It's been a few days since I've posted. I've been meaning to take a minute and update this blog but it seems that things have been very busy lately. For the most part that's a good thing. Ron laughs at me for everything I've been sharing. I'm not sure how many people will even read my blog, but I wanted to share this journey just in case it could help someone else. When I was preparing for my surgery I read everything I could possibly find and really found the personal stories helpful.
So, here's a rundown of how things have been going.
Saturday morning I decided to finally step back on the scale. I haven't weighed myself since the day of the surgery. Obviously I haven't been able to maintain the same amount of exercising that I was before the surgery, so I was very concerned that I had gained quite a bit. I have tried to walk as much as possible but it's nothing like before...way fewer steps and much slower. I was VERY pleased when I weighed!!! I had only gained 1.7 pounds! Woot Woot! You have no idea how happy I was. Maybe I can actually get through this recovery without messing up my lifestyle changes too bad. 😁
Our car club has it's 8th Annual Car Show coming up on Saturday, Feb 25. Usually I prepare all of the goody bags for our shows. I tried to get as much together as I could prior to the surgery, but there was no way I could get the bags done because stuff was still coming in for them. So...we planned a Pizza Party for the club to come over this past Saturday to put the bags together. We had 7 members come over and pretty much had an assembly line. It was an interesting time for me. I'm such an independent person that it's hard for me to have other people do things I feel like I should be doing. Not being able to bend or twist and only able to lift very light things, I was at a disadvantage. I pretty much had to just delegate. And while I've never been one to back down from bossing people around, it was still odd to be mainly on the sidelines. The group did awesome and we got those bags together pretty quick. And we had some yummy pizza from Marco's too!!
I was still feeling pretty good after the Pizza Party...and since Ron has also been cooped up in the house...we decided to go to the movies Saturday night. I was concerned about sitting through the entire movie so we sat on the edge so I get out of my seat as needed. I took a pillow with me (in a tote bag) and spent a good portion during the middle of the movie pacing at the side of the theater, but I made it through the movie. The movie was excellent too - John Wick: Chapter 2 - Go see it if you get the chance.
We even had a short game night after the movie.
Sunday I spent the day doing the version of housework I have to do recovering from back surgery...which means I did very little but still accomplish a few things. Ashlee came over and brought her baby Lettie for a play date with Diezel. They played well together and Lettie only jumped on me a few times so all was well.
Monday was my first day back at work. Many people aren't able to return to work at only 2 weeks out from fusion surgery, but I have the advantage of working from home. Since I don't have to commute and have the flexibility to get up as often as I need to, the doc released me to return to work with some limitations - hours as tolerated / no bending, lifting, or twisting.
Returning to work was interesting to say the least. After being out of the office for 2 weeks my email inbox was jam packed! I did the best I could but at 3pm I had to call it a day. My job is primarily a desk job, so there's only so much I can do while pacing, and sitting was really get to me. After work I don't think I sat back down for hours. In fact I decided to try the treadmill for the first time since before the surgery. Obviously I had to do it a very low speed and with no incline, but I managed to walk a mile on it. It took me 35 minutes to walk that mile but I did it and it felt great to just walk.
Tuesday I managed to make it a whole day at work. Still not moving at full speed but at least I'm working. And I'm sure I'll get into the swing of things soon. It's kind of nice to get back to some form of a normal routine.
Tuesday night when I took my shower and did the usual incision check I became a little worried. The incision is still draining so I have to keep a bandage on it all the time, which of course means it staying wet. The look of it is not pleasant and it's becoming more tender. We were a little worried that it might be getting infected. This picture is a comparison of the incision on Feb 10 (the day after the staples were removed) and today (Feb 15). See why it freaked me out??
First thing today I called the doctors office and of course they wanted me to come in so they could take a look at it. Ron left work early and took me (because I'm still not driving). They had to work me in between patients so I waited a little longer than usual but they were still pretty quick. Both Brittany (the nurse) and the doc told me that the incision looks fine to them. I asked the doc was this what it was supposed to look like and he said there's not one way it's supposed to look but mine is doing fine. He said I needed to keep doing what I was doing...keep it clean...keep it dry. So basically, I was being overly cautious. I really don't want the incision to get infected and would much rather be overly cautious and nothing be wrong than the opposite. Ron asked if I was going to tell everyone about my "false alarm". I guess the answer to that is yes since I just put it in this blog. 😄
I guess the point of sharing this is so people can see that there really isn't a "normal" when healing. It just takes time and it's going to go through many stages. I just wish some of these stages weren't so gross looking or tender.
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