surgery +13 days
progress
I continue to heal and am able to function fine solo with restrictions on lifting, bending, twisting, walking outdoors, etc. Tremor of the left hand is reduced – on bad days by 50% and on good days ~80%. here is now a slight occasional tremor of the right hand. Zero foot pain1 since the surgery and I think the calf fasiculations are decreased. Throat seems to be ~normal again because I can eat without pain or choking. I lost 10lbs that first week because I couldn’t (and didn’t want to) eat.
pain
As before, only minor discomfort from the surgical site itself most of the time. The major source of pain is vicious cramps2 in the back and shoulders. Holy cannoli.
timeline
- Aug 30th - Muffin returns home
- Sep 3rd - remove bandage and leave exposed
- Sep 6th - got brave enough to shave
Shaving was only half-successful because cramps limited my range of motion and parts of skin near the site are numb. And I was anxious about getting anywhere near the incision with a blade. The tremor+cramp scenario makes it tough to take a non-blurry pic. :-) The scar is a bit more uneven than I expected, with some portions being quite lumpy. The center section is almost flat.
upcoming
Follow-up with the surgeon on the 9th. I hope he does some imaging so we can finally see what that vertebral prosthetic looks like!
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I actually had no foot pain for a couple months before the procedure so continued lack of pain might not be related. ↩
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I’m going to use cramps as shorthand for pain that feels like cramps but is probably neuropathic because A) they last for hours but are not sore afterward, B) not responsive to stretches, C) not responsive to pain meds3, and D) not affected by posture or activity. ↩
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morphine PCA in the hospital and Tylenol #3 at home ↩