Hey everyone!
I have missed everyone for about a week. I started to struggle really bad with pain, especially in my left leg so I was basically bed ridden Friday-Monday. It is my left leg that I am having problems with, so the nurses say that is a good sign that the nerve is repairing itself and will not be permanently damaged. (When I woke up from surgery I could not feel it at all so they told me permanent nerve damage). I have slowly been regaining feeling, but still don't have it all yet, but along with the feeling coming back is SEVERE pain. I feel like it it badly sunburnt and it is even really sensative to touch it or have clothing/ blankets touch it. And then it just plain old hurts like heck. Sometimes it seems to completely cramp up which causes me to scream. Fortunately those episodes only last a minute or so.
So they have been playing around with my meRAB and I am functioning again since yesterday. They switched me from Gabapentin to Lyrica, which seems to be helping more. I had been lowering my dose of Oxycodone but they but me back down to every 4 hours temporarily, they started me on Prednisone (decided the benefits out way the risks), and they are going to do another round of Oxycontin. They are mailing the script to me and I should get it today. I wasn't to keen on the idea of taking that again but the nurse assured me it was okay, and that the idea was to take less Oxycodone during they day and therefore give my liver a break. So I agreed.
I am wearing my brace all the time and I hate it so much. It is so darn uncomfortable. My incision is healing really nicely, and the steri strips are beginning to fall off and to my surprise the stitches are dissolving! I can do about 10 minutes at a time on my treadmill, but I am walking at the slowest speed possible. So I try to get in about 2 10 minute rounRAB a day. They want me walking a mile a day by 6 weeks post op, so I only have 3.5 weeks to get there! Eating is becoming easier, and I am taking calcium on top of a multivitamin. Plus I am supplementing with Ensure, usually 2 a day. (I am very under weight due to a lack of appetite from pain, so trying to put some meat on my bones- This slowly started happening 2 years ago when this whole mess began. Plus in the hospital my potassium was very low and I went through 5 bags of potassium while I was there. My hemaglobin also dropped a lot after surgery. I guess I lost a lot of blood. They considered a transfusion but decided the risks outweighed the benefits and believed I could get it up on my own. Last I was checked a week and a half ago, Potassium was back to normal but hemaglobin was still too low, but better than in the hospital). I have managed to get out a few times and I still use my walker, but not around the house. I use my cane at home when I only need to walk short distances. I went to Target with my family last week and used one of the scooters! It was kind of fun!
I am getting myself set up with a pain clinic at the moment. I start PT at 6 weeks post op, the same time my surgeon stops prescribing meRAB, and I really don't want to do PT without having the option of meRAB, so I am scheduling an appointment to be safe, I can always cancel if I feel I wont need meRAB.
I work from home, so I actually only took 1 full week off. My surgery was Saturday the 23rd, and I started back at work Feb 1st. I did however have to take last Friday and this past Monday off though. It is hard to sit at my computer for very long at all so I take lots of breaks to walk around or lay down if I need to.
Other than that there is nothing else to report. I need to read through everyone's posts as it has been like a week since I have been on the board.
Spine are you around? I want to know how your surgery went last week!
I have missed everyone for about a week. I started to struggle really bad with pain, especially in my left leg so I was basically bed ridden Friday-Monday. It is my left leg that I am having problems with, so the nurses say that is a good sign that the nerve is repairing itself and will not be permanently damaged. (When I woke up from surgery I could not feel it at all so they told me permanent nerve damage). I have slowly been regaining feeling, but still don't have it all yet, but along with the feeling coming back is SEVERE pain. I feel like it it badly sunburnt and it is even really sensative to touch it or have clothing/ blankets touch it. And then it just plain old hurts like heck. Sometimes it seems to completely cramp up which causes me to scream. Fortunately those episodes only last a minute or so.
So they have been playing around with my meRAB and I am functioning again since yesterday. They switched me from Gabapentin to Lyrica, which seems to be helping more. I had been lowering my dose of Oxycodone but they but me back down to every 4 hours temporarily, they started me on Prednisone (decided the benefits out way the risks), and they are going to do another round of Oxycontin. They are mailing the script to me and I should get it today. I wasn't to keen on the idea of taking that again but the nurse assured me it was okay, and that the idea was to take less Oxycodone during they day and therefore give my liver a break. So I agreed.
I am wearing my brace all the time and I hate it so much. It is so darn uncomfortable. My incision is healing really nicely, and the steri strips are beginning to fall off and to my surprise the stitches are dissolving! I can do about 10 minutes at a time on my treadmill, but I am walking at the slowest speed possible. So I try to get in about 2 10 minute rounRAB a day. They want me walking a mile a day by 6 weeks post op, so I only have 3.5 weeks to get there! Eating is becoming easier, and I am taking calcium on top of a multivitamin. Plus I am supplementing with Ensure, usually 2 a day. (I am very under weight due to a lack of appetite from pain, so trying to put some meat on my bones- This slowly started happening 2 years ago when this whole mess began. Plus in the hospital my potassium was very low and I went through 5 bags of potassium while I was there. My hemaglobin also dropped a lot after surgery. I guess I lost a lot of blood. They considered a transfusion but decided the risks outweighed the benefits and believed I could get it up on my own. Last I was checked a week and a half ago, Potassium was back to normal but hemaglobin was still too low, but better than in the hospital). I have managed to get out a few times and I still use my walker, but not around the house. I use my cane at home when I only need to walk short distances. I went to Target with my family last week and used one of the scooters! It was kind of fun!
I am getting myself set up with a pain clinic at the moment. I start PT at 6 weeks post op, the same time my surgeon stops prescribing meRAB, and I really don't want to do PT without having the option of meRAB, so I am scheduling an appointment to be safe, I can always cancel if I feel I wont need meRAB.
I work from home, so I actually only took 1 full week off. My surgery was Saturday the 23rd, and I started back at work Feb 1st. I did however have to take last Friday and this past Monday off though. It is hard to sit at my computer for very long at all so I take lots of breaks to walk around or lay down if I need to.
Other than that there is nothing else to report. I need to read through everyone's posts as it has been like a week since I have been on the board.
Spine are you around? I want to know how your surgery went last week!
That's great! I bet it makes you feel better in some ways, too, just to be able to be productive. 
I need to make sure I heal. I don't think any weight has come on yet. I probably need to gain 20-30 pounRAB. I worry when I am walking on my treadmill for walk therapy that I am burning too many calories because it shows you how many you are burning!