Lazy days...

Yesterday was a really lazy day, with some great sleeping in and some serious nap time!  And, judging today's weather and the emotions these gray, blah days bring on, today might be the same way...and I am perfectly okay with that!  My parents stopped by yesterday evening after going out for dinner to say hello, and it was great to see my dad who had been on a business trip since the previous weekend.  Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful day, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, right?!

I just wanted to make a quick entry (we'll see how this goes!) this morning, as I just wanted to share a couple of pictures!

I received this beautiful piece of artwork from my two year old niece Addison last week, and it's been on our fridge ever since, where it makes me smile every time I step into the kitchen!  I had sent Addison a little kit with foam eggs and stickers to decorate them, and I was SO excited to get a decorated one back in the mail!  And, I also got a great colored Thomas the Train picture as well...Leo was especially impressed by her penmanship :)  Addison, my brother Brian, and his wife Carrie live in Colorado, and we've been able to Skype a couple of times since I've had surgery, which has been really nice (although I scared Addison the first time we Skyped, as I was laying in bed and probably looking a little down and out!).  I know I say it all the time, but SERIOUSLY, the kindness, thoughts, support, and love I've received from my friends and family during these past couple of weeks has meant more to me than words can say and has really helped lift my spirits!!  THANK YOU TO YOU ALL!!

I remember being in college, where I used to walk past a flower shop on the way home after class to one of the apartments I lived in during that time, and I remember thinking that once I was older I wanted to keep a bouquet of fresh flowers in my home whenever I could...so I thought I'd better start!  Leo had given me a bouquet of tulips in a super cool vase, and now that all of my hospital flowers are gone, I wanted to refill that amazing vase with some fresh flowers! 

Thanks to a ride from my mom, we stopped by Flowerama (where Mayo employees get 20% off with an ID, FYI!) where I picked up this pretty mix of flowers for the vase!  They brighten up the dining room, and I love getting a smell of them as I do my laps walking around the house! :)

Okay, well maybe this did get a little longer than I expected (but really, what did you expect?!)...wishing everyone a happy weekend!!

Odds and Ends...

My second day without a babysitter, and I am still alive and the house is still standing!  That's always a good sign!

Last night, Leo's dad Frank came into town and they went to a farm show here at one of the local arena centers...he stayed over night (and Leo left for work bright and early) so this morning it was nice to have someone to eat breakfast with chat with for a little bit!  He had to be home mid-morning so he couldn't stay too long (a farming friend was expecting some animal bedding to arrive that he needed some help with), but that put my day off to a good start!

Today has been relatively low key...I tried to get some things done around the house, write some thank you notes for the great flowers and things I've received over the past couple of weeks, and do a little relaxing as well!   So far, so good! 

I've been trying to keep a list of some ideas of things to write about on this blog-o-mine, and I have a bunch of "Odds and Ends" (hence the title!) that I wanted to mention in regard to previous posts or just things I've encountered as a result of the surgery.

Firstly, I wrote awhile back that surgery took a bit longer than was expected, but forgot to mention why.  Apparently, the bones and discs that were being repaired or removed had very strong evidence of arthritis from rubbing on one another, and it took the surgeons quite a long time to scrape out the poor quality bone.  When I heard this after surgery, I felt a little more validated in my pain.  Sometimes I worried that people thought that I was making up the pain (and sometimes I even wondered if it was really that bad when I was having a stretch of good days!), but the surgeon himself told my family that there was truly a reason why I was in so much pain, and that that was very evident in what they found internally.  Another reason why the surgery took so long was due to the curve in my spine.  Apparently, my lumbar curve is a little more exaggerated than usual, and when I was placed on my back to go in through the abdomen, that extra curve created little space between my lumbar bones and my pelvis, making it difficult to get at the backbones with a pelvis that wanted to be included in the party!  So, the process took a little extra time, but things still went as planned!

Another thing I noted when I was still in the hospital was how I had spots along my hairline and on the back of my head that were very tender, which I especially noticed once I was allowed to shower and wash my hair...well, it turns out they had put me into a halo-type apparatus to keep my head from moving around while they were working on my spine.  I still have one sore spot above my right ear that is still tender, but otherwise things have improved in that aspect.  Kind of makes me wonder what else they do during these operations!!

