Hi everyone!
I was asked a few months ago to consider writing about a topic that has been of great concern to me, but put it off because, well, it just isn't always easy to talk about the "deep" issues.
Some of you closest to me realize that 2011 was an extremely difficult year for me on many levels...
It began actually at the close of 2010 with the news that I would have to give up a job I thoroughly enjoyed due to some medical problems. This news was hard for me to take, even though I knew it had to be. I had fallen from a ladder in mid-July of that year (actually just one week before the Celebration Company reunion that I had planned). I found it very tough to stand for more than a few minutes at a time, but with only having been at my new job for a week or two, I felt the need to keep this to myself as much as possible.
At least twice a week I would visit my chiropractor for adjustments, acupuncture and whatever course of treatment they could think of to try on me. After four very painful months, working 3 to 5 seven hour shifts on my feet, my wonderful husband happened to be home one evening as I arrived from work and attempted to get down the steps to our bedroom to get off my feet. By this point, I often had to sit at the top step and slide down step by step. It was about this same time that the chiropractor had ordered MRI's and discovered that it was possibly not a situation they could easily resolve; so Andy insisted that I see my physician. One look at my MRI's and he referred me to a surgeon.
With just one week to go before hosting both families for a large Thanksgiving Feast for 30+ people, I was told that only surgery would get me back up and going again... so we got out the calendar & scheduled my lower back surgery.
After in-depth tests, they discovered that nothing was holding the two lowest discs and a 2-level fusion was necessary.
During this waiting period, some household issues arose that made for a not so pleasant couple of months (as if the wait itself wasn't stressful enough) and I was relieved by the time January 31st got here.
I have to say that the first 3 days in the hospital were sheer torture. I was unable to walk at all without a nurse holding onto a safety harness - giving me total support. After the first 2 days, I was able to sit up in a chair in my room and eventually was able to walk to my hospital room door and back -- what a sense of accomplishment. If you've ever struggled with having to rely on anyone this much, you know that by the end of it all dignity is lost. After 4 days at Missouri Baptist Hospital I was taken to a flight of stairs (with several people holding tight & that good ole faithful safety harness) and instructed to walk up and down those stairs before they would release me to go home. At that point, I can honestly say I had never wanted anything so badly in my life - and with the help of Andy, a physical therapist, & a nurse - I DID IT!
With my back brace & bone growth stimulator strapped to my waist, I was soon dressed and in the car on my way home. I really felt relieved to be going home, but that was the beginning of the toughest course of hurdles I have ever seen.
Several concessions were made around our home to enable me to function with a mediocre sense of self-reliance. For the first week, my daughter in law & granddaughter stayed with us to help with the tasks at hand. I couldn't even roll over in bed by myself and it was frustrating at best! The pain has so intolerable, but the surgeon had instructed me to walk every 20 minutes. That's where Riley - my granddaughter (she was only 2 at the time) came into play. I had a timer set to go off in 20 minute intervals and when the timer went off she would bring my walker to my and insist that I walk around the livingroom for a lap or two. She was quite the slave-driver, but that is what I needed most. Truth is, she was so cute about it that I couldn't have said no and my family knew that.
Several church members had organized a group to bring meals to me several times a week for the first few weeks and that was such a blessing.
After 3 months, x-rays were taken and there was enough evidence of new bone growth that I was released from wearing the bone growth stimulator, and eventually the back brace was downgraded to an "as needed" status. *Side-note - the cashiers at Shop N Save & Walmart hated to see me come to their lane(s) because this bone growth stimulator would, on several occasions, all but shut down their computers/registers.
It has now been 11 1/2 months since I first started this recovery process. I would like to say that I am pain-free, but I have resigned myself to the fact that it may never be that way. The doctors have told me that whatever I have after a year is what I can expect to regain, and with the exception of numbness in portions of my legs, and difficulty in "socking" and "shoeing' my left foot, I feel a whole lot better.
I am so very grateful to those who took time out of their busy lives to help me get through this difficult process.
Outside of that, I did also find it necessary to undergo one other surgical procedure a few months ago which has been more of an emotional struggle than a physical one, but I am getting a grip on it. I find that I am still not comfortable talking much about this, so will leave it with just a vague mention... I am forever grateful again to the patient family members who do their best to make things flow as smoothly as possible for me on a daily basis. I know that Andy has had to put up with a lot (even going back to my car accident in 2002 & the neck surgery...) I am looking forward to a non-invasive year in 2012!
Things are looking up at this point - and I don't care what the doctors say, I will get better still!
Watch out world - here I come!!!!
