H2O Therapy

I began water therapy. Finally, I am able to take what I think is the next step in my recovery. It's amazing how little strength I have in my upper back. I have the tendency to think my strength is okay mostly because my arms seem fine. But as soon as the movement (be that pushing a door, lifting a bag, for example) transfers to my back muscles I am forced to stop what I am doing because those muscles aren't strong enough to continue. My arms have been fooling my body, but not for much longer! The therapists have me focusing on leg stretches (my leg muscles are so tight!), upper back strengthening, and rotating at my waist. I get pretty worn out during the therapy session, though this will vary from therapist to therapist. I tend to feel alright afterwards and the next day. This was discouraging to me and so I started thinking that maybe it was because I am back up to par. After only 3 sessions, yeah right! But you know how your mind can start trying to convince you of things. So on about my fourth session, I'm standing in the pool thinking to myself maybe I don't need the therapy I seem to be doing fine, the therapist ask me to push some small foam "dumbbells" under water. I couldn't get them to budge! Apparently this a fairly simple task that everyone should be able to do. At least it confirmed in my mind the fact that perhaps I do still need therapy. I have also since discovered that I can't hop up onto the underwater seat/ledge in the pool by hoisting myself up with my arms. Even underwater I am still too weak. Frustrating. And now I have added underwater dips to my therapy session.

Currently I am attending water therapy only twice a week. It is difficult to fit it into my schedule. I am hoping though to increase to three times a week soon.

6-Month Follow-up

My husband and I returned last night from our 2-day, 1-night escapade to St. Louis for my 6-month follow-up visit with Dr. Lenke. Sure was a lot of hoopla for a 15 minute (if that) appointment. What made it worse was that every one of our 4 flight legs was either canceled or delayed, or both! Thankfully what Dr. Lenke had to say was far more positive than the rest of our trip.

Dr. Lenke liked what he saw in my x-rays. He even said I could ride rollercoasters if I wanted. What I think he meant was that my spine is pretty solid at this point. I doubt my body could handle a rollercoaster even if my spine can. Dr. Lenke also gave me the go-ahead to start water therapy. I am hoping the water therapy will help loosen up some of my stiffness and begin to rebuild my back muscles. Perhaps after the water therapy I'll move on to physical therapy? I guess it all depends on how I'm feeling.

I will be seeing Dr. Lenke again for a 1-year post-op follow-up, so that would be mid-January. It's hard to believe 6 months have nearly passed since the operation. Considering everything, I'd say I feel pretty good and am recovering nicely, especially when I think back to how I was the first couple of months!

My Back Continues to Get Stronger

I am now able to stay at work for a full 8 hours, and still make it to class in the evening. Granted, I can’t do this everyday, but I am putting in longer and longer days at the office. A 40-hour work week is just within my reach. My goal is to be at that by July 1. I almost had a major setback due to equipment. Since my return to work I have been sitting in this incredible chair (not great comfort-wise, but great for my back). It enables me to sit at my desk for longer periods of time with less pain than other chairs. I thought work was going to purchase it but that fell through. Thankfully, within days of that happening, my disability insurance re-evaluated my case and determined that this chair is a necessity for me to return to a 40-hour work week, and as such, the insurance company is purchasing the chair for me. This is great! The chair is mine, mine, mine! ;-)

And speaking of chairs, I just bought 4 new ones for my own use – see the photos below!

Though my previous car was great to me and still had life in it, Jonathan and I decided to move on to the G35 Coupe. The primary reason being the seats are comfortable for me to sit in without stuffing a pillow behind me. My old G20 seats were well-broken in and comfy, but the seatback and headrest were angled so that my new straight and taller torso did not fit in it without a pillow behind my upper back. It became very aggravating. I think too that Jonathan and I were tired of dealing with medical issues and medical trips and wanted to do something for ourselves that we would enjoy daily. And we do!

Next week Jonathan and I will be traveling to St. Louis for my 6-month follow-up with Dr. Lenke. I am looking forward to what he has to say. I am also curious how I will handle the flights and layovers – I intend to bring several pillows/cushions with me.

