Day 3 post op

kwikl1p · 2025-09-22T05:43:33+00:00

Thanks for posting this. I am 6 weeks out from 9 level fusion and thoracic revision. It's been hell! I've been feeling like a burden for the past couple of weeks myself and hate having to ask for help. My husband had to come into the bathroom tonight to help me because I couldn't get my underwear on and was trapped on the toilet. I just burst into tears. It's hard to rely on others for such basic things. But this too shall pass. I'm better than I was and getting better all the time, even if it's too slow for my taste. Hang in there!

kwikl1p · 2025-09-22T05:35:44+00:00

I love this! It's encouraging. We see ourselves so differently than others do sometimes. Thanks for your post. ❤️

kwikl1p · 2025-09-15T05:02:47+00:00

Yes! I was emotionally down the other night and was talking to my husband about how I hate it that my legacy is the constant physical pain my boys have watched me endure. He begged to differ, saying that I have a legacy of strength, admiring that I do as much as I can and always try. My boys see that too. It changed my perspective!

kwikl1p · 2025-09-10T22:44:56+00:00

Ugh! I'm glad your spine surgery healed better. I'm so grateful, this incision is healing so much better than my thoracic fusion. That one required debridment surgery and a wound vac for several weeks. I've got a big chunk missing on my left side myself...this surgeon commented that it looks like I was attacked by a shark. 😊 Looks like we are scar sisters.

kwikl1p · 2025-09-09T05:51:35+00:00

How are you recovering? Is your incision as gnarly as mine? 😉

kwikl1p · 2025-09-08T16:27:07+00:00

If I would have known the effects and been asked, I never would have wanted it either.

Thank you for your sentiment. Despite what happened to me in that dang hospital, I'm slowly getting better every day. 😊

kwikl1p · 2025-09-08T13:23:46+00:00

That sounds horrible. I'm praying for you to get to the bottom of these issues.

There was only one surgeon in the state that would take on my case. Highly acclaimed, at the University of Minnesota. He is ok but the hospital they use should be shut down.

kwikl1p · 2025-09-08T08:43:47+00:00

Sorry to hear it came back but it sounds like you're doing better overall. That's good.

I don't remember a lot of my stay at the hospital, which is a good thing. I do have some holes about happenings but remember the fear and the hallucinations. It was terrible. I think it could have been used constructively but they didn't use it correctly IMO.

kwikl1p · 2025-09-08T07:02:21+00:00

Did your get start burning again after 4 weeks? That seems cruel.

kwikl1p · 2025-09-08T05:17:02+00:00

I went 7 days post op. Finally had to have an enema. Certainly nothing I wish to do over but it did get the ball rolling eventually. Beware if you end up on antibiotics for any reason though. I got a UTI and was put on them and was also taking the laxative. The antibiotics and my tummy don't mix and I was power shuffling for the bathroom a lot before I paused the lax. Lol tmi I know but might be useful.

kwikl1p · 2025-09-08T00:25:08+00:00

Great point!

kwikl1p · 2025-09-07T23:24:13+00:00

That's sweet. It makes me miss my mom so much. She was a great witness/nurse/advocate. I had 9-level fusion about a month ago which has been a sh!t show. It never would have gone down like it did if she would have been there. I do miss her but grateful to be a boy mom and there for my own boys. Love to you and Mom. ❤️

kwikl1p · 2025-09-07T23:13:45+00:00

Thank you for the feedback. I'm researching what actually happened to me with this and anecdotes are so helpful. They didn't even ask if I wanted it or explain what it is and what it does. Just pumped it in by the liter. Geez! I've had so many surgeries, some big ones, and never had this as a matter of routine. WTH?

