Surgery Log 2012 – Feeling Better

Feeling Better – Post surgery – 11/16/12 – Friday – It is 10 days after surgery and I don’t feel too bad. It is Friday so I am automatically feeling better. I go to a meeting with Ruth and spend the rest of the day at home, but doing chores. I come up with very creative ways to clean using a folding chair, my grabber with sponges attached, my mop in my bathtub, etc. I am thinking of writing a book about how to get around when you cannot bend or have disabilities. I am supposed to get together with my new renter, Cindy, but she comes home at about 10:30 pm and goes upstairs. I am annoyed because she does not seem to understand how to lock the front door or set the alarm, and I want to get that straight. I also want set up a direct deposit but that is not happening tonight.

11/17/12 – It is Saturday and I am feeling hopeful and good, just by virtue of the fact that it is just Saturday. My legs seem a little less numb, but that may be due to my better state of mind. There is truth to “mind over matter”. Ruth picks me up for a meeting and afterwards we go to Starbucks. I am actually almost “happy” or at least what will pass for happiness in my lexicon. I cannot remember when the last time I felt that elusive emotion, so I hang on to it. Rather than say I am HAPPY I would categorize it as simply content and not troubled. However, I realize that I have been totally forgetting to get the mail, so when I do I discover a non-certification letter from my insurance company for the second hospital day. Since it is Saturday, they are not in, although I find this out after 5 minutes of going through various menu options, only to be told, “We’re sorry, we are not open. Please call back during business hours.” I try to figure out how I can lodge a complaint about this but I cannot because I cannot leave a message because they hang up on you!

Surgery Log 2012 – Recovering

Recovering – 11/13/12 – Tuesday – It has been 1 week since the laminectomy and I am recovering from this surgery. I go for a bone density study since the surgeon mentioned that I have osteoporosis in my back. This was very upsetting to me since I was unaware of this. The study revealed that I had borderline osteoporosis and the doctor started me on pills to treat it. But I am glad that these two upsets are out of the way.

11/14/12 – Wednesday – Ruth picks me up and gets me to a meeting at Midday. It is a step meeting and I am just grateful to be out and about. My friend and colleague, Kay, comes over to help me out. She has a doll for a son who helps clean and set up my DVD downstairs. I have every intention of writing in my Blog and getting “lots of things done” but I seem incapable of doing anything substantial.

11/15/12 – Thursday – I wake up very depressed with a very bad headache so I take 2 useless Tylenols. I am feeling so bad that I literally do absolutely nothing for a few hours until the headache subsides. I did not go out of the house at all the entire day, which also contributed to my feelings of total isolation. As usual, my brain is scattered and I don’t seem to be able to focus on anything at all, resulting in getting nothing done. I resolve to do more the next day. I am totally exhausted and I don’t seem to be able to understand that I just had major surgery and this might be perfectly normal. I am not giving myself a break. Also, my renter who was supposed to move in is still sick and has not done so. I am getting nervous that I won’t get my rent on time. She texts me to reassure me that she will have the rent, which she does. She brings more items to add to the clutter upstairs which she started about a week ago. It unnerves me probably because I am not in a good state of mind. I call various people to see who could pick me up but nobody calls back and nobody picks me up so I just stay at home that night. My friend John calls me and I end up feeling much better before I go to bed.

Surgery Log 2012 – Post op Laminectomy

Post op Laminectomy – 11/9/12 – It is 3 days post op and Donna picked me up today and brought me to a meeting. My back is very sore and it is hard for me to sit. Nevertheless I am happy to be out and about. Later in the day I decide to do some walking. My knee is beginning to regress probably because I am off painkillers. I was so constipated that I stopped them all. Since I am not on any anti-inflammatories, my knee is a disaster and not supporting me. I am outside walking and I fall right on my back. Although I do not seem to have done any real damage, I am stunned and shaking. I go back into the house and call Stacey, who reassures me that if I had broken anything I would not have been able to get up, which I did right away. I feel a lot better.

11/10/12 – It is Saturday and Ruth comes over and drives me to a Midday meeting. I am in a good state of mind today and we spend some time in Starbucks. I feel hopeful again.

11/11/12- Sunday – I feel lost and out of sorts. I am very lonely and bored. I have resolved to do lots of writing but my brain is not working at all. I seem incapable of getting started doing anything so I lump around the house.

