Oh my goodness! It's been a full year since my back surgery!
Having that surgery was the best thing I've ever done. Well, ok, the best thing I've ever done is marrying Rob, and having my two girls. But after that.
I can do almost everything I could do before my surgery. I can lift things. I can bend over at the waist and touch the floor with my fingers. Perhaps the only thing that is more difficult now is sitting up in bed to pull up the covers. But that's more because I haven't worked on sit-ups (I got really good at log rolling)!
I wore the back brace for three full months. They were very long months. I hated that brace with a passion by the time I was done wearing it. I'm really glad that I did it though. I healed quickly and thoroughly. Right after the surgery I couldn't imagine ever leaning to the side without pain again, but I can do it easily now. For the first 3 or 4 months, it hurt to sit in a chair for more than 15 minutes. But I began to be able to sit longer and longer. I began to be able to pick up things that fell on the floor. I began to be able to bend over. All of the healing was gradual but consistent.
There is an occasional feeling of numbness that goes down my right leg, when I am laying in bed, but I just shift position and it goes away. The great thing about bed, though: I can lie in bed! I can sleep on my back and it doesn't hurt. (Although if you ask Rob that is bad news because I snore when I sleep on my back!) And what about pain? It's gone. Totally, completely, gone.
2 comments:
thanks for posting your surgical experience! I am considering a minimally invasive TLIF at L5-S1. No spondy, but a disc that blew out and now it's basically bone on bone. Pain. I had a discectomy 3.5 years ago, but it didn't have lasting results. Enough about me, I'm curious how you are faring now a few years post-surgery?
I'm doing great! Occasionally I have a twinge of pain when I overdo it--mostly if I carry my granddaughter around too much or carry too many heavy things at once.
Post a Comment