Also while in the hospital I had some serious cases of the hiccups, without any real reason for them occurring!  I still get them at home occasionally, and finally googled it and found that abdominal surgery can actually bring on hiccups!  I guess messing with the diaphragm, stomach, and even having tubes down your throat can bring on a case of those annoying convulsions!  Luckily, they've been occurring less and less (knock on wood!), but they aren't the kind cured by holding your breath or drinking water...that I've tried!!

I had also mentioned in a previous post about not remembering doing anything strange as I was coming out of anesthesia, but I alluded to some strange dreams that I had been having post-surgery that I meant to talk more about...well, I had dreams for about a week after surgery that people were working over me, like a nurse would be over your hospital bed, or your friends or family looking over you while you were laying down.  On numerous occasions, I would wake myself up trying to respond to my 'dream people' "No, I don't need anything!," "Thank you!," and Leo said one evening I was apparently trying to tell someone goodbye!  The dreams were very short (maybe they were actually hallucinations?!?), and I always woke up right away when trying to talk and realized that no one was hovering above me!  My 'dream people' generally were inquiring about how I was, if I needed anything, or were people who had come to visit.  And I know that this wasn't just me on strong drugs while nurses checked up on me all hours of the day and night, because it even was happening at home!  Uh, yeah, maybe I am going crazy?! :)

I have already started to receive itemized statements from the clinic and hospital regarding the cost of the surgery, and the amount makes me cringe!  I am SO thankful for amazing insurance, as we would not have been able to afford this without the insurance that we are covered under!  I don't think that we've gotten all of the statements, but the total from what we have gotten is comparable to nearly three times my annual salary!!  OUCH...thank goodness for out-of-pocket maximums!!

Tonight it is our neighbor Shawn's birthday (Happy birthday, Neighbor!!), and we are going to head out for dinner at O'Neils to celebrate with him and his wife as well as his sister!  I am so excited for my first real attempt at eating dinner out of the house!  Hopefully all goes well, and if not, there's plenty of room to walk around in if I need to get up and stretch out!  And I could really go for some fried mac-n-cheese bite appetizers (seriously...if you haven't tried them there, you must!!)...AMAZING!!

Alright, I meant for this to be a short entry, but again, my novelist side has taken hold...maybe if I get time tomorrow (who am I kidding, what else am I going to do?!?!), I'll write another entry!!  Until then, peace out!!

Already 2 weeks post-op!

I can't believe how time has recently flown by and I have already reached the two-week post-op mark!  I think back to how I felt after surgery just two weeks ago, and am amazed at how far things have come and what I've been able to regain since I left the hospital.  Unfortunately, the two week mark also marks the time that my mom will be headed back to work and won't be babysitting me at home anymore!  Tomorrow will be my first day without having someone at home with me during the day, but she has already promised to stop by after work in the afternoon to make sure I didn't make a mess of myself or burn the house down!  But things have been going quite well, and I've been trying to become increasingly independent (with her encouragement as well!) and I think that tomorrow will go just fine!  There's no way I would have been at the point that I am without her encouragement and support, offering to take walks with me outside, helping out with housework, and helping me realize what I should and should not be doing. 

The last couple of days have been really good!  On Saturday, my grandparents were able to come from LaCrosse and visit with me at our house, which was a great time!  We had some lasagna for lunch, some grasshopper pie for dessert (it was St. Patty's Day, after all!), and some great conversation.  I think that my grandparents had a good time as well, and I hope that I wasn't too out of it!  I was a little tired by the time that they left, but a good nap helped to ease that!  The rest of the weekend was pretty low-key, but that was just perfect for me.

Mom and I had a great day on Monday, and I cannot thank her enough for helping me SHAVE MY LEGS!!  Hahaha...that's not something I really figured I would have had to deal with this time of year, but with this amazing March weather shorts were becoming more of a necessity, and two weeks of no shaving does not make short-worthy legs!  Luckily, Leo had an electric razor that he never uses, and that did just the trick!  I took an awesome picture of the event, and it makes me laugh so hard whenever I look at it.  She didn't seem to mind one bit, and I asked her what the most disturbing thing she had to do for me yet, and shaving my legs was no where at the top of the list!  It's funny the things that we take for granted until we are unable to do them for ourselves...this has been a VERY humbling experience!!

