I knew this day was coming, I had read about it, been told about it and was glad I was prepared for it, otherwise I would have gone out of my mind.

As all the major drugs worked their way out of my system the pain really went up a notch. It is so frustrating to be unable to fix it, unable to take the pain away. To wait and see if the drugs work. Even lying still was agony, I couldn't roll over, sit up, stand, eat or drink. I ended up watching movies to try and distract me but even that didn't work.

Once we agreed to try a shot of morphine, the pain became much more manageable. Tuesday night I was much more proactive in managing my own pain rather than have the nurses do it for me. We came up with a better pain management strategy, without morphine, and that seemed to work last night. Slept in 3 hour blocks from 10pm to 7am.

As far as recovery goes, its very early but the neurosurgeon is confident.With help from the in hospital physio team I've got a series of exercises to do while in bed. While they are such tiny exercises, I am doing the religiously as I am sure they'll help. They also help pass the time!! I am walking laps of the ward after each meal about, 200m.That and general stretching help the body stay active. I can feel the affect on my body of lying down so much. For example, my hip flexors are cramping up really bad. I'm trying to stretch them when ever I'm out of bed.

I'm appreciating small things. Like a shower, shave, deodorant, clean linen and clothes. They really help mentally as I feel fresher and more positive.