Adequately Medicated

Ok, now that the anesthesia's mostly out of my system & I'm able to think more clearly here's a few details for all those to whom I promised them.

Surgery went well, he only had to go in from the right side (this means he only had to cut muscles on the right side).  There was some seepage of spinal fluid but due to scar tissue on the sheath of my spine he couldn't see where it was coming from to suture (thus the lying flat for the first 16 hours).  The nerves were splayed around the bulged disc material & he was very careful to remind me & my family that while this operation would hopefully alleviate the sharp nerve pain I've been experiencing it is by no means a cure for my back problems.

That said I am still optimistic about the positive fall out in my life.  The pain, limitations on mobility, and other complications have been escalating radically over the last few weeks.

So far as long as we keep up on the meds I'm doing great.  As predicted I sleep  a LOT.  As I was leaving the hospital my nurse gave me some really encouraging info. She stated that in watching me move she could tell that I have learned to accommodate that injury & that she didn't think I was going to have too much trouble being careful and following the restrictions placed on me.

I'm noticing lots of little things that are different in good ways like my left heal & hamstring not being so tight, or coughing without shooting pain in my legs & feet.  The tissue around my incision is sore & grumpy, but then 24 hours ago I was in an operating room, so whaaah.

Scott's doing a good job to take care of me.  I'm currently composing a shopping list for him, the top items on which are lemon yogurt & nilla waffers (at 10:30pm lying flat on my back in the hospital bed with the leg squeezers on & morphine in my system that was a pretty amazing snack).

Been vertical now long enough to know I ought to go lay down.  No news is good news for a while.
Live long & prosper.
~m