So, it’s come round at last – 18 months. Can you believe it? Nope, nor me, time just seems to whiz by the older you get (although of course there’s a theory for this) as the BBC have said.
The interesting thing that I have found about getting to the 18month mark is the whole anniversary thing. At 12 months post op, anniversaries were just sort of weird. The anniversary of your surgery is celebrating a new beginning which you were unconscious for! The anniversary of leaving hospital is the anniversary of a real hard slog where you couldn’t walk without a zimmer frame and just getting dressed was some kind of hour long marathon. Hardly celebratory stuff…
Well, at 18 months that all changes because you can remember and celebrate anniversaries. When you are 6 months post op things start happening (I was allowed to swim and drive for example*1) and last July I went away for the first time with the BMB on a trip with friends (which is pretty much an annual event). We did the same trip again this year and I realised just how little I had really recovered from the surgery at that stage (last year) – even though at the time I thought I was doing really well! I look back at the amount of help that the BMB gave me and see that I had such a long way to go in my recovery and I really had no idea how long it was all going to take.
So, am I fully recovered now? Well, I’d say yes. I feel fit and healthy and although my back still hurts and gets stiff, I don’t think from here it is likely to change very much at all (at least that’s the hope and the main reason I had the op after all)!
Yes I still take painkillers (think that’s a permanent thing) and yes I am still taking the nerve pain pills for my leg. I am still trying to decrease those and am now on a quarter of the dose I was when I left hospital but it’s a slow process and I don’t know whether I will have to just live with them or not. I guess we’ll have to wait for the 2 year update on that one, as my surgeon said that if it hadn’t settled down by two years I’d just have to stick with the pills. The reflux and digestive problems are much improved but I still have some trouble. Had they extended my fusion just that little bit higher as they originally intended, then I might be better off but now I have a choice – more spinal surgery or Gaviscon….hmmm difficult one that (not!). On the subject of the more surgery too, we are still waiting and seeing. My next hospital appointment should be in January so watch this space.
Some unexpected (and not pleasant) side effect of the surgery is that I have had problems with my wrists. The problem originates with nerves in my neck being stretched and compressed in ways that they are not used to. Add to that the fact that so much of my spine no longer bends or twists and my neck and is having to do a lot more work – and its trying to do it without being tipped on one side (which it had done for years) *2. Of course, it wouldn’t be so bad if I weren’t involved in sport, but there you go – can’t be helped. I didn’t come across anything like that though on the forums so it’s been interesting!
Gosh, this is a long post and I haven’t finished yet….
I still walk with the sticks but get around the house fine without them. My balance is a lot better (although I can still fall over without warning which is quite unsettling for folks around me) and I can carry things like cups of coffee without spilling half of it on the lounge carpet. Of course I’ve still got a limp but then again I always did have and at least I don’t have the Igor-like lurch any longer…
Now, for all of you scoilio people out there who are facing surgery and think that your phantom ribs will be different – forget it. Everyone who’s been there is right – the ribs are the worst bit and even now the area around them swells if I do too much. I’m guessing that in time I’ll be able to predict the weather or something just by the tweak in my side. I have to say that I didn’t believe what I read about them – after all, this is spinal surgery we’re talking about and the ribs aren’t there any longer either.*3 Why should they cause any trouble at all?
On a final note, and this is for all you people who are going through this whole process. Be brave as this is the most astounding surgery that you can have. This surgery can give you the kind of future you might never have otherwise and that just has to be worth all the time it takes to get back to normal…
…For everyone who has been there, just think about how amazing it is to be able to tell the story of your scar. A doctor friend of mine recently said that this is one of the most complicated surgical things that can be done to your body. They have to collapse your lungs, move all your internal organs and then operate on the very middle of your body using rods and screws in an area just millimetres from your spinal cord. It’s no wonder it takes time to recover, but recover we do – so here’s to the future eh?!
*1But not both at the same time obviously.
*2I still get friends who haven’t seen me for a while tipping their heads to one side to talk to me as I don’t ‘look right’ without being squiffy!
*3Of course this is not true – I do still have my ribs. It’s just that I don’t think they still count as ribs if you grind them up and stick them in your spine!
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