Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Day plus one

Surgery was yesterday. After a four hour delay, I got in. Minor changes, they kept me awake and talking, which was ok. I think I had my eyes closed.

I got to my room around 6pm. Due to all the changes, I lost the option to go home early. I slept off and on through the evening, but never more than about 2 hours at a time. Around 5am, I walked down the hall and around the corner. It was only a few hundred feet, but it felt wonderful. For the first time in two months, the pain doesn't get progressively worse as I walk. I can stand for minutes at a time without pain.

What a difference a day makes.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

T minus 1 days and counting

Ok, I should have said "and counting" not "in counting" on my last post. I can blame it on the drugs.

I keep wondering, if they are going to do a laminectomy, does that mean they are laminating my back? Or is it that my back was already laminated, and they are taking off the lamina?

Early tomorrow morning, I go in and take a nice little nap. Everyone says it will be like the 60's. Then I will wake up with tubes coming out of various parts of my body and I get to see if I'm better. If I feel like it, I can come home same day. Or I can spend the night. I do have a private room and my wife is going to stay, it'll be like a hotel room.

Probably no posts for a couple days. They tell me I can get up and move around, do email etc. the first few days. So maybe not too long.

See you on the other side!

Saturday, January 28, 2006

T minus 2 days in counting

My left leg and hip has been hurting for about two months. In reality, some of the pains started long before that. I've had an MRI and it confirms that I have a bluging disc in my L4/L5 vertebrae touching the S1 nerve. What this means it the problem is in my back, even though my leg hurts.

I'm now scheduled for a laminectomy on Monday. I'm looking forward to it. I've read a lot about it and think it is the best option towards me returning to normal (or as normal as I've ever been). Wish me luck!!