Hello There
Gosh it has been a while since I last blogged.
We had an amazing holiday in April when my parents took us all on a Caribbean Cruise. At some point I will get around to uploading some photos. It was a really wonderful holiday but I was in a lot of pain with sciatica, the long-haul flight there and back seemed to really exacerbate the problem. Back in England I had three weeks of absolute agony waiting for my back operation. The final week of which I was unable to drive and my dad had to give me lifts to work as I couldn't afford to take any more time off work.
Anyway on 13th May I went in for spinal decompression surgery. It was a very long day nil-by mouth and because I was not allowed to eat or drink anything I was also unable to take any pain killers. I was admitted at 1pm and had been expecting to be taken into theatre around 2.30pm but due to complications with the surgery before me I wasn't taken into theatre until 5.30pm. I was just relieved not to be cancelled like the patients after me.
The surgery took a couple of hours because I had a dural puncture which the surgeon had to repair. I was then put on complete bed rest laid flat for the first 24 hours to allow the dural tear to repair. They took out the herniated disc and some cartilidge and bone and they inserted a small spring to replace some of the lost cushioning. The main aim though was to relieve the pressure on the sciatic nerve and I am relieved to say that the sciatica was immediately improved.
When I first came around from surgery my lower back and left side went into horrible spasms so I was given morphine to manage the pain. However, compared to the knee surgery the back operation was no-where near as painful. I have been very limited with what I have been able to do. No bending, twisting, lifting etc. I am not allowed to sit for more than 20 to 30 minutes at a time so lots of lying down to rest the back. The wound has not healed brilliantly. It is now just over four weeks since I had the operation and I had to go back and get the wound re-strapped to try and get it to heal up better.
Had my first physio session this week but they still can't do very much with me.
The consultant wanted me to have another 3 weeks off work but I am keen to be back after another week so am hoping I might be fit enough to be allowed back soon.
I have some residual pain down the back of my right leg when I walk but I think that may be due to the swelling from surgery and hopefully it isn't permanent nerve damage. It does feel numb down the back of the leg too but compared to the pain I was in before I can't say I am overly concerned about that!
It is just such a relief to be out of pain again. There is still some tenderness and discomfort of course but I really can't complain about that.
It has been a challenging year and I hope that I will soon be able to return to some degree of normality. I simply can't wait to get back to being able to go for picnics and to the beach, to take the kids swimming and to go on a family bike ride.
Every week I feel stronger and stronger. Also getting fatter and fatter from sitting around and munching my way through each day though. Another reason to get back to work where I am too distracted to eat!!
