I am now 6 days away from surgery! YIKES!!! My previous blog mentioned needing confidence....well, I have that now and am surprisingly at peace with the whole surgery! I am in SF now staying with my son and daughter-in-law, both of whom are Nurse Practitioners who attended UCSF. They live across the bay in Oakland.
I went up to UCSF yesterday to check the place out and visit Irina. I found the registration and the orthopedic floor, and attended a "Get ready for surgery class". Half way through the 2.5 hour class, I laid on the floor as my back was killing me and I couldn't sit any longer. The instructor was surprised, but I stayed on the floor for the rest of the class with my son's jacket under my head. If I had doubts about needing the surgery, the last week has decreased them! I now carry a child's chair with me as I cannot stand for very long [like longer than 3 minutes]. I get stares in downtown SF as I waited for the bus sitting on my small kiddie chair....but there were no seats at the bus stop! I guess SF people just stand up!
A month ago, I was a basket case, but now, I am feeling confident. I decided that I was not the 1/100 that would die in surgery [the number that Dr. Hu gave me for my age and procedure.] I have trust in Dr. Hu and I believe that everything will work out. I feel kind of drugged....yes, I am taking Nucynta right now for the pain. My back hurts in so many places! Dr. Hu wasn't sure that the surgery would decrease all of my pain.....and that would be a real bummer. I just pray that I can get relief! My CT scan shows moderate degeneration of my cervical vertebrae discs, so I wonder if I will need to have something done on them in the future. They might be the cause of some of my headaches and certainly my upper back pain. A heating pad helps a lot.
My husband [who has a terrible cough right now....so I avoid him and hope that he gets better by the time of my surgery], my son, my brother, and my daughter will hopefully stay with me in the hospital. They will take shifts. Probably because nobody can take me longer than 8 hours! Nurses [and doctors] make the worst patients.
I will try to stay busy, but am limited on walking and sitting. I hope to go to some museams in SF and do some swimming at the Y. The weather is sunny here, so maybe sit outside a lot.
Your Twisted Sister, Susan
I will have a family member post while I am in the hospital.
I went up to UCSF yesterday to check the place out and visit Irina. I found the registration and the orthopedic floor, and attended a "Get ready for surgery class". Half way through the 2.5 hour class, I laid on the floor as my back was killing me and I couldn't sit any longer. The instructor was surprised, but I stayed on the floor for the rest of the class with my son's jacket under my head. If I had doubts about needing the surgery, the last week has decreased them! I now carry a child's chair with me as I cannot stand for very long [like longer than 3 minutes]. I get stares in downtown SF as I waited for the bus sitting on my small kiddie chair....but there were no seats at the bus stop! I guess SF people just stand up!
A month ago, I was a basket case, but now, I am feeling confident. I decided that I was not the 1/100 that would die in surgery [the number that Dr. Hu gave me for my age and procedure.] I have trust in Dr. Hu and I believe that everything will work out. I feel kind of drugged....yes, I am taking Nucynta right now for the pain. My back hurts in so many places! Dr. Hu wasn't sure that the surgery would decrease all of my pain.....and that would be a real bummer. I just pray that I can get relief! My CT scan shows moderate degeneration of my cervical vertebrae discs, so I wonder if I will need to have something done on them in the future. They might be the cause of some of my headaches and certainly my upper back pain. A heating pad helps a lot.
My husband [who has a terrible cough right now....so I avoid him and hope that he gets better by the time of my surgery], my son, my brother, and my daughter will hopefully stay with me in the hospital. They will take shifts. Probably because nobody can take me longer than 8 hours! Nurses [and doctors] make the worst patients.
I will try to stay busy, but am limited on walking and sitting. I hope to go to some museams in SF and do some swimming at the Y. The weather is sunny here, so maybe sit outside a lot.
Your Twisted Sister, Susan
I will have a family member post while I am in the hospital.
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