I was asked a few months ago to consider writing about a topic that has been of great concern to me, but put it off because, well, it just isn't always easy to talk about the "deep" issues.
Some of you closest to me realize that 2011 was an extremely difficult year for me on many levels...
It began actually at the close of 2010 with the news that I would have to give up a job I thoroughly enjoyed due to some medical problems. This news was hard for me to take, even though I knew it had to be. I had fallen from a ladder in mid-July of that year (actually just one week before the Celebration Company reunion that I had planned). I found it very tough to stand for more than a few minutes at a time, but with only having been at my new job for a week or two, I felt the need to keep this to myself as much as possible.
At least twice a week I would visit my chiropractor for adjustments, acupuncture and whatever course of treatment they could think of to try on me. After four very painful months, working 3 to 5 seven hour shifts on my feet, my wonderful husband happened to be home one evening as I arrived from work and attempted to get down the steps to our bedroom to get off my feet. By this point, I often had to sit at the top step and slide down step by step. It was about this same time that the chiropractor had ordered MRI's and discovered that it was possibly not a situation they could easily resolve; so Andy insisted that I see my physician. One look at my MRI's and he referred me to a surgeon.
With just one week to go before hosting both families for a large Thanksgiving Feast for 30+ people, I was told that only surgery would get me back up and going again... so we got out the calendar & scheduled my lower back surgery.
After in-depth tests, they discovered that nothing was holding the two lowest discs and a 2-level fusion was necessary.
During this waiting period, some household issues arose that made for a not so pleasant couple of months (as if the wait itself wasn't stressful enough) and I was relieved by the time January 31st got here.
I have to say that the first 3 days in the hospital were sheer torture. I was unable to walk at all without a nurse holding onto a safety harness - giving me total support. After the first 2 days, I was able to sit up in a chair in my room and eventually was able to walk to my hospital room door and back -- what a sense of accomplishment. If you've ever struggled with having to rely on anyone this much, you know that by the end of it all dignity is lost. After 4 days at Missouri Baptist Hospital I was taken to a flight of stairs (with several people holding tight & that good ole faithful safety harness) and instructed to walk up and down those stairs before they would release me to go home. At that point, I can honestly say I had never wanted anything so badly in my life - and with the help of Andy, a physical therapist, & a nurse - I DID IT!
With my back brace & bone growth stimulator strapped to my waist, I was soon dressed and in the car on my way home. I really felt relieved to be going home, but that was the beginning of the toughest course of hurdles I have ever seen.
Several concessions were made around our home to enable me to function with a mediocre sense of self-reliance. For the first week, my daughter in law & granddaughter stayed with us to help with the tasks at hand. I couldn't even roll over in bed by myself and it was frustrating at best! The pain has so intolerable, but the surgeon had instructed me to walk every 20 minutes. That's where Riley - my granddaughter (she was only 2 at the time) came into play. I had a timer set to go off in 20 minute intervals and when the timer went off she would bring my walker to my and insist that I walk around the livingroom for a lap or two. She was quite the slave-driver, but that is what I needed most. Truth is, she was so cute about it that I couldn't have said no and my family knew that.
Several church members had organized a group to bring meals to me several times a week for the first few weeks and that was such a blessing.
After 3 months, x-rays were taken and there was enough evidence of new bone growth that I was released from wearing the bone growth stimulator, and eventually the back brace was downgraded to an "as needed" status. *Side-note - the cashiers at Shop N Save & Walmart hated to see me come to their lane(s) because this bone growth stimulator would, on several occasions, all but shut down their computers/registers.It has now been 11 1/2 months since I first started this recovery process. I would like to say that I am pain-free, but I have resigned myself to the fact that it may never be that way. The doctors have told me that whatever I have after a year is what I can expect to regain, and with the exception of numbness in portions of my legs, and difficulty in "socking" and "shoeing' my left foot, I feel a whole lot better.
I am so very grateful to those who took time out of their busy lives to help me get through this difficult process.
Outside of that, I did also find it necessary to undergo one other surgical procedure a few months ago which has been more of an emotional struggle than a physical one, but I am getting a grip on it. I find that I am still not comfortable talking much about this, so will leave it with just a vague mention... I am forever grateful again to the patient family members who do their best to make things flow as smoothly as possible for me on a daily basis. I know that Andy has had to put up with a lot (even going back to my car accident in 2002 & the neck surgery...) I am looking forward to a non-invasive year in 2012!
Things are looking up at this point - and I don't care what the doctors say, I will get better still!
Watch out world - here I come!!!!
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