Today I had my two-week post-op appointment at the Clinic just to check out how my incisions were coming along and to ask any other questions that had arisen.   Apparently, the incisions look awesome, and the steri-strips (which are still covering the incisions) will slowly peel off.  I am still wearing an abdominal brace (for a couple more weeks yet), but the doctor I met with (a member of my surgeon's team) let me know that I could sit for a couple of hours without the brace on to help dry out the wound and help the steri-strips peel as well.  With some prompting, he reassured me that I should not set off metal detectors as the plates and screws are made out of titanium, which should not set off alarms.  He also noted that I shouldn't be taking car rides longer than about 45 minutes without taking a good break.  I also asked about trying to get off of some of my meds, but he seemed to be in no hurry to cut back on everything that I am on.  He reiterated that although I might feel amazing compared to how I felt two weeks ago, this really is only the beginning of the journey for me.  I need to stay aware of my movements and limit any bending, twisting, or lifting, and to try to walk, walk, walk as often as my body allows in the upcoming months.  I will not meet with the team again until four months post-op, at which time they will take additional imaging studies and meet with the docs to ensure that fusion is occurring...and if it is, I will start physical therapy or rehab at that time.  When I feel up to going back to work before then, I just need to call them and come in for an appointment to release me back to work starting part time.  This doctor also reiterated that it is important to not return to work until I am completely sure that I am ready to return...there is no need to rush things, as it will only hinder recovery in the long run!

And the best part of the appointment today:  I finally got to see some pictures of xrays and from the surgery!!  I remember asking about it in the hospital, but I was so out of it that I forgot about it until I was at home after being released.  The doctor printed off a couple of pictures for me, so they aren't the best quality (made even worse by the fact that I just took a picture of them with my phone to get them online!), but I still think that they are super cool, and I learned a little more about what exactly they did in there!  Again, a warning about the below images!  The xrays aren't too gross, but there is an image that the bottom of my backbone through my abdominal incision during surgery (I'm a total nerd...I think it's so cool!!)...

So this here is an xray image taken from the front of my body after the two plates had been put in on the anterior portion of my spine...I think that the two large bones on either side are a good indication of placement, as that is my pelvis!  The top of the two plates joins the L (lumbar) 4 and L5 vertebrae, and the lower of the two plates joins the L5 and S (sacrum) 1 levels.  There are a total of four screws in each plate (with eight screws total).  Bionic woman!!

Now here is an xray view of the hardware from the side...you can see the two plates with the screws from another angle.  Also, between the screws for each plate, you can see where the two discs have been removed, and in their place there has been put a fusion cage, which basically serves as a retainer to hold the morselized donor bone (likely taken from a hip replacement patient, which I learned today!; which will eventually fuse with my own vertebral bones), and also helps to retain the proper spacing between the bones since the disc has been removed.  I had initially thought that they had also inserted screws into the back portion of my bones in order to reattach the broken back part of the bone to the front part, however I learned that they also just packed that area with bone graft in order to increase fusion in that area.  This was a relief to me, especially knowing that hardware placed from the rear side of the back generally needs to be removed due to pain a few years down the road...now I shouldn't have to worry about that!

Alright, here's the semi-gross picture!!  It was so much cooler in color when the doctor showed me on the computer, but this will have to do!  This is an image taken while they were doing surgery from my belly...you can barely see the top plate in the picture under some muscle/flesh?, but the lower of the two plates is right in view.  If I remember correctly, the plates themselves were silver in color, but two of the screws on each plate were blue and the other two were green in color.  I'm not sure if you can tell from the quality of the image, but the plates are even marked with serial numbers!  Again, kind of morbid, but I am SO amazed at how they fixed my back from the front and never thought I would be able to see an image like this when all was said and done!  I'm planning on requesting the images and my medical files after all of my follow up appointments are done so I can have a copy of all of these images (in color, hopefully!).

