Slowly progressing

Not much change in past week.  The lower back pain persists but there still is no pain that is limiting to my walking.  Before surgery I could walk no more that a quarter of a mile without having to stop and sit to relieve the left sided pain.  Now I can walk a couple of miles or more.  All the stitches have been removed and the wound looks good, so they say (it's hard to see).  The doctor nixed our plans for the trip the Big Bend that had been scheduled in a couple of weeks.  He said the long drive with the vibration from the car might cause a problem with the healing process.  The x-rays are quite impressive with 4 titanium screws into the vertebrae and then rods connecting them together.  I go back to the doctor at 6 weeks post surgery and will probably be starting on some additional exercises and physical therapy at that time.  For now, though, only walking and lifting no more than a coffee cup.

Two weeks

Over the past week there has been continuing gradual lessening of the pain in the back.  There no longer appears to be any pain in the legs or buttocks.  The pain is pretty well localized to the area of the surgery.  I have been walking twice per day for a total of about 3 miles.  I could never have done that before the operation.  I go back to the doctor's tomorrow and will see what the future holds.  I hope to be able to take a trip that Val and I had planned to the Big Bend area in West Texas, but that is a lot of driving or riding in the car.  I'm pretty encouraged now that this is going to be possible.

One week after surgery

It's just a week after surgery and improvement is oh so gradual.  I have been walking daily, up to 1.5 miles and plan to continue this regimen. Pain initially improved pretty rapidly, but it seems to have stabilized for the last few days.  The pain is primarily in the lower back area where the surgery was done. The pain in the left buttock is gone, I think, but when the pain in the back gets bad, it is hard to be sure.  I do have a little referred pain into the left ankle area.  But overall the left sided pain I had before is better. I'm hoping with more healing, all this pain will resolve.  I am trying to take only acetaminophen for pain and this seems to be enough most of the time.

I go back to the doctor next week on Friday and hope that by then he can remove all the stitches.  I still have a dressing over the wound and a small amount of drainage that is improving over time.  There is no evidence of anything going wrong, like infection.

Home!!

Well they decided to send me home today. I think that is good news although the incision still hurts like hell. I am currently sitting in a chair and looking at the newspaper but not really comprehending much of anything because of the Vicodin. I hope that I can get weaned off that soon and that within a week or two I'll be doing much better. Thanks for following on the blog.