Only a month to go to my surgery anniversary

Well, as I sit here typing this, the last 11 months since I had my surgery seem to have taken forever. On the flip side, those long months where I agonised over getting it done, had it done and then struggled to put my socks on or to make a cup of coffee seem like a distant memory. In fact, all the hard stuff, the physiotherapy and the post surgery pain (especially bumpy car rides) seem to have whizzed by in a flash!

I am now pretty OK and suspect that we will see little change from here. My back still hurts but there are major improvements in that since pre-surgery. I used to get muscle spasms so bad sometimes that just that act of breathing was agony – they have pretty much all gone^*1 and what pain I have is much better controlled by my medication (Yay!). The nerve pain is just the same but that too is pretty well controlled by tablets so I can’t complain (or at least I try not too). My only complaint about painful episodes now is that they can come on very suddenly – I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine – I’m not fine! I’ll get used to it I guess – I can always try not to do too much (hahahahahaha!)


My ribs still get very tight and achey (that’s the missing ones) and I have a lot of numb stuff on my stomach but my surgeon thinks that is quite specific to my case. For the most part, the scar feels weird, but feeling is returning and it has healed up really, really well. I don’t think I will be showing it to too much hot sun but it not really even red any longer (that is assuming I don't do too much of this )
Maybe I’ll take a photo and shove it up for you to see sometime in the next week or so. The only other issue is the heartburn – it’s not gone but it’s greatly improved – had they been able to extend the rod as long as they wanted then I would have probably had a ‘cure’ there but it’s OK – it’s manageable and that’s what you want.

So, is there anything looking back that I wish I had known? I wish I had known in advance that the surgeons were telling the truth when they said recovery takes 6-12 months but also that it would pass pretty quick. I was quite well prepared for the whole process (although of course thought vaguely that it might not apply to me since I would be so determined to improve faster than anyone else) , but would like to have been reassured by someone who had actually gone through it.

It’s been a long process, but its not all been hard and the outcome is nothing short of miraculous. I still cannot believe the kind of future that I have been given……

^*1She says, touching wood.