So, things are still improving quite well!!  I'm relatively self-reliant, but have a feeling I'll be utilizing my grabber/reacher aid the rest of the week, as I have been dropping things like you could not believe around the house and now Mom won't be around to pick up after me!  :)  I'm hoping to write entries more frequently in the next couple of weeks, and wanted to touch on the equipment that I've been using at home to make life easier for me, especially in case people who are going through or planning on going through a lumbar fusion have an idea of what helped me.  I'll be in touch!!

Picture Album!

I finally got around to uploading the hospital pictures from my phone and the pictures my mom had taken using her camera onto my computer, and thought I would use this post as a little photo album!  Here we go!

Leo and Cindy waiting in the pre-op room bright and early!

Mom waiting in the pre-op room too!

The time to go has come!!  Off to surgery!!

  

Luckily, Leo and Mom got to wait right in my assigned hospital room instead of in a waiting area...here's Leo testing out the couch he slept on later that evening!

Finally done with surgery, and apparently feeling great ("peace!!")!  Keeping Dad and Leo entertained, at least!

Another peace sign!  The tube down my nose was for depressing my stomach, making it easier to work in my abdominal cavity and to reach my back...it also helped GREATLY with reducing nausea!!

Tuesday morning...getting some rest!

Tuesday afternoon...trying to get comfortable (another peace sign?!  The tube down my throat made my throat pretty raw, even after it had been removed, so apparently I switched to using the peace sign as "I'm doing okay"!)-

An AMAZING Edible Arrangment I received from Leo's brother Mike, his girlfriend Amy, and their families!  What a great (and delicious!!) surprise!!

This balloon was also attached to the edible bouquet (I couldn't get the picture to turn, but I think you can still read it!)-

HAHA!!!  Worst pictures EVER (thanks, Mom!)...but, finally eating oatmeal Thursday morning instead of just clear liquids for breakfast!

Another GREAT picture!!  SO glad to have a cup of coffee (even though I spilled the sugar across the entire breakfast tray!)!!

Beautiful flower garden on the window sill!

Pretty daisies from Mom and Dad-

Beautiful bouquet from the Thom Family-

Amazing vase and tulips from Leo-

Beautiful pink hydrangeas from Leo's sister Rose and her family!

Great Jade Plant from my brother Brian, sister-in-law Carrie, and niece Addison!

A beautiful bouquet from our fabulous neighbors Emily and Shawn!

Returning back to my room from a hallway walk...made it to the nurse's desk this time!

Taking a much needed rest after that "long walk"!

Friday, dressed and just about ready to go home!!

Made it home, and went straight to bed (who knew a car ride could be so exhausting?!)

Mom was SO excited that she could see Mayo One leave and return just above my hospital room window...here's a couple of the pictures she captured (you should have seen her move to grab the camera once she heard the helicopter running!)-

Here's a cool one of Mayo One backed by the sun (or what sort of sun there was behind that fog!)-

Only a week after some serious surgery, and I'm up and about!  Initially, I was dependent upon the walker for walking, but now I am up and about without any aids (except for the cane when I go outside due to the not-so-flat terrain)!

Whoa, those are some serious drugs!  One of my regular afternoon naps!  Haha...looks like I'm even sleeping on the ceiling!

Taking a walk outside with Mom enjoying the MOST beautiful seventy-some degree weather these last couple of days!  The first couple of days I could make it just to the end of the block and back (hardly a full block in length), but today Mom and I walked all the way around the block (a solid half hour of walking!)!  That warrented a good nap once we got home, but what an improvement!!!

Alright, so the next couple pictures include some pretty gruesome images, including some serious bruises from the IV's, and also include images of the incisions...please be warned!!  They look great as far as fresh incisions go, but that doesn't mean they are pretty!!  Take a look if you dare! :)

Here's my right elbow...I wasn't drinking much the first couple of days after surgery and my IV drip was running pretty slowly, so the nurses were having trouble placing IV's.  This is one of the bruises remaining from one of the first IV's placed when I entered the OR.  It did pretty well until the fluid started accumulating in the flesh where the IV tube end was in my arm (where the bruise on the bottom is).

