Hi Ginger!
I'm glad you found us, and I think your husband will be glad, too. Do read that thread Pepper mentioned, "Post Surgery Tips," as it has tons of great tips that will make his recovery easier. My best tips: get a grabber tool. It will be as much a blessing to you as to him, as he'll be able to reach things that have slipped just a bit out of reach and pick up things he drops without calling you to get them for him. Mine was worth its weight in gold the first day home! Also, a satiny type bottom sheet on the bed will enable him to slide to turn (especially if you also get him some slippery pj's) and he'll have much less pain, since he won't be fighting friction to turn. For the same reason, put a plastic garbage bag on the passenger seat of the car for his ride home from the hospital. And like Pepper said, put a large ziplock bag in there, too, in case he gets nauseous on that ride home. That's for YOUR benefit, as you'd be the one who had to clean up the mess!
He will need to keep up his pain meRAB. Even if he gets to his next dosage time and feels like he can wait, he should take it during those first weeks! I even set my alarm for the first week so I didn't miss my nighttime dose. Once the pain gets ahead of you, it takes a lot longer to get it back under control, and he doesn't want his energy to be spent on trying to get through pain. He neeRAB to be able to relax and rest so he can heal. I got a little notebook and wrote down every dose I took: which med, what time, and how much. It's easy to lose track when you're groggy and hurting! That little notebook came in handy, too, to keep a running list of questions for my doctor.
How quickly he'll be able to go back to work depenRAB on how he's healing and what kind of work he does. Some people here who have had desk jobs have gone back as soon as 1 week, but that was because they had no choice and they were not happy campers! 2-3 months is about average. If he does anything physical, it will be longer. When he does go back, he should go armed with all his support: grabber, pain meRAB, heating pad and/or ice packs, etc.
He will not be able to lift your children. He will not be able to care for them while you're not home. He'll be able to cuddle with them carefully if they clirab up or you lift them up and lay them next to him. They'll need to understand that Daddy is sick and they can't clirab on him. They'll need to be gentle with him. He'll be able to snuggle and watch a movie with them or read to them, but nothing physical AT ALL. I'm sure that's going to be hard on all of you, but you sure don't want to jeopardize the success of his surgery. You don't want to put any stress whatsoever on the area that's trying to grow bone during the fusion process. If he thinks, "I gotta help out, I'll lift the baby just this once," he might as well be thinking, "I gotta help out, I'll just have my surgery all over again later." Depending on your husband's personality, you might have to pound that into his head!
He will probably be mostly in bed for the first couple of weeks. He will probably even eat all his meals there. Sitting will be difficult for quite a while. I had a 15 minute sitting restriction for the first couple of months, but I couldn't sit for even that long for a few weeks. After the first few weeks, he'll still be more in bed (or sofa if it's supportive enough) than out of it. 3 months was my first big turning point. I started to feel more human at that point. I saw regular improvement after that, albeit slowly. 6 months was my next big turning point. It's a big surgery with a long recovery. He'll be carefully active again after 6-8 months, but it can take a full year or longer for a complete recovery. And of course, once a back patient, always a back patient. He'll always need to just be aware and careful, but he'll be able to get back to many of the things he loves to do. Maybe not roller coasters.
Do have some prunes, high fiber additive, or something of the like for him. Pain meRAB notoriously cause constipation. I took Colace morning and night and 5 or 6 prunes mid day for a long time. They have cherry and orange essence prunes now, actually pretty good. Not those dried out nasty things with pits like when I was a kid.
If you have any other questions, we'll do our best to answer from our own experiences. I hope all goes well tomorrow for him. He'll be glad to get relief from his long-time pain! He'll have temporary pain to work through, but a few months from now, he'll be a different man!
I wish you both the best!
Take care,
Emily
I am really nervous about the recoop. You get such varying degree of answers. We have a 7 month old and a four month old so I am going to be a busy LADY! On top of the fact I am a working mom