D4 Update?
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wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 23:39 last edited by
I'm 95% there. Still with an occasional cough, a bit productive. This morning, both ears clogged up.
Mrs. George is 90% there. Little, if any, cough. No other symptoms other than fatigue from what the last 3 weeks have been like. Getting some appetite back.
D4 has been at her place since Thursday afternoon. Pain control is...OK. Not great, OK. It's all post surgical stuff so I expect that to improve daily. "Zings" down the leg are less frequent and less intense.
The thing that's really getting her is the overwhelming fatigue. Just getting showered, etc is a major undertaking. I think it's bothering her more than the pain. With a 2 year old and a 6 year old, it gets overwhelming. I told her that she has to remember that this surgery was a MAJOR trauma and it's going to take time from that, and I mean more than just the surgical stuff. She spent 22 days in the hospital, underwent one minor and one major operation. The adrenaline "high" that accompanies that is pretty much gone, and she's on the downslope of the excitement and stress. Her adrenals have been squeezed dry.
Last weekend D2 came down from Cheddarland to help out. I suggested that she hire a "mother's helper" for a couple of weeks to help with the boys, cooking, laundry, etc. SIL has not been able to because he's still working full-time.
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wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 23:40 last edited by
POsitive news! Excellent!!
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wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 23:43 last edited by
I remember putting socks on might take 45 minutes - kind of like a painful game of ring toss. I'd be terrified of the children - just so easy to violate protocol and try too much. I hope she has some meddlesome neighbors who can bring in some food - and borrow the kids.
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wrote on 15 Jul 2024, 23:47 last edited by
Getting cut on in any form takes something out of you. She needs to give herself time.
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I remember putting socks on might take 45 minutes - kind of like a painful game of ring toss. I'd be terrified of the children - just so easy to violate protocol and try too much. I hope she has some meddlesome neighbors who can bring in some food - and borrow the kids.
wrote on 16 Jul 2024, 00:29 last edited by@kluurs said in D4 Update?:
I remember putting socks on might take 45 minutes
When D4 was in the hospital after her 1st operation, Occupational Therapy came with all kinds of gizmos to help with ADL (Activities of Daily Living).
She was in complete awe of the sock helper.
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I'm 95% there. Still with an occasional cough, a bit productive. This morning, both ears clogged up.
Mrs. George is 90% there. Little, if any, cough. No other symptoms other than fatigue from what the last 3 weeks have been like. Getting some appetite back.
D4 has been at her place since Thursday afternoon. Pain control is...OK. Not great, OK. It's all post surgical stuff so I expect that to improve daily. "Zings" down the leg are less frequent and less intense.
The thing that's really getting her is the overwhelming fatigue. Just getting showered, etc is a major undertaking. I think it's bothering her more than the pain. With a 2 year old and a 6 year old, it gets overwhelming. I told her that she has to remember that this surgery was a MAJOR trauma and it's going to take time from that, and I mean more than just the surgical stuff. She spent 22 days in the hospital, underwent one minor and one major operation. The adrenaline "high" that accompanies that is pretty much gone, and she's on the downslope of the excitement and stress. Her adrenals have been squeezed dry.
Last weekend D2 came down from Cheddarland to help out. I suggested that she hire a "mother's helper" for a couple of weeks to help with the boys, cooking, laundry, etc. SIL has not been able to because he's still working full-time.
wrote on 16 Jul 2024, 00:52 last edited by -
wrote on 16 Jul 2024, 00:55 last edited by
@Jolly said in D4 Update?:
Hauk tuah!
I would share your comment with her, but I don't want her to think that I am more of a perv than she already knows me to be.
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wrote on 19 Jul 2024, 12:30 last edited by
Saw the PA yesterday - she's 16 days postop.
To me, looks like fatigue is getting better. Pain well-controlled on her pre-surgical meds, and she's optimistic that once this heals up, she'll be able to get off everything.
Still has residual weakness in her left leg (that's the one which had the nerve pain) and surgeon wants her to try some PT. I'm skeptical that PT will do anything, it's weakness due to the nerve, not the muscle, but whatever.
No driving for another 8 weeks (ugh) and a followup visit in 4 weeks.
Yesterday's x-ray.
See that thing the arrow's pointing at? That's a spacer to keep the L5S1 disc space from collapsing. She's had so much trauma there that, for all practical purposes, there's no disc left - so to avoid nerve pinching, gotta keep the space open.
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Saw the PA yesterday - she's 16 days postop.
To me, looks like fatigue is getting better. Pain well-controlled on her pre-surgical meds, and she's optimistic that once this heals up, she'll be able to get off everything.
Still has residual weakness in her left leg (that's the one which had the nerve pain) and surgeon wants her to try some PT. I'm skeptical that PT will do anything, it's weakness due to the nerve, not the muscle, but whatever.
No driving for another 8 weeks (ugh) and a followup visit in 4 weeks.
Yesterday's x-ray.
See that thing the arrow's pointing at? That's a spacer to keep the L5S1 disc space from collapsing. She's had so much trauma there that, for all practical purposes, there's no disc left - so to avoid nerve pinching, gotta keep the space open.
wrote on 19 Jul 2024, 12:35 last edited by@George-K said in D4 Update?:
Pain well-controlled on her pre-surgical meds, and she's optimistic that once this heals up, she'll be able to get off everything.
That's very good.
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@George-K said in D4 Update?:
Pain well-controlled on her pre-surgical meds, and she's optimistic that once this heals up, she'll be able to get off everything.
That's very good.
wrote on 19 Jul 2024, 12:43 last edited by@Jolly said in D4 Update?:
That's very good.
After the initial fusion, 8 years ago, she was on no meds - after the postop stuff. However, she started getting spasms, back pain and pain down the leg from the L5S1 area. That's what was fixed.
They found a broken screw from the first fusion and removed all the hardware, replacing it with new stuff.
Path report:
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wrote on 19 Jul 2024, 13:30 last edited by kluurs
Hopefully, the two little linebackers she has in the house are gentle while things heal. Knowing what dad did, she probably understands the risks/rewards on pain management better than most folks.
When I was doing the back destruction thing, my spouse, who is protocol focused, would never think of giving a pain killer at 3 hours, 47 minutes if it was supposed to be given ever 4 hours. Grrrrr....
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wrote on 22 Jul 2024, 02:59 last edited by
@George-K Hope things will continue to go well.