Sounds like they have that gizmo in check along with tracking your actual usage.
i'll either have to take it to my next appointment, or i will be told to write down the numbers, to be checked by the doctor...
Probably the easiest and safest way to get at the other older hardware while they were at it.
first operation was from the posterior as well.
IMO 5-6 pain level is not that bad considering you had major surgery done to your spine and the short amount of time since that surgery. I would think 7-10 would be cause for alarm at this point. Is this while you are on your meds or off your meds?
i never really know how to "measure pain", when asked by the doc or nurse, or therapist, i say, "i'm in pain", so i have to pick a number. 5-6 is painful to me, others may find 6 or higher more so.
Gravity sucks for anyone with a spine surgery. It does make you feel like everything is being pulled apart. Too bad we all can't work while laying down.
well...hookers work laying down, guess they are in a minority..????
Again I'm going to say it's still too early in being able to sit, stand, bend, twist or walk for any longer than 5 minutes.
outside Saturday in the garden, i was "pointing" to sis as to which to pick. i didn't even bend, but 10 minutes in the garden, felt like 1,000 hours.
Do you pad your sitting area along with the lumbar area?
very uncomfortable to pad the lumbar, the pillow that i had i thought was perfect, but that too pushed against the hardware causing more pains.
a cane, but was told by one of the p/t's, i was using it more like a crutch..??
if i do not use it, i am all bent outta shape, and cannot walk standing erect. so for a while now, i haven't been using it, to force me to stand straight, but.........most of the times, i walk like the hunchback of Notre Dame
So you use nice walking or running shoes that help support your heels and any stress to the back back?
100% of my shoes are running shoes, no stress relief.
A rollercoaster ride of healing is not fun. It can play havoc with ones emotions. As long as your doctor is totally open and honest with your healing and you expect the ups and downs and the fact that the older you get the longer it takes to heal, than you will stay positive.
i haven;t spoken to the doctor since 2 days after my operation, i have only spoken to his p/a, the "emotional ride" is like when i was doing long haul.....it got tiring after the first 2 weeks....restlessness, insomnia, loss of appetite, loss of get up and go, loss of good ole gumption.
I wonder if they also went in through the same incision and got bone graft from your hip. (To eliminate a secondary surgical procedure)
Did they go the cadaver route to harvest some?
probably through the same opening. first operation, the doctor went to "the bone bank", that i am aware of. i actually forget to ask the p/a where the donor bone came from....(as long as the bone didn't come from someone named Wilson or Brown, i am ok with that)
It might be too early to tell if anything is working, especially if the graft is working unless they spring for an MRI, x-ray. That's why they encourage people to start walking, no matter how far, to help get things stimulated and moving rather than sitting stagnant in a chair.
The outside morning sun is supposed to provide us with some Vitamin D which feels great on a body
i have to take caltrate, i walk a little bit every day, in the house, sometimes going outside, which requires me to climb/descend stairs. x-rays were taken just before my recent visit, and more before my next.
It's okay to read those spine forums but stay away from them and take each persons journey with a grain of salt. It's so easy to get consumed into the stories and start feeling negative about your own healing process
i went to the one that you linked me too, browsed around, left, never returned.
.
Hopefully you continue to manage the pain by staying on top of your meds, getting outside and walk, soak up the sun, continue the home physical therapy you might have received, cheer up and stay positive. Let your doctor determine if it's a success or not while you ride that rollercoaster.
on/off as far as the meds go...loss of appetite, constipation, or diarrhea, insomnia, restlessness, make me not want to take them, but then the pain shoots up higher....
"cheer up and stay positive"..????
i'm so frickin' positive i ain't as cheery as i should be.....hell.......i saw the neighbors kid leave her toy doll outside, i went over and ripped the head off....
I think I've become a Chatty Cathy to you.
as long as you "shaved your legs for this", and like being called Cathy, i don't mind.....
it's Big Dave i actually worry about.....
something else, Dockworker...
this thread of mine has just over 3,600 views.
i do not believe it is out of concern for me so much as it is for the inquisitive nature as to what's happening, and maybe perhaps gathering information. if one person reading these posts can learn what to watch out for when working, when to report dangerous or harmful working conditions, when to start a "paper trail", how to follow it through all the way, how quickly one should get a lawyer, and how much a person should PUSH for things to get done, for a quick recovery, then all those (over) 3,600 views was well worth me opening up and telling it all.