Recovery

Well, I am two weeks and 5 days out from my microdiscectomy.  It was the best decision I have ever made.  I woke up from my longer than expected surgery with zero pain, other than my incision pain.  I never knew how amazing that could feel.  Don't get me wrong, the incision and back pain sucked, but laying on my back never felt so good.  I hadn't slept through the night, or even been able to just lay on my back since October.

I went from taking 6 percocet, 4 gabapentin, and 2 Valium a day to taking a Motrin or two.  It is like a miracle.  My surgeon said the surgery went perfectly.  However, it was bigger and worse than he had first expected so he had to fish around more and got two additional pieces (besides the original rupture) out.  The first 3 days were heavy pain meds and valium and each day got better from then on out.  I still have to be very careful with proper lifting, bending, and sitting, and all that for a few months.  It is hard already because I feel so good.  I have a terrible "tramp stamp" from when I was 18 and I had hoped it would get cut so I would have a good excuse to have a cover-up... not such luck.  This is the tiny incision I ended up with.

I did have a really horrific time with the anesthesia even though they knew ahead of time.  I puked a ton.  I guess I told the recovery nurse, "Yeah, I am puking, and I am not going to apologize".  As soon as I was with it, the puking went away and I was up in out in about an hour.  I spent the first few days sleeping a lot.  I did have all my wonderful kitties and these two to see me through my recovery.

I love to watch the surgeries I have AFTER I have them.  If you are interested, this is not me, but it is the exact procedure.  Click the link for Microdiscectomy surgery.