11/12/12- Monday Joyce drives me to a follow up mammogram appointment and luckily everything is OK. Donna comes over and drives me to a meeting in the evening in Evans. Everyone seems surprised to see me and it is the highlight of my day. I am just happy to see people and to get out of the house, which has become my prison of sorts.

Surgery Log 2012 – Hopeful

Hopeful – 11/7/12 – Got out of the hospital. Joyce picked me up and spent the day and night with me. She is a new friend but I am glad I met her and her husband, Bill. I met them at the NAMI meeting, so at least some good came out of Joseph’s psychotic break. I am feeling really good mentally, not physically, but hopeful. Hope is everything after all.

11/8/12 – Joyce left and then my friend and client, Julia, came to stay all day long. That was wonderful. Still feeling hopeful.

Surgery Log – 2012 – Laminectomy

November 6–Laminectomy for spinal stenosis and Election Day. I voted early. Ruth drove me to the hospital and we waited for one hour before they took me in. Surgery went uneventfully and I had hope in my heart, something I had not had in a while. I was bolstered by the fact that the nurse let me get out of bed to pee. I was also amazed that my knee worked and I could walk. This was a mystery to me but I hung on to it. I was thrilled and ecstatic. Even for a few days at home I was feeling good but gradually, the knee started to hurt again and before you know it, it was as stiff and painful as before. I was also happy that a few people actually came to visit me; Donna T., Pat and Wayne, and Kay (from Serenity). That was just what I needed; to feel like I was number 1 and that people cared enough to come. In the hospital, I had a nice private room with a big TV and spent the evening watching the presidential election. At 10 pm I began to get scared that Romney would win due to the earlier results and the RED on the map, so I just switched off the TV and went to dreamland. I awakened again at midnight and switched on the TV and lo and behold I see, “Obama elected”. I am relieved so I can go back to bed. All day and all night I am having to page the poor nurses to take me to the bathroom due to all the fluids I am receiving in the IVs.

Surgery Log 2012 – Pain

Pain – Self referral – Sept 2012 – I am in so much pain that I reach out on Facebook and several people recommend a place called Augusta Back. When I went there they ask me who referred me and I put, “SELF Referral” because it was. If I had waited for my primary care doctor to send me for an MRI, I would still be waiting. My orthopedic knee doctor would not refer me for an MRI either for fear of “stepping on the toes” of the other doctor; how ridiculous is that! So, I had to be my own advocate and take matters into my own hands. The MRI reveals that I have bulging disks and most importantly, spinal stenosis, in the lumbar region.

I see Dr. Baker, an osteopath, first. He specializes in the administration of epidural steroid injections, which worked at first, but soon gave out. The first day I was ecstatic because the pain was gone, although the numbness in my toes was still there. I actually cried with relief, thinking that finally my nightmare was over. Unfortunately the numbness was not addressed. He tried another round of injections two weeks later and the numbness seemed worse. At that point he referred me to Dr. Shaver, a neurosurgeon who was recommended by 2 people I know. She informed me of my options and they all pointed to surgery. I agreed and my laminectomy was scheduled for November 6, 2012.

Surgery Log 2012 – Beginning

Beginning: Background – About 8 months ago I became aware of a chronic back and overall ache, mostly in my back and hips. Thinking it was due to my new mattress I returned the mattress 4 times trying to wake up not feeling like a Mack truck had hit me overnight. I would shake it off, pop my 4 Ibuprofens, take a hot shower, and go out for a run or to the gym before going to work. But, it soon became apparent that my right knee was painful and I probably had a ripped meniscus. But It also became apparent that I was having limited ROM on my right side and had constant pain all over—not just the knee—even while working out in the gym. At first I ignored it and just tried to put it aside, but I knew I had to see a specialist. Regarding the knee, I have had that surgery before and just assumed that I would recover completely within 2 or 3 months. However this has not been the case.

As of right now I am also trying to recover from back surgery (laminectomy) which also affects the knee. My “recovery” has not been what I expected—from both the laminectomy and knee surgery. Because my right leg is so weak, due to the injured spinal nerve, it has prevented the quadriceps muscle (thigh) from being strong and this affects the knee recovery. I am now using a cane because of my weak right leg and knee. My knees are so stiff and my right knee so painful that I can barely walk. This is probably due to having two anesthesias and surgeries back to back, or so I have been told. As a form of therapy, I decided to document my ordeal in the following posts.