Lumbar L5-S1 Prodisc - Cirobi

[Cirobi]

Hi everyone,

I just got home from the hospital yesterday afternoon and mostly lounged around because I was tired. Today marks my 4th day post-op and I just wanted to post a quick update since I'm running up against my sitting limit for the moment.

I'm doing really well. They had me on a morphine drip for the first 2.5 days and now they only have me on percocet for dulling the pain. All my old pressure and pain seems to be gone and the pain that remains is from the incision and the vertebrae that were manipulated to get the disc in there. My doc says everything went really smoothly. I'm up and moving around pretty well and have a cane for additional support. I'm mostly napping and/or lounging reclined on my couch so far. It's good to be fairly independent. My mom is in town for a few days to help me keep up on stuff around the house since my boyfriend is working two jobs currently. They all stopped by while I was in the hospital as did many of my coworkers which was really nice. They all stopped by the day after I got out of surgery so boy was that an exhausting day.

I'm feeling pretty good over all, but I think the fact that I've kept a good attitude through the most painful parts has helped. I'm really grateful for all the advice I got from folks on these forums as it really did prepare me to be able to relax sufficiently. I'm really glad I chose to do this and have high hopes for feeling great once all of the proper healing time has past. I'm doing my best to be good and follow all orders to relax, lounge and generally not do much because I want my recovery time to go as smoothly as possible. So far, I think I'm off to a good start. However, I do know there's always the possibility for set-backs and I'm prepared to hit any of those head-on and battle my way through as needed. Hopefully I won't run into too many.

Thank you again to everyone for your support. Feel free to ask questions and when I'm able I'll respond. Hopefully I can get my work laptop behaving with my home wireless network so it's easier to keep in touch with my online pals.

Talk to you all later,

~Sara

[Terry]

Congratulations Sara on a successful surgery. Hang in there as this is the part that gets tedious; the recovery time can be a roller coaster. Please keep us posted and we can help to normalize whatever you may be going through. Where you are, many have been there before. We're all in this together.

Terry Newton

[phylly]

ditto on Terry's postt. I know that you will do very well, you have been extremely prepared. Keep up the positive attitude, that is so important. Keep in touch as much as you can.
Phylly

[Dave C]

Sara,

I'm happy to hear that all went well with your surgery and you are doing good in your recovery. Take it slow and easy young lady.


Life is a party and should be enjoyed by all.

[steelskyway]

Sara,

I'm glad your surgery went well. I agree with the positive attitude. Slow and steady wins the race.

Paul

[Cirobi]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all the comments. I'm doing my best to be good and just lounge around. I think that's the toughest part because I'm so used to always having something to do. It's been good for my cross stitchery though.

Today marks a full week post-op and I'm still doing well. I'm finding it a lot easier to get up from a lounging, laying or sitting position now. The incision site is still somewhat sore but I think much of it is from my silent struggle to find a comfortable spot for the waistband of my shorts. I've been sticking with floppy sweatpant material shorts because of the softness of the fabric and the stretchy waistband. Plus the ones I got for myself just before my surgery have a nice wide waistband that can lay fairly comfortably on my incision site while I'm lounging around.

As for my back, it's still somewhat sore in that 'i've just been manipulated' kind of way. I call it a good sore since it means I've done something to it to fix the problem, not just make it worse. I wish we would get a bit of a cooler spell around here so I'd feel more comfortable going out and taking walks. I'm much steadier on my feet so walks would be great, but it's just too hot. I'm spending more time on my feet today wandering around my house and yard though. My dad is in town to do some work around my house for me, so I'm trying to at least get out and wander around while he does stuff.

Hope everyone else is doing well around here. I've been skimming through posts here and there, but not spending a ton of time at my computer for obvious reasons.

Take care everyone. I'll check in later.

~Sara

[Dave C]

Hi Sara,

Glad you are still doing good. It's tough to get out when it is 90+ degrees and high humidity. We had a few days like that while I was off. No fun in walking in that stuff at all. Take it easy and go slow. Hopefully you are being pampered by your dad.
Take care,

[Harrison]

Hi Sara, welcome to the other side! Let's catch up some time live. Call when you feel like it.

PS: Keep your dad. He's OK.

[Terry]

Glad you are steadily improving Sara. Remember to let your body guide your actions and allow the healing to happen instead of rushing things. Hang in there and take the time necessary to make your investment pay off.

Terry Newton

[LBP]

Sounds like you're having a pretty smooth recovery. Congratulations. Straight to cane, no walker is great! I was developing calouses on my hands from holding my walker so tightly. Only having 1 level must be a lot easier. You really sound great with no mention of any complications. Congratuations again!

I'm in PT, and I am amazed how tight my nerves and hamstrings are. I lost a lot of flexibility from surgery. If the hosp PT people recommended any simple stretches...DO THEM!