Eight Weeks Post Op!!!

By: brandy nicole on 4:22 PM

Well folks, I'm in the homes stretch of this 12 week recovery. I didn't think I'd make it!! At 8 weeks post op, I still feel quite a bit of pain but its not debilitating. Firstly, I'd like to throw this out there....The whole reason I had this surgery was not so much for my back pain, but for my leg pain. That was DEBILITATING. My back muscles are still very tight, and I still have quite a bit of bone pain from the rods and what not being drilled into my spine. But its not terrible. I'm down to 1-2 pain pills a day, and I'm looking to wean off that this week. I've been on them long enough that I'd just like to quit, but I'm doing it safely to avoid any possible withdraw side effects (i don't know if I'd have any, but I'm not taking the chance).

I do a lot of walking. I go up and down the stairs a lot. I've been able to hang out with friends for a few hours as long as we aren't doing anything to wild. usually just a lunch or hanging out at each other's apartments and watching movies. I did break the rules a bit and go on the pontoon last night to watch the fireworks for the Fourth of July. The doctor's would have rather I didn't do that, as the choppy waves could jar your spine pretty good. But thankfully, we went out just a little while before the fireworks started and everyone on the lake had calmed down and were all just docked in the water waiting for the fireworks to start, so the water wasn't choppy. I enjoyed myself. It was nice to be out on the water, its so calming. I also worked last year on the holiday, so I didn't get to see the fireworks that our Lake Association puts on, and they were pretty damn impressive!!!

All in all, I'm doing very well. I'm hoping to go back to work  next month if the doctor releases me because the money train is starting to run out lol. But I'm doing okay and I 100% do not regret this surgery. My next update will probably be at my 12 week appointment. Love you guys!!

(roughly 6 weeks post op pic)

Read More

One Month Post Op Appt!

By: brandy nicole on 4:14 PM

On June 1st, 2015 I had my 1 month post op appointment with Dr. Park. We honestly didn't do a whole lot. He took xrays and we looked at those and thankfully everything looked good. He took my stitches out and basically we talked about how I was feeling. I told him I was still in a pretty good deal of pain despite being able to be a bit more active. By this point I was going grocery shopping with my mother because it was a means of getting exercise (walking) without walking in the heat lol. I also went to a movie with a friend at I believe two weeks post op. It might of even been 13 days post op! But damn it, I REALLLLY wanted to see Pitch Perfect 2, hahahaha.

He told me my pain was likely due to me being active, BUT, he said that was good. He didn't want me just sitting, but he didn't want me overdoing it either. He prescribed more pain meds, and told me to just walk as much as tolerated, keep icing it, and I would be okay. He said to expect pain as I become more active as things are healing. But he liked the direction I was going. He said to continue my no bending/twisting/lifting anything over 5 lbs until my next appointment which is August 4th.

One Month Post Op Incisions (before stitches were removed)

Before surgery x-ray

After Xray :) And no, that is not an artifical disc. It is just a larger interbody spacer than normal because I had no disc there (it dissolved due to the spondylolisthesis crushing it)

Read More

Setbacks

By: brandy nicole on 4:07 PM

About 8 days post op i had a set back. I had just gotten out of the shower when I noticed an orange fluid on the towel when I wiped my back. I had my mom look at it and we discovered the top part of the incision on my right side was leaking. And it wasn't just a little either. I soaked through three large dressings in an hour. And I soaked through a double dressing, and my clothing on the hour drive to the hospitals ER. I was pretty much having an anxiety attack because after one of my what seems like gazillion surgeries for endometriosis, I had fluid that looked just like that leak from an incision and it turned out to be Staph (not MRSA).

After a lonnnnnnnnnng, and I mean long time in the ER it was determined it wasn't staph, but rather I had a pocket of fluid that had built up and it had just needed to come out. They put two stitches in the top of the incision and said they wouldn't be surprised if the bottom opened to. If it did, to put sterile dressings on it and leave it be unless it drained to the point where the top was. The top just wasn't stopping. And he felt they needed to stitch it up.