This is the nasty bruise on my right arm.  The bruises around my wrist were from the first IV that was placed while I was waiting in the pre-op area.  It lasted quite a few days before it blew, but served its purpose well!  The bruise in the center of my arm was another attempt at an IV after they removed the one in my wrist, but that one blew as soon as they flushed it...but they finally found a good spot in my elbow that lasted until they pulled all my IV's!

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to turn these images, so you'll just have to turn your head!!  This is my back incision (with the bottom facing to the left in this image)...it starts a couple of inches above my butt crack, and extends about three inches total.  The stitches are all internal, and the steri-strips are holding things together from the outside.  I have started showering without covering up the incisions with saran wrap, so hopefully the steri-strips will fall off in no time!  I have an appointment next week (two weeks post-op...I can't believe how time has flown!!) to make sure things are looking great!

And here is the anterior incision!  I'm clearly not super thin, but I did crop off some of the incision on the left side so my lady hairs wouldn't be posted for all to see!! :)  So, the incision starts above my belly button (on the right side), circles around the left side of the belly button, and continues vertically down.  Clearly, a straight incision wasn't part of the deal, but I suppose as long as she's all closed up, I shouldn't complain!  Because they cut right through my ab muscles (believe me, there are some under there, I can definitely feel them now!), I have to wear an abdominal binder for a total of a month.  The anterior incision is a total of six inches in length.

Okay, I think that this post has gone over board once again!!  Please let me know if you have any questions or comments!!  I have definitely found that people saying hello, sending cards, calling, and stopping by have lifted my spirits so much!!  Thank you to everyone who stopped by while I was in the hospital (even if I might not have been the best entertainer!), everyone who has stopped by since I've been home (especially to Heather, Emily, and Allie who made my Tuesday AMAZING!!), and especially to my mom who has been here every week day since I've been home just after 7am to make sure I'm taking my meds and getting me increasingly independent with my modified methods of doing things!!  I couldn't do this without you!!!

Seven days post-op, and time for a recap...

It's been a couple of days since I mentioned that I was going to type up a recap of the actual day of surgery and my stay in the hospital, but it's amazing how these pain-killers can really make you feel foggy!  The last couple of days have come with great improvement, and every day I feel a little bit stronger and a little bit better!

So, to recap the day of surgery...I had initially thought that we had been told that the surgery itself would last about two hours, with a total time away from my family being five hours...I'm not sure where Leo and I came up with that number, because that was totally off!  Luckily, I was the first case of the day, and had to check in at the hospital at 5:30am.  My mom drove to our house bright and early, and Leo drove the three of us to the hospital.  When you are the first case of the day, they take you right back to the pre-op section of the surgical ward instead of admitting you into a room first.  This was really nice and helped keep me a little more calm.  In this room, we pretty much hung out, changed into a beautiful hospital gown, hung out some more, had my vitals taken, hung out some more, had an IV inserted, met with some of the anesthesia and surgical staff, and hung out a little more.  I was excited to be first on the list for the day, but that still didn't get me taken back into the operating room until 8:10am.  The OR was incredibly interesting, with huge computer monitors covering the walls (I saw at least six of them, I imagine that they use these to pull up imaging studies and to take live xrays to make sure things are in the correct location.  I immediately met the anesthesia staff, who -once I told them I was a little anxious- told me there was no reason to be and they had something to cover that!  And to be honest, once they pulled a little on my IV, I don't remember anything after that until waking up in the recovery room!  The doctor and his staff were incredibly informing of the procedure with Leo and my mom and would call them throughout the procedure to keep them updated.  So, even though I entered the OR at 8:10am, the first incision on the abdominal side was made at 9:50am.  From the anterior side, two plates were placed along my L4-L5-S1 bones, and screwed in to keep them in place.  At 1:50pm, Leo got a call that they were starting to finish up the front and would shortly be flipping me over to start the posterior portion of the surgery.  Another phone call came at 2:30pm, alerting my family that the incision had begun on my back.  From the back, screws were placed to attach the broken back bone back to where it belonged in order to increase the odds of a proper fusion.  At 4:30pm, Leo got another call letting him know that they were finishing up on the back side and I would be shortly be moved into recovery.  I don't remember doing anything strange when waking up (I know some people have some really great stories!), besides a little bit of groaning with the pain.  I'm pretty sure one of the first things I did was try to wiggle my toes, with complete success!!  I'm not exactly sure why, but that was one of my biggest fears upon entering the surgery.  And finally, twelve hours after being taken back to the OR, I was rolled into my hospital room at 8:10pm.  That evening it felt so great to see Leo and my mom and dad, and I remember feeling absolutely great!  I was so loopy and out of it, but did not feel much for pain!