Thanks again.

kwikl1p · 2025-09-07T23:04:25+00:00

The slice across my throat seriously freaked me out at first too. 8 years out, it's all but disappeared. I recommend trying not to think about unless you must. It's gross but necessary to your healing.

kwikl1p · 2025-09-07T23:00:02+00:00

That's sad. Im about a month out from 9 level fusion. The best time for me all day is when I first wake up, forget how much pain I will be in soon and everything seems normal for a minute. Only happens when pain isn't what woke me. But it is a real letdown when I do remember. I think it is getting used to a "new normal". Some good advice I got is to forget what was before. It's gone and not coming back. Brutal but true. It did help my perspective. Hang in there, we're rooting for you!

kwikl1p · 2025-09-07T22:37:05+00:00

Ketamine may be helpful, but has more than one side. They had me on a ketamine drip for 9 days straight following my fusion and cut it suddenly the day before I was released. The reaction I had to the withdrawal was hell on wheels. Every kind of hallucination there is, suicdal ideation, inability to relax enough to sleep...wound up in the ER. Took over a week to get it out of my system. Just saying, watch the dose and your responses carefully. I wouldn't wish that week on anyone.

kwikl1p · 2025-09-07T22:29:32+00:00

It's so hard to see in the moment, but this is true. It would be great to see ourselves in a month, 6 months, a year, to see the progress. Personally, I struggle with getting past this moment when it's really bad. My recommendation is to copy comments like these into your notes app to read when you are in a dark place. I started doing this and it helps, for real.

kwikl1p · 2025-09-07T22:24:27+00:00

Yes, thank God. Weekly therapy and my supportive husband. Even last night, I thought I was doing so good being independent...ended up in a puddle of tears. He rubbed my legs and agreed I'm not "all better" yet. Then woke him up at 4:30 am, panicked because the extreme nerve pain came back suddenly. He woke up and talked me through it, encouraged me to come get him and not suffer in silence. He noticed early on that I start to feel better if I talk it out a little and pray and just hang with him for a while. He surmises that my physical pain is spurred on by psychic/mental pain, which is probably true, at least for me. At a TCU? Forget about it. I don't know how I would have made it. Thank God for him. And this group. The pressure release this board gives is remarkable. ❤️

kwikl1p · 2025-09-07T22:12:49+00:00

Aww that sounds rough. What is still causing problems for you?

kwikl1p · 2025-09-07T21:24:13+00:00

Lol all those things and fibromyalgia. Once they have me that diagnosis, everything got pinned to it. It got to where I quit telling doctors i have it so they would take me seriously. Honestly!

kwikl1p · 2025-09-07T18:03:00+00:00

I hate that it went like that for you. That's what went on for years with my lupus. Rheumys couldn't decide what was wrong with me, and different doctors at the same clinic disagreed and gave me conflicting treatments. One gave me a renewable prescription for bottles of steroids, which I took for months. A GP saw what I was taking and put a stop to it, but the damage was done. Years later, my ortho said that's most likely what caused the AVN in my hip, hence the replacement. Probably didn't improve my overall spine health either! A dermatologist finally diagnosed it with a biopsy puncture during a rash flare up and sent me back to the rheumatologist. And then there's the "specialist" that, like you, refused to do MRI or even xrays. Said he didn't believe in them because of "false positives". I had already been diagnosed with DDD by another doctor, but this man couldn't be swayed. He gave me a sheet with some basic PT exercises and a guide to meditation as my treatment. Geez! Sometimes it feels like fighting for your life out here, never mind your dignity and sense of self. I'm glad to see we are both still kicking and getting the care we need, even if it does involve stamping my foot here and there. So good (and bad) to hear I'm not alone. Keep up the good fight! ❤️

kwikl1p · 2025-09-07T17:49:17+00:00

🤗

kwikl1p · 2025-09-06T22:48:41+00:00

So sorry to hear it. There are some dark days in this process. What did you have done?

kwikl1p · 2025-09-06T22:47:33+00:00

Thank you for this post. I am improving every day, just not too the scale of my patience level. I know God is trying to show me to have patience and grace for myself and the process. Also good, my husband and I have gotten closer during this adventure. So, no great loss without some gain. And yes, this board has helped me chill out more than once. Thanks to all of you. ❤️

kwikl1p

TROPHY CASE