My Impatience bit me

Well, things were going fine, until I decided to over exercise. Not only that I exercised in a posture not correct. Bottom line, I am in week 5 of a 6 week healing process in the spine. My exertion caused muscle spasms in the back which compresses on the spine, which irritates the healing and the nerves involved. I have more numbness now returned on my right side from knee down to leg, and as a result, the body defenses this by inhibiting some muscles to I don't do more damage. Basically, I feel like I just went backwards two weeks. Lesson to learn.....don't over work and be patient. I am in some pain, but hope that as the spasms work themselves out with the help of my therapists, the pain will stop soon.

My 3rd Week

So, things are going well. My strength is noticeably increased, at least to some degree, each day. One thing I have come to realize is that although spasticity of the muscles has been reduced/eliminated, the muscles themselves remain tight and weak. I think I clearly indicated the weak element prior, but only am recently understanding the tightness issue. Spasticity elimination DOES NOT equal muscle relaxation. It allows the muscles to be stretched beyond their usual length that the spasticity kept them at and thereby to be strengthened increasingly as well. Sam, a member of my PT team had a great analogy to explain this.... "It's like a braid. When you take the elastic out the braid doesn't just fall out on its own. You have to slowly unravel and unwind the braid for it to loosen up." (Yes, Sam is female, using a female example :)) However, this is not an instant process, as my impatient nature is discovering. Also, core stability plays such an important role in not only walking patterns, but spinal protection. I have to spend much, much more time focusing on core/pilates-type activities. This will help keep my spine in a more neutral position due to the hyper extension (lordosis) in my back brought on about by years of compensation and pulling of other muscles on the pelvis. This is a very common phenomena of CP patients over time Again, as I engage in more core- stabilizing activities, this should become habit to my abdominals and they should do a more effective job of protecting and keeping the spine in as neutral and safe position as possible. It is my hope that this will resolve my chronic low back pain in the long run, which is a result of the poor spinal alignment. So, it is becoming more and more obvious why so much post-op therapy is required of patients considering to have the surgery. There really are so many things to work on and improve upon. Rest assured, as I continue to learn more and experience more, my optimism for the long-term remains high despite that my short-term expectations have fallen short due to my own unrealistic projections.

Til next time!

Ken

My 2nd week

So, I know it's been a while. Tomorrow marks week two of discharge (from the hospital, no infections going on here or anything like that). The last week has been hard to describe. I still feel areas of numbness in the feet and legs. The daily therapy is going well, but in my mind things are moving much slower than expected. However, the "baby step" process of retraining neuro-brain communication is still the best practice in the long run. I am one to get moving fast, but the wise PT team keeps me moving progressively and sequentially, a longer but certainly more worthwhile sequential regimen in the long term.

So, my feelings this point are a mixed bag of impatience, optimism, and seeing an opportunity to finally slow down for real in life. Being one that likes to always be on the go, to be busy with a full schedule of responsibilities, it is certainly a hard adjustment not doing much outside of exercise and resting. My back incision still has healing to do, and I have to realize that rest is best at this point.

My pre-conceived timeline of milestones based on other patient's experiences has to be thrown out the window at this point. My body is unique with its developmental strengths and weaknesses and comparing to others is not wise.

The most pain is felt in the middle of the night. My PT equates this to daily muscular training which in all honesty, I've never done, at least not correctly with muscle firing in correct sequences. So, sleep is bad, but pain meds are good. I usually only wake up once, take my pills and am good til morning. Be sure that I am not over-working. I have a morning routine of 20 mins, my daily therapy visit of one hour, then another evening routine of 20mins.

I am feeling stronger, but still using the walker. It is too easy at this point to let the body go back into old habits, which is counter-productive to this whole process. So, I purposely use the walker and purposely move slow to retrain the body through clear, precise feedback. It really is a game of re-wiring the system. It will be, as expected, a long process.

I appreciate all the comments and emails, I do read them all! It is not easy to respond personally to all of them, which is why this blog was created in the first place...to keep communication open to all those adoring fans in one central location.

So, in conclusion, although I do not see drastic changes, those who treat me do. They are who I must trust over my own impatient need to be self-ambulatory after two weeks of major spinal surgery. I am curious to compare these thoughts to those of next week.

Thanks for reading and for the thoughts, prayers, and good wishes!

Ken

My Latest

So, as expected, this is when the real work begins, in daily rehab. My legs are still numb at this point, which has been described as "normal, lasting several weeks to months" (what an encouraging timeline, eh?) I still feel very unsteady on my feet, without the walker. It has only been one week since discharge, but I would have liked to have seen more noticeable improvements as several of my SDR patients have been back to work within 1 month of surgery. I definitely feel the weakness in the muscles as expected, especially my quads, hamstrings, and calves. I especially feel muscle sorenes at night, which I find odd, since in my mind, I'm not doing that much in the day. Alas, new muscles must be working probably for their first time, so I can see the logic in that, I suppose. PT has been helpful, although I only have had three appointments so far. This is the point where my innate impatience starts to get the best of me. I am anxiously awaiting the numbness to stop and the walking to become more independent ASAP. However, I can hear all the cliche' responses of "It's only been a week, give it time." And I will since my ultimate goal of returning to work is still 8 weeks away. That's all for now!

My Wednesday thru Friday

First, thanks to all of you for your comments, prayers, and thoughts. I have not updated in a while because well, quite frankly, I'm exhausted! Forgive the brief synopsis, but it's the most efficient way of keeping everyone informed.

Wednesday--discharged, flew home with my brother, arrived at mom's at 10:30 and went to sleep. I am on Percacet, Hydrocodone for pain which helps. The most pain is from the back incision site which runs three inches long and a quarter inch wide from L1 to L2 vertebral space.

Thursday--slept in till around 11. Feel tired and groggy from the meds. Starting to use the walker more efficiently, I refuse to sit in the wheelchair anymore, pointless and backwards in my mind. Took some laps around the house on the walker, took a nap. Went to first outpatient PT session at 5:30pm. PT folks glad to see me. Got baseline measurements and began focusing on walking properly with straighter, more fluid gait pattern and heel-toe contact synergystic movements. This is my homework for the weekend.

Generally, I tire easily, my head is groggy and my back pain is present always. There is a large degree of numbness in my legs which I am told will slowly dissipate over time.

All being said, I feel I am right on track, considering today is my 4th day out of bed, and I look forward to the sun coming out here in Buffalo so I can get outslide and walk. The limited space of my mom's living room will surely start to leave tred marks if I can't get out soon!! :)

I feel all the love and support of family, friends, even some new followers who I assume are potential SDR candidates.

Till next time...


Ken