Day Four

Hi everyone, it’s Carrie. Brad was kind enough to lend me his computer here at the hospital, so I thought I would do a blog update.

First of all, regarding the surgery - per my surgeon, it went better than expected. The surgery took about 4 hours, which was an hour less than projected. They went in through the front, took out the artificial disc, put in a spacer and a few screws. They then went in the back, took out the screws/rods from surgery #2 and put in several new rods and screws. They were able to “clean the area up”, meaning removal of things such as bone spurs. The surgeon said it was much easier than they expected, and that he was really pleased with the way things turned out. Though initially they thought they may need to go and stabilize the L4 level, by the time they fused L5/S1 they felt that L4 looked good and didn’t need to do any work at that level.

Tuesday and Wednesday were very rough days. Tuesday my only task for the day was to sit in a chair for 20 minutes; I ended up being in it for three hours. Wednesday was a big day – they removed most of the tubes, plus I had two sessions with occupational therapy (OT) and physical therapy (PT). I spent most of the day in my chair, though during the daytime hours I found it hard to stay awake when I had a few minutes to myself. The pain was pretty bad both days, which was expected.

Today has been my best day. I got to have liquids for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was wonderful; apple juice and jello. Sounds simple, but it tasted like liquid gold. Lunch was pretty dreadful – beef broth, grape juice and orange ice. Even just writing it makes me queasy! Luckily I have now been given permission to have a “regular” meal for dinner, so I’m looking forward to that. I went to PT/OT twice today and passed with flying colors. I’m able to walk up and down the hallways with no assistance, and can handle steps and other day-to-day things that you don’t think about until you have surgery! The only negative today was that the IV in my right hand swelled too much and they had to take it out and put it in my left arm. Both arms are bruised and battered, so I was glad they were able to find a spot for the new IV.

Unless something unexpected happens tonight, I will be discharged tomorrow. I’m looking forward to being back at the hotel, with my familiar surroundings and comforts I brought from home. The one thing I will miss is that the hospital does have better tv channels, but at least I have my DVDs at the hotel!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I am so unbelievably grateful for everyone’s support. The encouragement and prayers I’ve received mean so much to not just me, but my family. It truly helps me get through each day. You are all in my prayers and thoughts as well.