Five days post surgery. Here's what's going on.
I've really been hurting. A lot. Initially it felt as though it was from the surgery itself, the wound and area surround it hurt. As an aside, if you were to examine just about every chair ever made and put an X on the exact center of the lumbar support, that's where the incision is. So it really hurts to sit in just about every chair ever made.
But five days on, it feels like more normal "back pain", it really hurts a lot worse than it did pre-surgery though. I also have some pretty significant sciatic symptoms, as bad or worse than pre-surgery.
I've been avoiding high strength pain meds as much as I can but there were a couple of days where I just couldn't stand it and gave in. I'm now on a more reduced regimen, only take the stronger stuff before bedtime so I can sleep. Ibuprofen during the day along with the other stuff I'm supposed to take.
I'm obviously a bit concerned about the back pain and sciatic symptoms. I do know that during the surgery they shove the nerve out of the way so they can get to the bulging disc. There's a fairly graphic video of someone doing the microdiscectomy so I know exactly what happened. So I'm hopeful that the symptoms I'm experiencing are a result of that and will fade with time.
In other news, now that 5 days have elapsed I can take a shower - yay! Sponge baths have their place but only for a while.
I've been walking. Short distances (.5-1 mile) seem to be about all I can manage. I made a mistake and walked two miles the day after surgery - definitely too much, too soon.
Other than that, I've been puttering around the house. One project I finally got underway was to scan some old photos. I scanned our own photo library several years ago, more than 10K photos and it sure took a while! This latest batch is from one of my Aunts and includes pictures from when my Mom was young, my extended family and German ancestors. Here's one from the batch:
I think we can objectively agree on two things: (1) I was a cute baby. (2) It went south from there.
Here's a shot of my maternal Grandparents (on the right) on their wedding day:
Both now deceased. They lived into their 90's and lived at home until shortly before their deaths. My Grandfather died first and my Grandmother shortly after.
That's all for now.
Stay tuned!
