Post-surgical Update

I'm home recovering, and I thought I'd take a moment to update everyone on my recovery.

My recovery has been going phenomenally well. I haven't been experiencing much pain at all. Although I was on Dilaudid for the first couple of days, I didn't really use it much after the first 24 hours.

After they took me off the Dilaudid, they allowed me to take vicodin on an as-needed basis, which wasn't much. I came home on Friday and, although I was given a prescription of vicodin, I haven't needed to use them at all.

I still can't walk completely upright and that will take a few weeks before I'm completely recovered in that aspect, but I feel great, and I make a little progress each day.

My experience in the hospital was a little different this time because I had asked Cathy to come stay with me after I got home from the hospital rather than staying with me while I was still in. Last time, I had someone with me the whole time, but this time, I was mostly on my own. The hospital staff was incredible though.

I had a guided imagery CD that I listened to religiously after surgery. The CD was called Preparing for Surgery and was broken into three parts:

• Preparing for a successful surgery, which you listen to the days leading up to your surgery
• Preparing on the day of surgery, which, obviously, you listen to the day of surgery
• Healing well after surgery, which you listen to during your recovery

The last time I had surgery, I used the first part a great deal, but didn't use the second part at all and didn't use the third part very much. This time, I listened to the first part a little bit before surgery, but listened to the second part on the morning of my surgery and listened to the third part religiously every night ever since I had my surgery.

I really attribute that CD to how well I'm recovering. I've had almost no pain, compared to my first surgery in which I had a little more difficulty with pain. And this surgery was supposed to be the more difficult one. I think it will still take me longer to recover because I can't straighten up completely for a while, but the pain is significantly less. I would highly recommend this CD to anyone having surgery.

I also wanted to let people know that you needn't worry about disturbing me if you want to call me and see how I'm doing. I didn't get many calls or visitors in the hospital this time, although my hospital stay was quite a bit longer than the first one. I think it's because people didn't want to disturb me in case I was napping or not feeling well. I can only speak for myself in this scenario, so if you have a loved one going into the hospital for any length of time, I would recommend talking to them about this beforehand so you know how they'll feel about it. For me, I looked forward to hearing from people. The days in the hospital were long and they all bled into one another. Hearing from friends and family is really all I had to look forward to while I was there, so the days without many visitors or phone calls were especially long days for me.

And, now that I'm home, I'm doing much better and for the last few days and the next week, I will have someone with me most of the time, so I won't be lonely. But, if you want to know how I'm doing, please feel free to call me. When I'm sleeping and I don't want to be disturbed, I turn my phone ringer to silent, so you won't wake me up. And those phone calls (or emails) are the way that I know that you care how I'm feeling, so please don't worry about disturbing me. During difficult times, I would far rather be disturbed than be left alone.

Well, my laptop battery is about to run out. Thanks to everyone for your warm wishes, your prayers, and your positive energy. All of that has also played a big role in my recovery.

Thanks.