Back Surgery Recovery Update

Due to special request, another update on the progress of back surgery. It seems kind of hard to believe, but it is very difficult to monitor or explain the degree to which I am healing.

Before surgery, I was having constant pain and cramping in my left leg. Most alarming was that the muscles in calf were beginning to atrophy due to pinch nerves in my back. These symptoms are about 90% better. However, after shorts walks my left leg is much more sore than it should be and this is very worry some.

While my leg pain has improved since surgery, my back pain is actually worse now than it was before surgery. It has been three months since the surgery so it is not unusual to still be in more pain than before surgery. Back surgery can take a long time to heal. For some, it takes a full year.

Since surgery my pain has slowly (very slowly) improved. The improvement comes weekly rather than daily. The first two months after surgery my improvement was measured by how much less pain pills I needed each day. I started by taking 2 Norco (super strength vicodin) very four hours, both night and day. Today I am taking about four over a 24 hour period (two during the day, one late at night and at about 4 am). I also take a muscle relaxer at bedtime.

I have been at this frequency for about the past month. My general pain level has also been about the same for the past month. But this doesn’t mean I haven’t been improving. Improvement is now measured by increase in activity. So a month ago, I my pain level was about the same as it is today, but I was spending most of my day lying on the couch watching television. I am now back to work and getting out of the house much more. I never know what type of activity will set my back off and get the pain going.

I still haven’t started physical therapy yet. My doctor wants the bone between my two vertebrae to be better grown before starting. I am going to the gym a few days a week to talk on the treadmill and light swimming.