So sure enough, three days later, the bottom started leaking. It leaked pretty steady (but not to the velocity of the top part of the incision) for about 2 and a half days before it stopped. I was thankful I didn't have to go get stitches in the bottom because let me tell you, regular traditional stitches are a pain in the ass. They itch, they pull and get caught on things, and are just super, super obnoxious.

stitches and leaking :(

Read More

Home :)

By: brandy nicole on 3:57 PM

I live an hour and a half away from the hospital so I was prepared for a long ride home. We had my scripts filled at the hospital pharmacy so if needed I could take them on the way home (which I ended up doing because of the timing). The ride actually went a lot more smoothly than I thought it would. When we got home, I decided to sleep upstairs. Biggest mistake ever. I couldnt get out of the bed. My poor mother had to help me and I screamed the whole time. I look back on that and feel terrible that I pretty much screamed in her ear, but it was uncontrollable. I was in that much pain. I decided to try my parents couch next which I did for the next few nights. That first week I was on morphine 15mg twice a day, oxycodone every 4-6 hours, and valium every 6 hours.

After three days, I decided I had enough of my parents couch and decided I was heading back to my place. I was able to get in and out of my bed and I was much happier being in my surroundings. So this next part I need to give a bit of a back story to. My doctor didn't discharge me from the hospital, he had gone on vacation that day (nice huh?) and a Nurse Practitioner discharged me. She said because she was an NP she could only rx me a very limited amount of my narcotics and that I would have to call that week to get a new script. My paperwork said to expect to be on narcotics for up to three months. My discharge instructions on the bottle AND paperwork said, "Take 1 to 2 tablets every 4-6 hrs". In the hospital I was given two Oxycodone every 4 hours and the NP told me to continue that for at least the first week. I was only given I think 25 oxy from the NP so that wasn't going to last very long but she assured me it would be no issue to get a new script from my doctor. Which it wasnt. We explained what she said and it was all in my chart so the doctor gave me my script with the same instructions. The problem lies with my insurance company. They said they interpreted the directions as taking 1 pill every 4 hours or 2 every 6 hours. I can see how they would think that, I was a pharmacy tech at one point so I can get that...but then they said I was only allowed to take 4 tablets a day because I should be "Sleeping and not need them" at certain points of the day.

I'm sorry insurance, but you are absurd. When you have metal rods and screws and plates shoved drilled into your bones then you can talk to me about pain tolerance and sleeping patterns. I understand that their method behind this is to lessen the risk of addiction to narcotics, but seriously? A week into a 12 week recovery from a spinal fusion and you are telling me I can only have 4 tablets? So my insurance wouldn't pay for my script because they said it was by their standards, "too early to fill". The pharmacy read the script just as I had and interpreted it the way I was told by the NP that technically you could take up to 12 tablets a day (I wasn't but still) and he said given my circumstances, he was not going to let me go without pain control. That surgery was too major and he didn't feel that it would be right to not fill the script. So he said if we could pay the cash price(since the insurance wasn't covering it) and not push it through insurance he would fill it. He said it was not too early to fill at the insurance were basically being assholes. So we had to pay roughly 60$ when we shouldn't have. Insurance is silly.

The first two weeks I had a lot of rough moments. I tried to walk as much as I could but I was physically exhausted. Surgery takes sooo much out of you. More than people realize. I was on the morphine twice a day for one week before I transitioned off of that. A lot of the pain was from muscle spasms I was having. I'll stop here for now. Next entry will be about my setback.

One week post op incisions (the gray is surgical glue)

Read More

Hospital Part Duece...

By: brandy nicole on 3:34 PM

Yes... I realize I'm a terrible blogger. But hey, I hadn't been feeling that great. So let me just pick up where I left off shall we?

As I left off, my roomie was very loud and combative. Her mom had to stay with her all night, not that it did much good. About 8pm, my nurse came in and told me that they would soon be taking me to CT. She told me its routine and that my doctor likes to do it after surgery. I assumed that meant they'd be there soon...oh no....nobody arrived to take me to CT until 1:30 am in the morning, right when the roomie was falling asleep.

