I made it through Surgery!

Hey Guys,
I just want to let you know I made it through surgery just fine. I wasn't expecting to be in the hospital for 4 days, but I was. It seems that I was on such a high dose of pain meds for so long that when they tried to get my pain under control after surgery, nothing was working. It took basically two days for them to get my pain down to managable. They maxed out the morphine drip. That did nothing. They finally max out the dillated. I got a shot every hour for 24hours. It brought the pain down just a tad. It was better than nothing.

Anyway, I was walking with a walker for a few days, but can now walk on my own again. It took me 9 days for the pain to subside enough for me to be able to sit upright. I still have a lot of pain, but it has gone down considerably.

The incision site is huge. I thought it would be small. It is 5 inches long. Feels kinda wierd, but I think I will get better. A few more weeks and I should be as good as new.

OK - Sounds like you are on the mend. I'll keep you in my prayers for a complete and speedy recovery. Welcome back!

Definitely on the mend. The doctors say it will be 6-8 weeks for the internal stuff to heal. To me thats a really long time. Right now I can only sit up for about a half hour at a time before my back starts hurting more. I wish I had a laptop. Anyway, I am getting better. Thank you for your prayers.

Glad to hear you're on the recovery road. Just don't push things too fast. You want to stay fixed up!

Glad to hear that everything went ok. I've had back issues in the past and know that those were painful. Can't even imagine what you went through! Glad the worse is behind you.

Jon- Thanx. I try to walk a little each day, but I try not to overdo it .

crn3371- Thank you. Back issues are the worst. I was fortunate to have a good roommate in the hospital. The staff was pretty good too. I think I was fortunate. I am sure it could have been a lot worse.

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Hey, 1/2 hour at a time -- how many POTN posts are possible in that time?

Sam- Thanx, I know, a half hour at a time. You'd be surprised how long I used to be able to stay on the computer. I could pretty much do it all day. I try to get as many posts in as I can.

Good to hear your surgery went well. Mind me asking what kind of surgery you had?

I myself have bulging and ruptured discs in my lower back and am doing everything I can to avoid surgery.

Hope you're back to normal in no time!

Glad to hear you got throught the surgery and are recuperating nicely! Take everyone's advice and don't overdo things, and I think you'll be better than new in a little while. (Post pics of your incision, lol.)

Kinnon- I had a Laminectomy on the L3-L4- L5 and a Micro Diskectomy at L3-L4.

Basically I had a Herniated disc and two buldged discs and spinal Stenosis. They Cut the Out back bones out at that location and removed a portion of the herniated disc. This took pressure off the spinal canal and gave it room to widen a little.

Liza - Thank you!

Wanda-I will take your advice. Oh yeah, here is the picture you requested.


YOU MAY NEED TO COVER YOUR EYES!

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Looks like it's healing well!

Glad to see that you got through the surgery, and are well on the road to recovery. It had to be pretty intense pain to be resistent to morphine. That is some strong medicine.

I was given morphine after a car accident a year and a half ago. Nowhere near the pain that you had, as far as I can tell, but every evening after my visitors left, I'd call in the nurse and tell her that I had a little headache (works like a charm after a head injury). They'd give me a quick shot of morphine (10 mg IIRC) and I'd be asleep for the night. Unfortunately, after 3 nights of this little trick, they were on to my game and brought out something milder.

Things are pretty much under control now. I think I will be ok from now on. It will just takes some time.

How did you damage your back?

Good luck and lift with your legs from now on.