8 weeks post surgery

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.