The next day I woke up, I definitely felt the pain that I had read so much about online from other patients.  Unbearable, to say the least...my surgeon stopped in that morning, and they were able to switch my PCA pump from one drug (morphine, I believe) to something a little stronger (Dilaudid), which helped, but definitely came with some worse side effects (more sleepiness, more loopiness, more nausea).  Unfortunately, they hadn't initially ordered anything for muscle spasms, which are still a large part of my pain even today...after a little Valium, I was feeling a little better.  Tuesday day was also very nice, as they were able to remove my catheter and remove a tube that they had placed down my throat to depress my stomach (to make the anterior portion of the surgery easier, as well as to assist with nausea). Having mini goals like having tubes removed for instance was extremely helpful and made me continue to seek the positive in the difficult situation.  Tuesday afternoon was pretty good, and some family and friends stopped by, which really helped to lift my spirits...unfortunately I wasn't very entertaining and was pretty much lying on my side away from everybody the whole time, but it was still so comforting to have the support my friends and family.  I also received a garden of flowers and plants, and a delicious Edible Arrangement, all which made me smile whenever I saw them (or could focus my eyes on them, I'm pretty sure my eyes were almost closed for the first 48 hours!). 

Wednesday was extremely rough, and we pretty much placed a lot of the blame on the super strong pain killers.  I was so loopy, unmotivated to do anything, nauseous, and had a good idea at that point that I would not be going home on Thursday as we would have hoped.  We got me hooked off of the PCA pump and the nasty drugs, and that slowly helped my get back to a less-sedated state.  I also had spiked a fever of 101* Wednesday, which left me incredibly sweaty and incredibly cold...unfortunately the combination left me with a serious rash on the side I was laying on, but that immediately was reduced with the addition of some hydrocortisone cream and looks a whole lot better today.  Wednesday, even though it was pretty nasty, came with its own mini-achievements as well!  Sure, this may be way too much information, but with that many painkillers and some major surgery, your bowels really want to shut down!  My nurses were adamant about the condition (one of them in particular! and especially because it had been a couple of days since I had gone to the bathroom before surgery thanks to my daily painkillers), and she pushed for additional stool softeners, suppositories, and even an enema (really, not as awful as I thought...but maybe that was covered by the back-pain!)...and there was luck!  You'd never thought a person could cry out in happiness for all to hear about having a successful bathroom session!  Keep in mind, with a huge abdominal incision, that is a huge task!  Wednesday also brought on additional walking (another achievement! with the help of a walker, of course!), and the PT and OT women that I worked with were so very helpful and encouraging, inspiring me to get strong!  Wednesday I even climbed some stairs with the help of leaning against one wall and using a cane (to practice what it would take to get in and out of my own home).

Thursday was so much better than than Wednesday, and I felt a lot more confident about going home the next day. I finally gained some interest in eating food, and although it wasn't much at a time, jello and toast were so much better than liquid chicken broth through a straw!  I walked quite a bit more Thursday, and was pretty proud of myself! :)  Big deal of the day Thursday: I got a shower!  With help from a nurse, my wounds were covered and I stood with the walker while washing up what I could...so refreshing! 

Friday went very quickly, and I had final meetings with OT and PT, had another shower, put on my own clothes (felt SO great!), and was sent home with a huge bags of meds!  My mom drove me home and I laid down for bed, in my OWN BED! 

