Hi all - it's been a long 3 weeks and wish I could have been online more. As others have said, time seems to just slip by. Thank God for that. I thought i would share my experience briefly. I'll start by saying I am glad I did the surgery and my family and friends can't believe how great my back looks. It will be a while before I know if the pain is reduced but I have every reason to believe it will be. I achieved over 75% curve correction. 62 degrees to approx 20 degrees.
So many topics that were covered on here were just as I experienced. My surgery went a few hours longer than expected, 6 hours total in actual surgery. In that time I had blood loss and had to have a transfusion of 5 units of blood. That really drained me. Due to all the antibiotics I came down with Thrush which really slowed my progress down. Lost so much weight due to loss of appetite. If you are thin before your surgery, gain a little as you will need it. I have lost about 11 pounds. All the other complications are clearing themselves up. It was about three weeks exact before I started to really feel good. I am able to get around the house good.
My incision is doing great however I have about 1/2 inch that is having trouble healing. I talk with my surgeon tomorrow to figure out what to do about this.
I still have numbness in my right leg, thigh mostly, and parts of my back still feel numb. (hope this is normal)
Oh yeah, how can I forget extreme constipations! to extreme diareahha (sp?).
As everyone here has said, the first few weeks are really tough, but i feel as though I have come to the other side finally.
There were days I was ready to just lay and not get up, but make yourself.
If you have time, try to build up your lower body muscle. Your legs will be doing alot of work during recovery.
We had our local hospital deliver a hospital bed for our living room. This was the best thing we did, along with raised toilet seats. Last night was my first night upstairs in a regular bed.
With the complications I had, the hospital bed gave quick access to sitting up and that helped when the Thrush dehydrated me so badly. This also allowed me to take naps and be a part of life in the house.
I would be glad to answer any questions you might have, just send me a personal message.
Please take this as encouragment that it's tough, but will be worth it. My husband said I had prepared him so well about how tough this would be, but I forgot to really prep myself for the reality.
Today was a great day and i see the future days to be as well.
Lynette I know you have had the leg pain and some complications too, I keep you in my thoughts. Laura I appreciate all the bowel problems you have had, even though mine were not quite as extreme. Slowly, it does all seem to get better. I don't have clear memory of alot of the early days.
Thanks again for all of you on here and all the sharing.
Body is aching from typing this long.....
Good luck to all of you who are preparing for surgery this month.
So many topics that were covered on here were just as I experienced. My surgery went a few hours longer than expected, 6 hours total in actual surgery. In that time I had blood loss and had to have a transfusion of 5 units of blood. That really drained me. Due to all the antibiotics I came down with Thrush which really slowed my progress down. Lost so much weight due to loss of appetite. If you are thin before your surgery, gain a little as you will need it. I have lost about 11 pounds. All the other complications are clearing themselves up. It was about three weeks exact before I started to really feel good. I am able to get around the house good.
My incision is doing great however I have about 1/2 inch that is having trouble healing. I talk with my surgeon tomorrow to figure out what to do about this.
I still have numbness in my right leg, thigh mostly, and parts of my back still feel numb. (hope this is normal)
Oh yeah, how can I forget extreme constipations! to extreme diareahha (sp?).
As everyone here has said, the first few weeks are really tough, but i feel as though I have come to the other side finally.
There were days I was ready to just lay and not get up, but make yourself.
If you have time, try to build up your lower body muscle. Your legs will be doing alot of work during recovery.
We had our local hospital deliver a hospital bed for our living room. This was the best thing we did, along with raised toilet seats. Last night was my first night upstairs in a regular bed.
With the complications I had, the hospital bed gave quick access to sitting up and that helped when the Thrush dehydrated me so badly. This also allowed me to take naps and be a part of life in the house.
I would be glad to answer any questions you might have, just send me a personal message.
Please take this as encouragment that it's tough, but will be worth it. My husband said I had prepared him so well about how tough this would be, but I forgot to really prep myself for the reality.
Today was a great day and i see the future days to be as well.
Lynette I know you have had the leg pain and some complications too, I keep you in my thoughts. Laura I appreciate all the bowel problems you have had, even though mine were not quite as extreme. Slowly, it does all seem to get better. I don't have clear memory of alot of the early days.
Thanks again for all of you on here and all the sharing.
Body is aching from typing this long.....
Good luck to all of you who are preparing for surgery this month.
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