Thursday, July 21, 2011

11 days post op

The progress continues to be astounding to me. My back pain as I knew it for the last year is gone. Now for those of you contemplating this surgery....this is good and bad news. Good news is that it just may have worked....but too early for the victory laps and ticker tape parades. But is is VERRRRY promising. The down side is that I still have some pain but that is from the surgery (totally expected). I have some pain at the incision site and internal....but really not that bad....Tylenol keeps it in check.

Sleeping is getting better and better. The first days at home it hurt to roll over and I was using a bed pan to avoid getting up (painful) in the middle of the night. Now I can roll over...arch my back slightly to move my butt around in bed and roll back and forth almost completely pain free. In the morning when I get up it feels "full" and swollen but again that would be expected from my perspective.

I continue my daily walking. I am averaging over an hour a day. The only downside to the walks is a little bit of leg pain. I am not sure if the pain is from walking so much (a type of exercise my body is unfamiliar with) or if it is post surgery leg pain from decompressing the nerves. My hunch is that it is a bit of both. But in general the pain is decreasing daily. I also have been experiencing a bit of restless leg syndrome....but nothing in that regard in the last two days so that may have been a brief isolated incident.

Went to a Colorado Rockies games last night...sat through the whole thing pain free. The Rockies won in the bottom on the 9th. Walked to and from the stadium. Starting to feel like my old life again.

My first follow up visit with Dr Ghiselli (my surgeon) was today. All went VERY well and I got important clearances. One to go back to work and another to drive (Free at last...Free at last). I plan to work from home next week and maybe transition to the office as I feel better. But I am so ready to be back to being productive again and I love my job. Jello brain is starting to set in on the home front (perhaps taping those soap operas for my Mom is having some residual effect).

Finally....I had ordered one of those super duper Human Touch reclining chairs (about $2,100) from a local retailer, The Better Back Store. It was supposed to be delivered the day I returned home from the hospital but the base that I ordered was on back-order (no pun intended). Better Back agreed to give me a loaner (free of charge) until my chair came in. I got home and quickly determined that I was able to find places where I was comfortable sitting and reclining without the chair. I called Better Back and they agreed to give me a full refund. I wanted to mention them because they were sooooo cool about it. No questions asked. Bottom line is that you may of may not benefit from one of these chairs but if you buy from a store like Better Back you may have some options if you find out that it is not needed. Better Back carries a variety of products that you might find beneficial to make your convalescence more comfortable. According the their website...."Healthy Back strives to be the leading brand of high end comfort solutions and ergonomic products for back pain and other physical conditions.". Check them out...they were really nice and I have no connection whatsoever.

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