This is how Doc and I say goodbye each week. I can't believe I'm on my 7th week. I think I mostly am in denial because I had pictured in my mind before any of this happened where I would be by the 7th week post-op, and I'm not anywhere close. Surgery is hard but recovery is long and arduous. For a girl who likes to work and use her mind, it is torture some days. But if I remember to keep life in perspective, this too will pass. I hope to be able to tell my Doc soon, see you next month!
So the update is I am getting stronger overall, but my nerve palsy in my shoulders and arms is not improving quickly enough. I keep hearing different numbers as to when I should see my strength return, this week it was 3-6 months. That was disappointing to hear but I was happy to be given permission to start taking this neck collar off once and a while to let my neck muscles start working again. So, I can happily tan in the sun without weird tan lines now and walk around the house with what feels like a very skinny neck!
The other important news we discovered from the CT scan that I had mentioned a few weeks ago is the surgery site that my Doc had opened had partially closed, which was not good news. If it fully closes we have to do it all over again but as of now, it isn't enough to do anything about, but enough to keep a close eye on. So we are continuing to pray that God would open up my vertebrae and I would fully heal one day.
I'll keep this post short. Thank you for all your encouragements and for your many prayers.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Friday, July 5, 2013
3 Weeks and Counting!
I've made it 3 1/2 weeks!! What a journey...
It literally has taken an army of people to help with my recovery, but the good news is I am slowly recovering, though not without some set backs. My surgeon likes his handiwork. That's a huge answer to prayer right there. In his words, when he opened up all the vertebrae (technically speaking the laminae) in my neck, he said my spinal cord starting rising like a loaf of bread because it was so squished in there! It's a wonder why I wasn't up and jumping for joy the next day :) But obviously with everything they did in there, it was a very slow process to get me back on my feet. Surgically speaking it was a great success. Unfortunately, I am just so stinkin' sensitive to drugs that I was left just sick as ever for a few weeks. My whole medical team in the hospital were pulling out the stops to try to prevent all the side effects, but my body would not listen. But I eventually got it under control and left the hospital 3 days later. Shout out to some awesome RN's! I was very humbled and learned so much being in the bed and not beside it!
And now 3 1/2 weeks later, it seems like an eternity of time has gone by with all the hoops and mountains we have encountered. One week after surgery I was still vomiting so much that I became severely dehydrated... I won't go in to details but thank goodness my mum was watching me close and I was living in the home of a doctor! So after that drama, we took one day at a time and I progressed the next week.
Week 2, I went in for my first follow-up and my Doc was really happy with how well my arms were already improving in strength and normal nerve function! The only problem was I have had significant C5 nerve palsy since the surgery which apparently can happen after this kind of surgery. This basically means I have barely any strength in my shoulders at the moment. This is thankfully typically transient, but to speed up the process I was once again put on more drugs and once again my stomach rejected all notions.
So Week 3 was another sick week, but we all hoped the drugs would at least do their purposeful job. Unfortunately when I was back for week 3 follow-up, not only had my shoulders not improved significantly, but my R arm especially had digressed quite a bit. Doc was not impressed and slightly nervous I had undone his handiwork with all my vomiting. So I have a CT scan this coming Monday and go in for what is becoming my weekly date with my Doc on Tuesday to make sure all is as it should be in the surgical site.
This would be my prayer for the moment. That God would continue to heal my body and open my laminae so we don't have to go back and fix anything. And in the mean time, prayers for peace and joy while I try to patiently recuperate. The neck pain is still significant so trying to wean myself off of drugs while still maintaining some quality of life.
I am in this neck collar for another 3 weeks. It's a very hot neck warmer in the summer! But without it, I struggle to hold my head up for longer than a few minutes! So I'll start PT once I'm out of it to strengthen all those muscles that everyone takes for granted to hold their head up! So that being said, I'm working on slowly gaining my independence again but realistically, it's slow going. The joke around the house is they'll know I'm really better when I start making the recipes I keep suggesting "We" make!
Hope this update finds the rest of you having a wonderful summer and hopefully some well-deserved rest. I am at least getting a lot of that :)
It literally has taken an army of people to help with my recovery, but the good news is I am slowly recovering, though not without some set backs. My surgeon likes his handiwork. That's a huge answer to prayer right there. In his words, when he opened up all the vertebrae (technically speaking the laminae) in my neck, he said my spinal cord starting rising like a loaf of bread because it was so squished in there! It's a wonder why I wasn't up and jumping for joy the next day :) But obviously with everything they did in there, it was a very slow process to get me back on my feet. Surgically speaking it was a great success. Unfortunately, I am just so stinkin' sensitive to drugs that I was left just sick as ever for a few weeks. My whole medical team in the hospital were pulling out the stops to try to prevent all the side effects, but my body would not listen. But I eventually got it under control and left the hospital 3 days later. Shout out to some awesome RN's! I was very humbled and learned so much being in the bed and not beside it!
And now 3 1/2 weeks later, it seems like an eternity of time has gone by with all the hoops and mountains we have encountered. One week after surgery I was still vomiting so much that I became severely dehydrated... I won't go in to details but thank goodness my mum was watching me close and I was living in the home of a doctor! So after that drama, we took one day at a time and I progressed the next week.
Week 2, I went in for my first follow-up and my Doc was really happy with how well my arms were already improving in strength and normal nerve function! The only problem was I have had significant C5 nerve palsy since the surgery which apparently can happen after this kind of surgery. This basically means I have barely any strength in my shoulders at the moment. This is thankfully typically transient, but to speed up the process I was once again put on more drugs and once again my stomach rejected all notions.
So Week 3 was another sick week, but we all hoped the drugs would at least do their purposeful job. Unfortunately when I was back for week 3 follow-up, not only had my shoulders not improved significantly, but my R arm especially had digressed quite a bit. Doc was not impressed and slightly nervous I had undone his handiwork with all my vomiting. So I have a CT scan this coming Monday and go in for what is becoming my weekly date with my Doc on Tuesday to make sure all is as it should be in the surgical site.
This would be my prayer for the moment. That God would continue to heal my body and open my laminae so we don't have to go back and fix anything. And in the mean time, prayers for peace and joy while I try to patiently recuperate. The neck pain is still significant so trying to wean myself off of drugs while still maintaining some quality of life.
I am in this neck collar for another 3 weeks. It's a very hot neck warmer in the summer! But without it, I struggle to hold my head up for longer than a few minutes! So I'll start PT once I'm out of it to strengthen all those muscles that everyone takes for granted to hold their head up! So that being said, I'm working on slowly gaining my independence again but realistically, it's slow going. The joke around the house is they'll know I'm really better when I start making the recipes I keep suggesting "We" make!
Hope this update finds the rest of you having a wonderful summer and hopefully some well-deserved rest. I am at least getting a lot of that :)
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