The last couple of days have been so much better than the first couple of days in the hospital!  My appetite has returned and although I fill up pretty quick, it's nice to be able to eat what I want!  So far, fresh fruit has been the star of the meals (holy mandarin oranges, people!).  I have been walking around as much as I can using the walker around the house, and have even been walking around using only the cane!  In smaller areas, like the kitchen and the bathroom, I feel pretty confident just holding onto countertops!  I still use the walker to help get in and out of bed, and in and out of chairs or the toilet...I'm getting stronger but my legs just aren't quite there yet!  We didn't get outside to walk this past weekend, but I'm hoping to do that either today or tomorrow...the weather has definitely been beautiful out (my mom opened the deck door the other day and we stood by it just to enjoy the weather for a little bit!).  I've been feeling more and more confident about doing things on my own.  Thankfully, my mom has been able to take off this week and a portion of next in order to help me withe my daily activities.  I am SO thankful for her help and her almost hyper-sensory feeling of knowing when I'm struggling with something or when I could just use an extra hand.  I still need help to get all arranged in bed (with pillows under my legs), taking a shower (seriously, what a humbling experience to have your own mother have to wash your back and everything below your waist because you can't bend over as a thirty-year-old!!), and small things like carrying dinner plates to and from wherever we eat (my weight restriction is 10 lbs.).  My goals the next couple of weeks are to continue to keep increasing my activity, try to get down off the pain pills as much as possible, and continue to try to help my back fuse! 

In terms of the incisions, these things are pretty nasty, but hopefully the scars will reduce down to a small line when all is said and done!  We were able to take a little closer look at them when we were at home.  I have to wear an abdominal binder for four weeks (except for when showering), and I have opted to keep some gauze over the incisions to prevent irritation from the binder.  Under all that goodness, the stitches are all interior and the wound is just covered nearly completely with steri-strips.  Luckily, the back incision is only about three inches in length.  Unfortunately, the abdominal incision is quite a bit larger.  I met the doctors for a final pre-op the Friday before surgery, and completely spaced on asking them about body piercings...I had called and spoke with one of the doctors on the surgical team who told me that they definitely wanted the belly button rings out for the surgery but that the jewelry could be reinserted a couple of days after surgery once the first dressings were removed.  The day after surgery, that same doctor told me that although she remembered telling me that I would be able to reinsert the jewelry afterward told me that that was not going to be able to happen as they had to cut through the bottom part of the piercing.  Keeping in mind that I actually have two belly piercings (one and top and one on the bottom...yes, these were from my skinnier days!), I assumed that she meant that I would not be able to use the bottom piercing.  Upon a closer look, the incision is about 6 inches in length, starts just above the belly bottom through the top piercing, goes around the side of the belly button, through the bottom piercing and down from there...seriously?!?  Ah well...if this works, I'm okay with that!

This is really getting carried away...I was going to try to post some photos, but maybe I'll make that a project for tomorrow!  I apologize for the length of this post, but now it's all out on paper and hopefully everyone will have a better idea of what kind of ordeal this process has been.  I appreciate the support, encouragement, and love that I have received from my family and friends, and know without a doubt that I would not have been able to do this without them!!  Looking forward to having a couple more visits with friends tomorrow!!  Until then, no BTL!!  No, that does not mean beer, tanning, laundry...it's bending, lifting, or twisting!  My new motto for the months to come!!

Home at last!!

I'm a day late in posting this, but I am home at last!! I made it home around noon on Friday, after a couple more quick morning lessons with OT and PT, and a quick shower and dressing change. Overall, things are progressing very well. I've been up doing quite a bit of walking, sitting, standing, and just trying to be more independent in my day to day activities. I definitely still need help with showering (I guess you can't be too modest when your adult mother helps you shower when you're an adult yourself and she hasn't seen you naked in almost two decades?!...at this point I'd take all the help I could get! But limiting shower help to Mom and Leo, no applications please!) :)

I do still get tired quite easily, but I think that has a lot to do with the pain pills. I'm still taking a good amount of drugs (I wanted to max out through this weekend and start dropping down on Monday), and they do leave me a little foggy!

Tomorrow one of my goals includes posting a good entry about how things went with surgery, why things took so long, and the plans for the next couple of weeks! Until then, sweet dreams all!! Mine sure will be...I'll have to write more about that later! ;)

Starting to feel a little better!!