This caused a huge uproar. She was screaming obscenities at me and was not happy. But I couldn't be concerned with her. I had to be concerned with the fact that this was going to be the first time I was getting up, less then 12 hours after surgery. My night nurse, Mei (pronounced May), helped me stand. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I was also on the PCA. I basically did a stand and pivot to the transfer stretcher and Mei helped me put my legs in the bed and off to CT I went.

I wish I could say the CT Techs were as gentle, but they weren't. I offered to stand and pivot to their table but the opted that I scoot from my bed to their table. Which was extremely hard for me. I felt so heavy, and so weak. It took time but I made it. But since it took so long for me to scoot, they offered to let me stand pivot when it was time to stand up and transfer back to the transfer gourney. But they also decided they were going to help me sit up instead of letting me sit up on my own. They used the sheet as a tool and yanked me up with no warning. You CANNOT do that to someone who has had spine surgery. You just can't. I cried so bad. And they were like, oh did that hurt? Pardon my french, but no shit sherlock, of course it hurt. When I arrived back in my room, Mei helped me back into bed. Thank God for Mei. She was my best friend.

About 4am, my roomie and her mom decided it was time to wake up and had their lights and television on (rather loudly). I was having a hard time sleeping because I was having severe muscle spasms. Mei couldn't seem to find an order for a muscle relaxer. She said that was odd because people normally get them. Well I decided I wanted to get up and get into the chair because the bed was not comfortable. It was causing more pain. My muscle spasmsed so bad as we were getting me out of bed that I was crying uncontrollably. Bless Mei's heart, she finally got me in the chair and said she was going to find out the issue about my muscle relaxer. At the hospital, the doctor gives the nurses the orders to put in the computer. The day nurse didn't enter my valium order. It was in my physical chart, not the computer. I was supposed to be recieving valium every 6 hours. Mei apologized profusely for the day shift nurse's mishap, and immediately gave me a double dose (okayed by the doctor) and when that kicked in I was able to get sleep in the reclining chair with lots of pillows until morning rounds.

U of M is a huge teaching hospital so during morning rounds you end up talking to like 3 residents before you actually talk to your doctor. Before I even talked to a resident, my morning nurse came in and said she was pulling my PCA and my cath. I really wasn't given a choice. She did that and gave me a dose of oral pain meds and I ordered breakfast while waiting for the doctors. The first resident came in and just talked to about how I was doing and how she felt I was going to do well. She then asked because I was a young person and that young people tend to not like to stay in the hospital, if I wanted to go home that day. I honestly was kind of taken aback by that. My doctor had said I'd be in the hospital for at least three days and here some resident was asking if I wanted to come home when I hadn't even walked yet. I hadn't even gone to the bathroom yet as I had just had the cath pulled 1 hour prior to that talk. I told her I wasn't comfortable going home yet and she said that was okay.

Then my doctor came in to talk to me, showed me the CT and said everything looked good. He said that if I did well I'd probably go home the next day. After that talk, I decided it was time for me to try and walk. I decided to start with a trip to the bathroom where I wanted to change into my own comfy clothes (anyone will agree those hospital gowns are terrible). I had the same day nurse as I had the day before, and still hadn't seen a CNA on my unit at all....so I had assumed the nurse would help me get dressed since you cant bend/twist/or lift. Oh no. She just gave me my clothes, shut the door and left. I literally was like WHAT THE HELL? So, to this day I have no idea how I did it, but I got myself dressed and decided that I did not like the staff on this unit during the day and I was gonna make myself walk enough to where I could go home the next day. I wasn't gonna put up with another day of this, which I was so saddened by because I've never had a single bad experience with U of M until then.

