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A little update
I guess I've been lax at updating things here. I can only sit for so long at the controls here at The Orbiting Headquarters of Mayhem, and going mobile with the nuclear football little lappy is no fun. Anyhoo:
I have dispensed with the walker, I can move about the house normally (albeit slowly) and I can go up and down the stairs with no trouble. Walking for any sort of distance, however, I still need the cane, just in case. Standing no longer produces the slow fire of pain down my buttocks and around my legs, which is excellent. This means the operation was a success in opening up the spinal canal and eliminating the spinal stenosis condition. This gets a major woot. However, there are some complications, most of which have been slowly improving. The pain I feel at the incision/site is getting more bearable, but sitting for any length of time eventually becomes extremely uncomfortable. The necessary pain killers make me feel loopy and drugged, which is to be expected. However, they do their job, and as a side benefit, I have The. Most. Intense. Dreams. Ever. Seriously. Lucasfilm should be able to come up with visuals even close to what I sometimes produce in my sleep. The best so far have been a combination of steampunk and gritty turn-of-the-century steelmill and factory imagery complete with deafening sound, strange characters and all sorts of action. The kicker is the entire scene which played out like an enormous steel town at full production was taking place inside of my body as it was healing from the surgery. Impossible to describe, but how I wish dreams had reruns. X-D
The worst so far involves my legs. From the knees down and ending most intensely at my feet, I have pretty severe numbness. I was told that because of the way my spinal cord was constrained in the bony sections of the vertebrae and one ruptured disc had dug into the spinal cord, there was nerve damage that will take quite a while to regenerate, and that things may not return to completely normal levels. This is upsetting, but I'm willing to let time take its course. Very little has changed since the operation as far as this goes. Patience, patience.
I'm also slowly disappearing. On the scale this morning, I weighed a mere 213 pounds. I don't mind the weight loss while I recover, but I know that over time, a lot of what I lost was muscle mass, especially in my legs. Pants that used to fit snug in the thighs and calves flap around on me like a scarecrow outfit. Once I am (hopefully) back to normal (whatever that is!), I can resume things that kept me beefy over the years.
Lastly, but very important: Thanks bunches to all who sent cards, messages, texts and phone calls while I've been out of commission. You guys 'n' gals are the bestest. So many kind thoughts from unexpected places made taking the entire lack of contact from the expected sources much easier to handle. It's therapy of the most awesome kind.
Tomorrow Jeff and I are going to attempt to celebrate our tenth anniversary together. Time sure flies when we're having fun. Or surgery. ;)
I have dispensed with the walker, I can move about the house normally (albeit slowly) and I can go up and down the stairs with no trouble. Walking for any sort of distance, however, I still need the cane, just in case. Standing no longer produces the slow fire of pain down my buttocks and around my legs, which is excellent. This means the operation was a success in opening up the spinal canal and eliminating the spinal stenosis condition. This gets a major woot. However, there are some complications, most of which have been slowly improving. The pain I feel at the incision/site is getting more bearable, but sitting for any length of time eventually becomes extremely uncomfortable. The necessary pain killers make me feel loopy and drugged, which is to be expected. However, they do their job, and as a side benefit, I have The. Most. Intense. Dreams. Ever. Seriously. Lucasfilm should be able to come up with visuals even close to what I sometimes produce in my sleep. The best so far have been a combination of steampunk and gritty turn-of-the-century steelmill and factory imagery complete with deafening sound, strange characters and all sorts of action. The kicker is the entire scene which played out like an enormous steel town at full production was taking place inside of my body as it was healing from the surgery. Impossible to describe, but how I wish dreams had reruns. X-D
The worst so far involves my legs. From the knees down and ending most intensely at my feet, I have pretty severe numbness. I was told that because of the way my spinal cord was constrained in the bony sections of the vertebrae and one ruptured disc had dug into the spinal cord, there was nerve damage that will take quite a while to regenerate, and that things may not return to completely normal levels. This is upsetting, but I'm willing to let time take its course. Very little has changed since the operation as far as this goes. Patience, patience.
I'm also slowly disappearing. On the scale this morning, I weighed a mere 213 pounds. I don't mind the weight loss while I recover, but I know that over time, a lot of what I lost was muscle mass, especially in my legs. Pants that used to fit snug in the thighs and calves flap around on me like a scarecrow outfit. Once I am (hopefully) back to normal (whatever that is!), I can resume things that kept me beefy over the years.
Lastly, but very important: Thanks bunches to all who sent cards, messages, texts and phone calls while I've been out of commission. You guys 'n' gals are the bestest. So many kind thoughts from unexpected places made taking the entire lack of contact from the expected sources much easier to handle. It's therapy of the most awesome kind.
Tomorrow Jeff and I are going to attempt to celebrate our tenth anniversary together. Time sure flies when we're having fun. Or surgery. ;)