It's been a rough couple days since ive last posted, but just wanted to write quick that I'm finally starting to feel better! I got some good rest (just needed to move every couple of hours) last night, so that definitely helped! I'm still on a liquid diet, but have really been starting to take in more so that's helped with my energy! Spiked a fever yesterday of 101* but that's back under control. I'm going to the bathroom, which has also helped with my mobility. Today with PT I climbed a couple of stairs (to simulate the three stairs we have going into the house), and did quite a bit of walking! I think just getting off the PCA pump and quitting those narcotics was a huge help...they were making me so tired, nauseous, and completely unmotivated! The docs have stopped in quite a few times and it sounds like my incision looks good...they said the back incision is about three inches and the abdominal one is at least six inches long! I'm still nervous to look at it but I better get used to it!

Okay, I'm dropping fast here so this isn't too long but know that I'm doing pretty well! Definitely won't be getting out today but hopefully tomorrow! I'll post tomorrow hopefully!! Thanks for the continued well wishes and warm thoughts!!! :)

Day Zero is here!!

It's 5:00am, and I'm showered, dressed, packed, and ready to head to the hospital! Leo's taking a quick shower, and my mom is here (already loading the dishwasher and helping take out the trash!)! We have to be at St. Mary's at 5:30am...

I'm not quite as nervous as I was yesterday morning (I had a mini-breakdown yesterday morning, so maybe I got that out of my system!), and I feel more ready to get this party started!

I'll try to post as soon as I can (might be a day or two!), but I'll try to have Leo or a friend post on facebook once I'm out and doing great :)

Okay, peace out for now, folks!! Next time I type I'll be a bionic woman!!

Counting down the days...

It's been a couple of days since I last posted, but I'm not sure that too much has changed!  I've spent the last couple of days trying to finish up some chores around the house and running last minute errands, hopeful that I'll be able to spend some time this weekend getting some relaxing in...if I can just turn my mind off of what's to come next week!  I got my last pre-surgery haircut tonight...I absolutely loved my haircut before, but knew that if I didn't chop some more length off, it would drive me crazy before I would be able to sit down for a haircut again...especially the mullet that seems to take off in the back!  That was so nice and relaxing; what is it about someone playing with your hair that is so calming?!  There are only a couple more small items on my "to-do-before-Monday-list," but I've come to realize that it's okay if I don't take the time to dust my car out, clean out the bathroom closet, and completely catch up on laundry.  I think that it's more important at this time to take the time to relax and enjoy the people I'm with instead of worrying about the things that didn't get cleaned and might not for a couple of months, right?!

To try to keep a positive outlook on this surgery, I want to talk a little bit about what I'm excited for after surgery and the positive impact that this will have on me...there's always a light at the end of the tunnel!!  I know that the pain and recovery are going to be out of this world (from what I've read online, women who have both had children and had fusion surgery have mentioned that the back surgery was more painful than giving birth!), but I need to keep my mind on the long term outcome...no pain, no gain!!  I hope that this summer I can spend time gardening outside...I wasn't able to tend much to the flowers last summer (hence the weeds that were taller than the flowers!), and hope that I'll be able to hang out and play in the dirt more this year.  I look forward to spending more time being active and going for long walks and hikes...I haven't been to Whitewater State Park in years, and would really like to go and hike around the park this summer as well...that sounds like a pretty good and realistic goal!  I'd like to be able to spend some time tent camping in the Madison area with my cousin and her husband.  I'd like to be able to horse around more with my young nephews like I watch Leo do with them.  I'd like to be able to get comfortable, no matter if I am standing, sitting, or lying down.  I'd like to be able to carry a load of laundry upstairs by myself without pain. I'd like to be able to babysit and carry around baby Vierus (if my neighbor's let me!), when the baby comes late summer.  I'd like to be able to start a family of my own without having to worry about my back!  All of these things will come with time, and all of these things will help keep me motivated when I'm feeling down and overwhelmed.  I have hope!!

I have my last pre-op meeting with my surgeon and some members of his team tomorrow, and I should learn more details about what to expect both with the actual surgery and recovery.  I'm anxious to learn more about what to expect and to have a better idea of what they might do.  All the more reason to get to bed and get a good night's sleep so I can process all of tomorrow's information!  And then, it'll be a weekend of RELAXING!!