I spent the majority of the day sitting in the recliner for a bit, walking, sitting, walking. I honestly probably over did it, but I wanted out of there. That evening I had a few visitors, including my best friend who drove three hours from Cleveland to see me. I then spent the night in the recliner because I couldn't sleep in the bed. I could turn over or "log roll" out of the bed. My lower back literally felt like I had a cinder block in it and I just couldnt do it. So I just slept in the chair. The next morning they asked me if I wanted to go home, and I was like yes.... lets get out of this place. So I was discharged on Saturday about 12pm. And I think we will end this here and start the next entry about being home. :)

Me freshly out of surgery

The day after surgery

Before the incision bandages came off

Read More

ive been screwed...literally :)

By: brandy nicole on 9:36 PM

Hey guys. I'm alive. I know it's been two weeks since my surgery but they've been rough. I'm going to blog about them. But I'll probably have to separate the posts. and I may not finish them all tonight considering its 1230 am and I just took a dose of pain meds, so if there are typos, please excuse me!

Let's start with the day of surgery.

My surgery was scheduled at 1130 am and I arrived at the University of Michigan Health System at 930 am. I got checked in and of course played the waiting game. I was called back to pre op about 1030 am where I got all hooked up to IV's and what not. Met with all the team and discussed what we were going to do and then just played the waiting game. Finally my super attractive anesthesiologist gave me the I don't care drugs and was having me breathe through a mask and then I woke up in recovery.

I wasn't in recovery long. In fact, I wasn't even in there long enough to have my parents come see me. They had given me fentanyl in the recovery room and apparently i must have told them i was still having pain because they asked me if i had a high pain med tolerance which i can sometimes but i dont remember answering. Then there was some sort of mix up and they realized I was supposed to be hooked up to a PCA. So they got the morphine PCA going and asked me if I was ready to go to my room and of course I was like uh yeah. Let's go.

So, I headed to my room and soon my parents were there. They got me all settled and I honestly felt pretty good, I'm sure that was the anesthesia though lol. They also had done a partial saddle block so it was hard for me to move and that scared me at first but once I realized what was going on I was okay.

I wasn't put on any diet restrictions, I was able to order dinner that night. But I honestly dont think I did. I vaguely remember my mom ordering me like vanilla pudding and string cheese and a tea. I just wasn't hungry. My parents told me the update system showed I actually didn't even start surgery until 130, apparently it takes a while to get your knocked out completely and properly positioned on the table because you fall asleep on your stretcher and they move you to the surgery bed onto your belly when you are asleep. My surgery ended around 430 and I was in my room at 6. My parents left about 8.

Thats when my roommate arrived. Oh dear. She came from the ICU. She apparently had been in the ICU for seizures and they had pumped her full of diff meds. I'm still not entirely convinced that she wasn't on other meds or dealing with a mental health issue (which is okay, please do not think im thinking negative on this). She was loud and combative. She thought we were all actors and that we were there to kill her. So her mother had to stay with her, which I preferred because she kinda scared me. I remember just trying to hit my button on my PCA and sleep.

I think we'll stop here and start day 2 in a new entry....

Read More

The Countdown is on

By: brandy nicole on 6:55 PM

Surgery is in three days. THREE DAYS. Can you believe it? Because I can't. I'm starting to get very nervous. I've had plenty of surgeries in my day, but they've all been outpatient and fairly minor, no hospitalization required.

I had my preop appointment on the 16th of April. It went well. They did a bunch of testing plus an EKG of my heart which of course all came out normal. I was kind of concerned about the EKG though because I do have a history of tachycardia of unknown origin (fast heartbeat). They explained my procedure and I thought I was going to be getting a PLIF (posterior interbody lumbar fusion) but I am getting a minimally invasive TLIF (transforaminal interbody fusion). Essentially this is still a posterior approach, but, with two small incisions instead of one large one. They also weave through the muscles of the back as apposed to cutting them. It will still be painful of course, but a little less than a PLIF.

The doctors still want me to be off work for 12 weeks.

I may or may not bring you an entry on Wednesday night before the surgery. If I don't, my next post will be sometime after surgery. I'll be sure to detail the whole experience. I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers and pieces of advice you guys have been giving me. I really do.

Cheers!
Brandy Nicole

Read More