FastDay User Blogs

I did have major surgery, honest, you wouldn't think it to see me the day after surgery though. I had a disk removed from my neck as the disk was crushing my spinal cord, and had a bone graft taken from my pelvis to pck out the space and fuse to the rest of the spinal and finally the two vertebrae and the graft were bolted together. I was fully expecting to be bed ridden for days and on the sofa at home for weeks. But I wasn't. I went in on the Tuesday at 7am, booked in etc and on the ward later, then down to theater at 1pm. I came to in the recovery room and was instantly offered a cup of tea. I was shocked, I had never been offered a cuppa after surgery before and when I went up to the ward I was given my dinner straight away as well. There were some post op niggles to do with my water works, but it turns out it was a result of the nerve blocker they had used. The next day I was on crutches hobbling around the ward and was so well I had my X-rays at 5pm and was discharged before 6pm. I was home by 7:30pm. So 36 hours in hospital and pain free (apart from the pelvis pain) for the first time in 2 years. I was like a spring chicken.

By the end of the first week of 'resting' I was stir crazy, so I decided to sort my patio out. My husband is in a wheelchair for most of the time, our so called patio area was only 4 slabs wide with a steeply sloping lawn running to it. It was impossible for hubby to move around outside when the table and chairs were out, we desperately needed a bigger patio area. I had been planning it since we moved in, so it was time to implement it with the help of my two sons that is. The first thing I noticed is that even with the huge amount of moving I was doing, lots of digging, pushing, pulling, bending , well you get the drift. The only pain I was in was normal muscle soreness from doing a new type of workout. There was none of the curling up on the sofa crying in pain, just a 'ooh, I shouldn't have done so much today' type of pain. The second was that even though I could scramble all over the garden, push wheelbarrows, twist to throw shovels of soil here there and everywhere, I couldn't walk! I just couldn't and still can't walk any kind of distance, the damage to the pelvis (akin to a small fracture I was told) and the muscles in that area mean the muscles give up when I try to walk. I just go from striding to shuffling baby steps in a short amount of time. More walks to the corner shop are needed to get the muscles working again I think. Right then, I'm rambling again. So this is what I did. Roll the pictures.

If you click on the link, you can then click on the side arrow of the picture to see the rest of the album. I hope I have arranged them all in the correct order...... which I haven't done, so click to the left to see the pictures in the correct order.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k255/ ... f32e62.jpg

The remodelling and space making has worked, my hubby has been in the garden more since it was finished, than he has done in the 3 years previously.