Me again

It’s been a while since I last posted. Familiar story huh? So I’ve been back at work now for 4 weeks. It’s taken all of the energy I have to make it through each day. Hence the inability to find the stamina to write another post. The first two weeks were certainly the hardest, but even then I did feel my stamina increasing. At four weeks, I’m doing pretty good I think. I still don’t spend all 6 hours at my desk in the office. I tend to perform 1-3 hours of work at home from the couch. Though all of that depends on the day. Some days I find myself able to be at the office for 5+ hours; certainly a task I couldn’t even fathom the first couple of weeks. On top of going back to work, I started back to school two weeks ago. I did not want to get any further behind in my MBA, and I figured going to class two nights a week might also help increase my stamina. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right?

I’m still unsure of when I will return to working 40 hours a week (currently I’m at 30). Right now I feel overwhelmed with everything. Perhaps what would be best is slowly ramping up to 40 hours. Maybe I should start working an additional 30 – 60 minutes each day until that feels comfortable, and pretty soon I’d be back to 40 hours.

My company has provided me with an incredible chair advised by an ergonomic technician. I’ve tried other chairs since, for conference calls and such, and I’ve noticed that I’m in a lot of pain after sitting in those other chairs. Whereas I can manage nearly 6 hours in my specialized chair. Unfortunately, the worst thing right now are headaches/migraines that I start to experience around 1pm. I’m not sure why they are so regular. Caffeine, Tylenol, do not seem to affect the headaches much. I just try to get home quickly and lie down.

I have also noticed that I continue to have some difficulty retaining facts correctly. When recalling the information I need, I tend to have the basic premise correct, but some of the details totally wrong. Perhaps this has something to do with the medication? I have been weaning myself off of them. I’ve just started taking only Tylenol in the morning (rather than a prescribed pill) and I only ever take another pill if I have class or some other event to go to in the evening. I’m looking forward to the day when I don’t need something in the morning to relieve the pain and stiffness. I did try that one day to see how my body would handle it, apparently not well.

Oh and in case you wondered, since I have been asked this frequently, though I experience persistent pain and stiffness in my back, I believe it is strictly related to just having gone through very invasive surgery. The pain in my back that I used to experience prior to the surgery has been relieved. This is an incredible comfort. Granted some of the post-surgery pain I have may never relieve itself, but at this point, with a lot of recovery time still ahead, I am hopeful that it will.

So I apologize for the lag in posts, but hopefully it is somewhat understandable. I’m just really exhausted these days. At least I’m getting stronger at the same time. That is comforting.

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho...

it's off to work I go.

Today was my first day back at work after recovering from surgery. I'm starting back slowly, working only 30 hours per week to start. Once I can handle that without much trouble I'll move back to full time. My work is allowing me to telecommute while I build my stamina back up. I'll still be going to the office, as I did today, but I cannot yet stay in the upright position for an entire work day, even at 6 hours per day. Today I made it 4 hours at work. On top of that, I drove the 35 minutes to work. Jonathan had to drive me home though - my back was aching incredibly. The remain 2 hours of work I have completed laying down with my laptop on my lap. Thank goodness for laptops and wireless internet connections! Once I get a better grasp on what needs to be caught up on at work and what all of my new responsibilities are, I will be able to spend a bit more time working independently, from home. I'll set up a desk here to work at. That way I can practice sitting up working for lengths at a time, but be able to rest my back as needed. I'm not sure what they would think if they found me lying down on the floor at work, so this option probably is best for the meantime.

I was originally supposed to return to work earlier. However, my disability had to be extended due to an unfortunate regression in my recovery. The doctor thinks that I might have pulled a back muscle a couple of weeks ago when I was sick. And on top of that, some of my nerves might have been healing, thus heightening the pain I was experiencing. The doctor prescribed rest to help heal my muscle. At the worst point, I could not even perform the simple task of blowing my nose! It's amazing what muscles are affected - muscles you didn't even knew you had! Also, for about 5 days, every time I took a breathe, it felt as though my heart was being stabbed by a knife. Not fun. Thankfully that sensation finally passed; at points I thought it never would.

