I've just hit the 8
weeks post surgery mark and am doing awesome. I'm doing heaps more incidental things
around the house, but still not bending, twisting or lifting
much.
I am really happy
with how its going. i actually have moments where i think, "this might actually
work, I might be pain free" after a decade in pain this is quite a strange
thought.
I had an increase in
pain at 6 weeks, but aside from that the recovery seems to be continually
progressing well. I'm putting this increase in pain down to coming off pain
killers of any kind and an increase in activity. After easing off the activity
for a few days and getting back on the meds, it settled down. The other point
I'd note is I've had some pain in my calves. I put this down to DVT (like what
they warn you about on a long haul flight when you're still for too long!!) I
have found that pair of compression socks has helped manage this. The hard part
is getting my wife to put them on because i can't bend over and put socks
on!!
I've started back up
at work (office job)- on a graded return to work program:
2 weeks @ 3 days x 3
hours
2 weeks @ 3 days
x 5 hours
2 weeks @ 3 days
x 7.5 hours
2 weeks @ 4
days x 7.5 hours
2 weeks @ 5 days and
review
This is designed to
ease me back into work, and keep testing my tolerances for the workload and
allow enough rest to recover. Again, nice and slow so as to avoid increasing the
risk of jeopardising the recovery. This also means I'm getting in and out of cars more
frequently and much easier. I probably could have started doing this a bit
early, but I was cautious of this.
This afternoon I go
for my first massage post surgery with a sports massage expert - I'll be staying
away from the surgery area, but will focus on the periphery. I've found that
my hip flexors cramp heaps, gluts are sore, neck is saw, and calves are
hurting so I'll focus on all of these.
I see a sports
Specialist doctor on 21 January and will design the rehab program there with him
to cover the next 3 months (this will be at about the 10 week
mark)
I'm booked in to see
a physio with experience in treating patients rehab-ing out of spinal fusion on
22 January. I'll be picking her brain on everything I can to do with the
rehab.
My surgeon has been
encouraging me to be as active as reasonably possible, but I've resisted this
for a while. I wanted to reach the 8-10 week mark before I started doing more.
This was only based out of fear of jeopardising the fusion, but really it is
quite strong with all the screws and rods. That and i wanted the guidance of
experts experienced in the rehabilitation of spinal fusion patients.
Next week I
plan on kicking off pool sessions - just running along in the water using a
floaty belt to keep me upright. This should promote more cardio, blood flow etc
and be low impact. It should also test out range of motion for my stride length
without being under pressure.
Overall, I'm really
happy with it. It seems to be going smoothly, I've got a good network around me
to help the recovery and it should all be ok out to March when bub is
due.
A big thanks to
Jonesi and Jessa for popping around yesterday and moving all my furniture (my
wife and I can't lift a thing between us!!) so we can set up the nursery for the
baby - thanks guys, really appreciate
it.
