About my mom...

[zarafa]

about my mom

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your reply to my questions. I have been feeling particularly low because my lung crowding is causing me a cough and more fatigue. It gives me a great deal of encouragement to hear that your mother has received so much relief from her 4and a half hour surgery. I had been told that it was a two day process whan you have a double curve. At my age, nobody was encouraging me to do it. I believe your mother's doctor used the latest state-of-the art technology to do what she did and by doing it posteriorly,saved your mom a great deal of healing time. Please know that I have put her in my heart and pray for her to recover and teach gardening again. I hope that you will have the time to keep posting her progress as you can. You are a wonderful daughter!

[jgbphoto]

Hi Zarafa and Linda

Hello,
I'm glad writing about Mom's recovery is inspiring somebody. It looks like hard work. I would not underestimate how much work this is. It looks tough. But Mom's tough too. So we'll make it.

Zarafa, it sounds like you're going through the problems with your lungs that Mom had/has. I hope this surgery will help that problem. That's the goal. Meanwhile, hang in there!

Linda,
it sounds like you're a young 63. Don't worry about the surgery. If you need to do it, do it. I'd like to say it'll be ok, and it probably will, but there can be some complications that make the recovery drag out. Those aren't the kind of thing to worry about though. Just remember, age isn't the main factor. I have a friend who did it at 63 and she is teaching, starting a non-profit, and folk dancing now, two years later.

And definitely check out the UCSF spine clinic on the UCSF website. I guess I'm a non-paid advertiser for them. They were great. If you have to do something like this, you might as well go to the best doctors.

OK, now that I've given unwanted adice, take it or leave it. And remember, as someone else on the forum says, "I am not a doctor and will never give medical advice." Good line. I'm just offering my opinion based on my mom's experience.

Peace, and be well,
Laura

[jgbphoto]

four weeks post op and thriving

Hi,
I just wanted to post that Mom's doing well with recovery. It's been four weeks since surgery. She's not on the meds anymore, just tylenol. She was in a rehab hospital for a week where they sometimes didn't seem to follow her doctor's orders...they gave her Motrin, for example, which the doctor said is bad for the fusion. But she's home now, had her final physical therapy appointment, and seems to have pretty good energy. For someone who's 73, I think she's done remarkably. I'd definitely still be reaching for the Vicodin.

Well, that World War 2 generation is really a strong one, not that we all aren't in our own way.

Haven't seen the positive results of the opertion yet, just know that she's made it through the worst of the recovery. She did say that one of her old pains is gone, she thinks. And I think she has more energy than before. Her lungs were really squeezed.

Thank goodness for the David Wolpert book and these forums.

Take care,
Laura

[Singer]

Thanks for the new update, Laura. Your mother is something else !!! You're so right about that WWII generation -- I think the Depression made them tough too. It's incredibly cheering to hear how well your mom is doing. Sometimes I feel old (at 51) til I think of your mom. If she can do it, I guess I can too.... !

All best,
Chris

[makaylasmom]

I continue to be so amazed with your mom's progress. What a tough lady!!! Please tell her that we are thinking of her and she is doing so great!!

[Shari]

Hi Laura,

I think of my surgery, and it makes me truly amazed at your mother!!! She not only has a wonderful daughter, she has an amazing inner strenght, that you have obviously inherited.

Please let her know how much we all admire her courage an spirit!!! I also want to express how much we respect your love and dedication to your mother!!!

Just the thought of that kind of love and devotion brings tears to my eyes!!!

Nothing else too say but all the best, and I can hardly see the keyboard right now!!!

Shari

[jgbphoto]

Thanks all

Thanks guys, for writing back. It really lifts me up to hear your comments. I'm getting past a lifelong phobia of freeway driving to go be with her. I don't feel like I can be there enough, because I have to go home in the early afternoon and pick up my son (7th grade), then my daughter (15). It's a half hour Southern California (trafficky) drive each way. Tomorrow we will do showering and hair washing and all that good stuff. It is good to be able to hang out with her. We've had more time to bond lately than in the past 30 years.

She says she'll go back to teaching in January. So much for retirement.

I'm amazed at how much doctors are able to do these days. I believe in natural remedies for everything possible, but when something more serious is needed, bring in the big guns! (i.e. the best that western medicine has to offer.)

Peace,
Laura