Today, the pains I feel are limited to extreme muscle aches/spasms. Hopefully those will subside with time, and with practice using those muscles at work. This road to recovery is long, but at least I'm recovering.

No Loose Screws

Yesterday I had another follow-up visit with my local orthopedic doctor. Because of the amount of pain I was in he had some x-rays taken. Thankfully, it was determined that all of my hardware is where it should be and that my fusion is coming along great. That was music to my ears. He then believes that the pain I have is from having pulled a back muscle or two, and suggested that I take it easy in order to let that heal. So instead of returning to work on the 16th of this month, I will be returning on the 23rd. All of the necessary arrangements have been made with work and disability, so I should be free to recover til then.

I was concerned about returning to work in this much pain. The work day is going to be enough of a shock to my body and will certainly easily fatigue me, so I was worried about returning in poor condition to start. The extra week to allow me to better heal should enable me to better focus on work when I do return. I'm grateful for this.

Ouch^10

For about the past 5 days my upper back has been in a lot of pain. So much so that the heavy narcotics and other medicines are barely making a dent in the pain I feel. Every move I make hurts, even trying to do something as mundane as blow my nose. I can no longer bend my neck down, and I need Jonathan's help to get off the couch and out of bed--tasks I have been able to perform on my own for a month now. Since the pain isn't getting any better, I've been starting to worry more. I hope that at the doctor's appointment tomorrow the surgeon might have some answers. At the very least an xray might ease my concerns. Jonathan did make a very good point this weekend regarding the pain I am experiencing. The pain seems to be associated with my back muscles. Last week I was pretty sick and that including a fair bit of vomiting. Jonathan suggests that perhaps I strained a back muscle when I was sick. Sounds pretty logical to me since that is about when all of this started. Unfortunately I am supposed to go back to work next week, and with this pain I can't even drive much less work for a full day. Over the past weekend Jonathan and I did go to a friend's 30th birthday dinner. I didn't want to miss it since it only comes once a lifetime, so I sucked it (as well as a pill) up and went. We enjoyed it, but I was in a lot of pain the entire time, and had to leave somewhat early. Hopefully it will resolve itself. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

The 96-Hour Flu

I've been pretty quiet lately in part to having the flu, or at least something resembling it. As soon as I would start to feel a little bit better, I'd get worse again. I'm hoping that today will not continue that trend. Being sick is bad enough, but being sick when you can barely move your body is even worse.

On a more positive note, I finally heard from my insurance that I will be carried through the full 3 months of recovery. After chasing the company and doctors daily for over a week, it is a comfort to know I can actually relax and focus on my recovery again. All this means that I should be back to work on April 16th. Things could change after I see the local surgeon for another follow-up next week, but I doubt that if they changed it would be by all that much.

Once I go back to work the roller coaster ride begins. I wonder how I will handle it. Shortly after my body gets used to working, I intend to start up my MBA again with the summer semester. I hope I can handle it as I do not want to get any further behind with school. What a frustrating scenario!

To Be or Not To Be in Pain?

That is the question. Last week my strong narcotic prescription ran out. My local orthopedic surgeon then gave me the choice to either stay on the same narcotic or much to something a bit softer (that being vicodin). I thought the smarter choice would be to move on to the vicodin. Unfortunately, my bones did not agree. I stuck with the vicodin for a week, but that entire time, I was in so much pain. On the one hand it was comforting to know that the strong narcotic I had been taking previously was doing it's job, on the other hand, it was frustrating to realize my level of pain was still too high to move on to the vicodin. The entire week I could barely move. I felt as if I had just regressed 4+ weeks. I couldn't walk well, I could barely even get up from lying down. And so much for practicing my driving! I spoke to the doctor's office on Friday and told them of my pain. The nurse suggested taking two pills at a time rather than one and that if that didn't work over the weekend to call back on Monday. Even taking two at a time barely worked. I'd say that for about an hour and a half I felt good - my pain was diminished. But then it returned. So yesterday (Monday) the doctor gave me a prescription for my stronger pain pill. I start taking it today. I look forward to being able to continue my recovery - walking and driving.

