Day Nine (Carrie)

It's amazing what a day or two a difference can make. I've said with the last two surgeries that there is usually a pattern; two days of no change/or feeling like you've gone backwards a bit, and then on day three you find yourself leaping ahead. This surgery appears to be no different.

Yesterday I suffered from pain all day, struggling to get comfortable and trying to sleep when I could. By evening I had my medications slightly increased/tweaked to combat this pain wave I was having such a difficult time getting over.

Today, being a day "three", brought a huge leap of progress with it. First, I was able to sleep in bed for almost six hours last night. Amazing! I woke up several times, and at a few points had to struggle to find one spot that brought me some pain relief, but in the end I was successful. I was even able to get to sleep after a midnight cell message from my brother telling me the Bears won in overtime (go Bears!).

I woke up at 3am and decided to make my way into the living room and into my chair. For the first time, I was able to position the foot stool and chair on my own without any help, got settled in, turned on the tv for noise and managed to sleep another three hours. What a great start to the day!

When Brad got up I was able to get out of the chair and get myself breakfast. I then spent the rest of the morning getting some work done, doing some light cleaning (without bending, twisting or lifting), and getting some good exercise being on my feet, without my walker. Also, another first.

I got ready and had my home health appointment, which went by quickly. Things look great, and confirmed that they will now be taking out the staples on Friday as my contact is not working on Christmas. They recommended this antibiotic cream with a pain reliever in it that I was told to put on an hour before they arrive on Friday, which should make the process easier for me. I'm told it's not painful, so I'll trust them. Even if it is, what choice do I have?

We had a quick lunch and then my physical therapy guy arrived. When he knocked at the door he indicated he was housekeeping (just kidding around), so when Brad opened the door I was standing, no walker, and after a moment he said "Are you actually the one who had surgery?" I told him yes, that I was able to walk around the hotel room without the walker, at least today. He was pretty amazed. He asked me if I was up for taking a walk without the walker, and I agreed. We then walked the whole length of the floor and back (it's actually a very long hallway with lots of little adjoining buildings), and then I climbed up and down a flight of stairs and then walked back to the hotel room. The guy was stunned and basically indicated that I had "passed"...no further need for physical therapy visits at this point. In what must have been the shortest PT visit ever, he was gone in less than 10 minutes.

Based on history I know the next couple of days will be stable or a downturn, but today has been quite amazing. I am just floored by how good I feek today. The pain medicine is doing it's job keeping the non-spine pain issues down, so I'm just feeling great. Today is a good day. And, I think that after only 8 days after surgery I am officially done with my walker - success!