I'm glad that's over...
Jan. 10th, 2013 09:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
countessmouseSo, I got through the surgery okay, despite having a mild infection that was discovered the morning of the surgery - which resulted in three days of IV antibiotics and a postponement of the surgery until then. I was supposed to have it on December 4th, but it didn't happen until the 7th, and I was in the hospital until the 10th. Interestingly, my neurosurgeon had planned to fuse both L4 and L5 (because both are usually involved when a vertebral congenital defect is involved - yay me), but discovered that the disc at L4 had calcified and fused itself sometime during the last year. Three incisions (1 front, 2 back) and a bone graft later, I'm fused.
Recovery was...interesting. First off, I HATE the back brace, which I had to wear constantly unless I was in the bed. I needed to be moving fairly consistently, not laying around, and that really wasn't difficult since I got bored just laying in the bed and the drugs made my attention span that of a toddler. The weird thing was the leg cramps. I think we finally decided that those were from the fact that my leg muscles had become accustomed to my maladjusted spine, and when the spine was straight as it should be, the muscles said "oh no" and threw a fit. The only real pain I had from the surgery was the incisions, but the leg cramps threw everything off and I had to stay on the narcotics and muscle relaxers for longer than I intended. All is well now, however, and I haven't taken any of those in 2 weeks. There are restrictions until my 3 month follow-up at the end of March: no pulling, no pushing, no twisting, no bending at the waist, and no lifting anything more than 20 lbs. So there goes GW this year, although we had pretty much decided we weren't going to give our bank account a break. With the blown transmission, last year's war was pretty expensive for us.
Went back to work last week and promptly came down with the stomach flu. I lost 8 lbs. in 3 days and I am still having issues with my appetite. I needed to jumpstart the weight loss, but I was really hoping to use WW and not such a drastic measure. Poor Michael has been at his wits end trying to make things that I will eat.
And just when we thought things had settled down, and despite our fervent prayers that 2013 would be a better year for us than 2012, my precious, grumpy, bitey, loving calico Maddie had to be put to sleep Monday morning. She had an undiagnosed heart condition and threw a clot spray around 6am that affected her spine and lungs. The emergency vet very kindly explained that treatment was lmiited and there was no guarantee that this wouldn't happen again. I couldn't stand to see my baby in pain, so we made the choice to put her to sleep. It was peaceful, and she was purring in my arms until the very end.
I'd like to get off this roller coaster now.
Recovery was...interesting. First off, I HATE the back brace, which I had to wear constantly unless I was in the bed. I needed to be moving fairly consistently, not laying around, and that really wasn't difficult since I got bored just laying in the bed and the drugs made my attention span that of a toddler. The weird thing was the leg cramps. I think we finally decided that those were from the fact that my leg muscles had become accustomed to my maladjusted spine, and when the spine was straight as it should be, the muscles said "oh no" and threw a fit. The only real pain I had from the surgery was the incisions, but the leg cramps threw everything off and I had to stay on the narcotics and muscle relaxers for longer than I intended. All is well now, however, and I haven't taken any of those in 2 weeks. There are restrictions until my 3 month follow-up at the end of March: no pulling, no pushing, no twisting, no bending at the waist, and no lifting anything more than 20 lbs. So there goes GW this year, although we had pretty much decided we weren't going to give our bank account a break. With the blown transmission, last year's war was pretty expensive for us.
Went back to work last week and promptly came down with the stomach flu. I lost 8 lbs. in 3 days and I am still having issues with my appetite. I needed to jumpstart the weight loss, but I was really hoping to use WW and not such a drastic measure. Poor Michael has been at his wits end trying to make things that I will eat.
And just when we thought things had settled down, and despite our fervent prayers that 2013 would be a better year for us than 2012, my precious, grumpy, bitey, loving calico Maddie had to be put to sleep Monday morning. She had an undiagnosed heart condition and threw a clot spray around 6am that affected her spine and lungs. The emergency vet very kindly explained that treatment was lmiited and there was no guarantee that this wouldn't happen again. I couldn't stand to see my baby in pain, so we made the choice to put her to sleep. It was peaceful, and she was purring in my arms until the very end.
I'd like to get off this roller coaster now.