What's even more worrisome is that there is a chance I might have to start work on Friday. Though my doctor's are requesting that I continue to recover at home through the 3 month mark, my disability insurance has me returning to work on Friday. The doctor's request is still "pending" but obviously I am running out of time. Hopefully the insurance company will make their decision today in the positive regarding my doctor's requests for full recovery. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but as you can imagine I'm a nervous wreck. Imagine being told I have to go back to work by my insurance company, when I still can't even drive to work! And you'd think the doctor's opinion would have more weight. That's certainly hope logic rules in this case.

As Promised...

I can't think of many things that make a day better than TWO Caramel Apple Empanadas and good company! Yesterday, Stacy, Valerie, and Adam (all co-workers) made the trek out to James Island during their lunch break to bring a Taco Bell lunch to my house. It was a lovely day for sitting in our sunroom/dining room enjoying fun company and a tasty meal. I enjoyed catching up with them and was sad to see them leave...I'd been anticipating this lunch for over a week! I know I've mentioned before how lucky I am to work where I do, and yesterday reiterates that. There aren't too many people who would make the 30 minute trek one-way to James Island just to bring me lunch. I really appreciate the support!

St. Patrick's Day

I hope you all had a nice St. Patrick's Day weekend, whether or not you did something to celebrate. We were fortunate enough to have some wonderful friends who decided they would bring Jonathan and me a St. Patty's Day dinner and dessert to our house! This was incredibly thoughtful. Jonathan and I enjoyed our meal and evening with them. It was nice to see people again, and still be able to lie down on my couch when I started to hurt.

My lower back has been hurting a lot lately so we (I) couldn't do much more this weekend. I've even decreased my walking in an effort to stabilize the back pain. My left heel has been hurting me a lot as well, and we wonder if that has been affecting the way I walk, which in turn is affecting my lower back. Too many things to think about!

I did hear from St. Louis. Turns out the surgeon, Dr. Lenke, took a look at the xrays we mailed out from my local 6-week post-op visit and determined that everything looks good. That's great news!

The Past Couple of Weeks

Well its been a while since I last posted something. Long enough that I even had to read my blog to see where I had left off. Sorry for inconvenience of having to check the site only to find nothing. I guess I've been busy...which is good.

Let's see...so what has happened during the past couple of weeks:

My mother was here for a week and a half which was wonderful. Again, it was a huge help to Jonathan and myself, and it was nice being able to go out nearly every day. Mom would take me to the grocery store or lunch or to the Doctors. It was nice to get out even if it was tiring. Since she has left I've been stuck in the house while Jonathan is at school.

I also had a 6-week check up with my local orthopedic doctor. He was impressed with everything Dr. Lenke did. He still wants me to take it slow and said I shouldn't go back to work until mid-April (still trying to work this out with the disability people, yet another headache). He also prescribed me a stronger medication which doesn't make me loopy or slur my words. This is key because it has enabled me to go out with my mom, and since then, to read and to try to study. I will be going back for another checkup mid-April.

I have also practiced driving. First I just went around the loop in our neighborhood. More recently though I drove 20 minutes to our Costco (always with Jonathan of course). This longer drive really hurt me and I couldn't do any more, so Jonathan had to take over. Slowly but surely, I hope.

Around the house I have been walking up to 2 miles (I can now go a mile at a time), reading, watching tv, and trying to study for my upcoming classes. I have just registered for Summer I, Summer II, and Fall. I'm not sure I'll be able to manage the Summer I class, but I should be able to handle Summer II. Especially if I can get some of the studying done now for the class. Though it is hard to study. I've tried sitting at a desk or table to do so, but I can't last more than 15 minutes, and studying in the recliner is hard too. This causes me concern for when I return to work.

