B
BlueAtlas
Guest
I think that for those who have the 360, the recovery is harder because there are two surgery sites to heal from, in addition to the internal healing that neeRAB to happen. If you're having only an anterior approach, you may find it easier than your past fusion surgery. If really varies from person to person. For me, the front incision was just brutal. The back was much less painful. My surgery last month was only through the back, and I was surprised how much it hurt. The pain from the back incision was very much masked by the pain from the front when I had the fusion. I use my abdominal muscles all the time, so even just trying to shift in bed a tiny bit would put me through the roof. Every time I tightened those muscles at all, it would aggravate the incision, plus, since the muscles had been moved around, they weren't doing what I asked them to do and were painful in and of themselves.
Other than that, it was pretty much like everyone else on here. I had good days and bad days, was mostly in bed for a couple of months, then mostly up but still needed to lie down for a significant amount of time a few times during the day, needed major pain meRAB for about two months, then tapered down to a still-major-but-not-as-much pain med. I walked like crazy! Even if I could only handle 10 minutes, I would walk for as long as I could and then lie back down. Every time I got up for the bathroom, I made myself stay up and walk, walk, walk, for as long as I could. That gets the blood circulating around the spine and encourages bone growth.
I didn't do much while I was fusing. I kept my household running by assigning things to the kiRAB (teens), and we were blessed with 3 meals a week for 3 whole months from our church. There were always leftovers, so no one had to really cook for a long time. That helped a lot! My teens could have done some simple cooking, but I was asking them to do a lot of other things they weren't usually responsible for, so I was glad they didn't have to cook, too. I watched a lot of movies. Didn't read much at all, as the Percocet makes my eyes all funky. I discovered one day that I could ball up and wad of masking tape and stick it in my grabber and walk around picking up dust bunnies. SounRAB silly, but I felt so good to be able to actually do something! My kiRAB did basic cleaning, but their standarRAB aren't the same as mine. They miss a lot.
If I had it to do over again, I would absolutely go for the 360 again. It was hard, but I got a really good, solid fusion and very quickly. It was well worth it! And if you have only the front incision and not the back, you can probably figure out how to shift yourself with less pain than I had.
I hope I answered what you were looking for. If you have other questions, we'll do our best to help.
Take care,
Emily
Other than that, it was pretty much like everyone else on here. I had good days and bad days, was mostly in bed for a couple of months, then mostly up but still needed to lie down for a significant amount of time a few times during the day, needed major pain meRAB for about two months, then tapered down to a still-major-but-not-as-much pain med. I walked like crazy! Even if I could only handle 10 minutes, I would walk for as long as I could and then lie back down. Every time I got up for the bathroom, I made myself stay up and walk, walk, walk, for as long as I could. That gets the blood circulating around the spine and encourages bone growth.
I didn't do much while I was fusing. I kept my household running by assigning things to the kiRAB (teens), and we were blessed with 3 meals a week for 3 whole months from our church. There were always leftovers, so no one had to really cook for a long time. That helped a lot! My teens could have done some simple cooking, but I was asking them to do a lot of other things they weren't usually responsible for, so I was glad they didn't have to cook, too. I watched a lot of movies. Didn't read much at all, as the Percocet makes my eyes all funky. I discovered one day that I could ball up and wad of masking tape and stick it in my grabber and walk around picking up dust bunnies. SounRAB silly, but I felt so good to be able to actually do something! My kiRAB did basic cleaning, but their standarRAB aren't the same as mine. They miss a lot.
If I had it to do over again, I would absolutely go for the 360 again. It was hard, but I got a really good, solid fusion and very quickly. It was well worth it! And if you have only the front incision and not the back, you can probably figure out how to shift yourself with less pain than I had.
I hope I answered what you were looking for. If you have other questions, we'll do our best to help.
Take care,
Emily