I've decided to start back at work at 30 hours a week versus full time. My boss agrees with this decision. Hopefully that will only be needed for a month or so and then I'll go full time again. I do not want to hurt myself more so I think this is the smartest thing to do.

Well, I guess that is the past two weeks in a nutshell. I will try to do better to update this site more frequently.

Out and About...just barely

Well I forced to spend several hours out of the house on Friday in order to have x-rays taken for my upcoming post-op appointment on Tuesday. I was shocked out how long it took. Normally when I have gone to the hospital for such x-rays, I'm out in about half an hour. But of course, the time when I am in the most pain I am forced to sit around for 2 hours. I was begging them for a place to lie down and the tears weren't helping my cause. At least one gentleman there offered me some cold water which helped the dizziness I was feeling. When we finally received the x-rays from radiology, we showed the gentleman and the other person he was working with, the x-rays so that they could understand better why I was in so much pain and having trouble sitting for so long.

Having the x-rays taken was amusing as well. When setting up the focus on my spine for the x-ray, the technician asked me how severe my scoliosis was. I told him its not severe anymore. When he came back with the x-ray he was in awe and shock. Apparently they aren't used to seeing x-rays such as mine. Well, that is part of the reason I choose the surgeon I did...his technique is more radical in that he manipulates every vertebrate, but in doing so there is less over all trauma to the body as no ribs need to be removed.

A quick glance of the new x-rays look okay...seems no screws have popped out of place, but we'll see what the orthopedic surgeon here has to say on Tuesday. Then he will ship off his notes and the x-rays to Dr. Lenke in St. Louis and we'll learn what he says.

I went out again yesterday. This time to Costco. I only made it halfway through the warehouse. The couches looked too inviting for my tired body. So I stayed there until we were ready to leave. On a positive note though we found a lovely red leather computer bag on wheels...something I know I will need once I return, and I did want one with some classy character (the lovely red leather) rather than a standard black cloth bag.

I still can't imagine being able to stay out for 9+ hours for a work day but that is a ways off. Mom seems really impressed with my improvements that occurred just in the 3 weeks she was away. I still think I have a long slow road ahead of me, and again I appreciate all the support everyone is giving me, even just by reading my blog.

A X-Ray is Worth a Thousand Words

Here are the before and after X-rays. Notice the curves in the before photos and the hardware and straightness in the after....ouch!

Sitting vs. Standing vs. Walking vs. Whatever

I thought I might try to explain my limitations a little bit better.

Lying down is great. It relieves the pressure off my lower back. This pressure we believe is caused by a multitude of factors: 3 pounds of hardware in my back, chopped up muscles that are trying to regain strength, and an overall change is my internal anatomy from the straightening of my back. The skin on my back is still extremely sensitive so it does hurt to lie down but at least my head doesn't feel like its going to fall off.

Sitting is more tricky. I can lean back okay, like in a car seat slightly reclined. And because of my skin sensitivity, I have to have a feather pillow between me and the seat. Again, in this situation, the seat back and head rest are holding me up. Sitting up at a 90 degree angle to eat or talk to someone without looking like a slouch is when the pain sets in faster. Again, its probably due to the additional weight I'm not carrying in my upper back and my hurt muscles. I can only handle sitting like this for about 10 minutes and only on a chair with a cushioned bottom. In the mornings I can last a bit longer than 10 minutes but as the day wears on it gets harder. Eating dinner requires amazing effort and hurts like you wouldn't imagine.

The situation is similar with standing since I'm holding myself up on my own. I start to get really wobbly after a while. Even just standing to brush my teeth or shower is exhausting. If I've been walking for a while I eventually have to slow down and grab on to someone.

In my previous post I wrote that I went to the Citadel, which was a combo of sitting, standing, and walking, and by the end I was pretty wobbly (just ask Joe who I saw there) and needed to grab on to an arm to walk out. The car ride after was a relief since the car seat supported me, and gave my body a good rest. At the grocery store I took my walker in. I was tired and couldn't walk by myself, but with the walker I could put my weight on it and scoot around. I didn't last long there but at least I was pushing my limitations.