Scoliosis Surgery Recovery at Home

June 20:

0515 up and working on my blog + reading.  Feel pretty good except for some pain in my lower left back.  Also there still seems to be some loss of sensation / numbness in my left quadriceps.  Hopefully this will improve as I heal.  If not, it’s no big deal.  Hoping to get the replacement hard drive I need for my main workstation today so I can get down to replacing the drive and transferring the data.  Much easier to work from my office rather than my MacBook.

From June 21 on:

I’ve been walking with my wife every morning for 25-30 minutes or so.  We get out of the house every day and go somewhere for errands, visiting with friends, dinner with friends, etc.  At my insistence I cajoled my doctor into ordering rehab / PT for me, as I felt like I just needed to do something in terms of physical conditioning and now I’m  going to Baylor Rehab in Frisco 3 times a week.  I love it.  It’s hard work and really shows me how far I have to go in order to get back to where I came from 10+ years ago.  But that is absolutely OK.  I like working out.  I love the effect of Pilates and I’m really glad I instituted some Pilates into my daily stretching almost a year ago.  I’m convinced that had a big impact on how fast I healed up after surgery.

My pain medication use is very low.  Some days I can get away with one Norco.  On bad days I’ve been known to need 3 or 4 of them.  But that’s after overdoing it the day before…  Generally I take one or 2 a day.  Trying to keep this to a minimum as I’d like to get off all the narcotics in no more than 3 months.  Everyone needs a goal and that’s mine.  Nothing would make me happier than to no longer be living on narcotics.  At least now I’m attentive and wide awake all the time.  I’m not drifting off when company is over and falling asleep in front of the TV.

I’m still very light for my new height at 166 lbs.  That will go up another 10 lbs or so as I become better conditioned and can add muscle mass.  But it feels wonderful to weigh what I did in my Sophomore year in high school.

July 5 update:
According to my Physical Therapist, we start losing muscle mass at 3 days of hospitalization.  I was in for 6 days.   It takes roughly 6 weeks of conditioning before I will start to see any muscle mass gains.  Up until that time, the brain spends that time re-routing it’s signals to make the best use of the available muscle.

When I show up for PT, I arrive in workout attire, as I expect to work up a decent sweat and intend to work hard to get back to the condition I was in before all this started.  This will not be easy, but I’m not willing to sacrifice any functionality where I personally am in a position to improve the results.  We also walk at least 1.5 miles every day and I do my PT exercises, ride my recumbent bike and do upper body routines at home.

I’ve also found that the more active I become and the more I work out, the more I find new pain developing here and there.  It was confirmed by my Physical Therapist that this is to be expected, so I’m not concerned.

I’ll sure be happy to get all these infernal staples out of my belly tomorrow…

July 6 update:
Just had my first follow-up appointment with the doctor and I’m far ahead of typical scoliosis surgery patients.  Great news.  I’m cleared to drive, travel and do most of the things I need to do.  Yippeeeee!

CMF Bone Stimulator

Today I received my very own case-o-bone-stimulatorto take home and use every day for the next Nine Months.  Fascinating device – easy to use – 30 minutes a day and you wouldn’t even know it was working if it were not for the countdown on the controller display.

So I just set a reminder on my iPhone to alert me every morning at 6:00 am and off we go.

I also had a meeting with my pain management provider and requested to come off my regiment of painkillers.  I’d like  to get all of this out of my system and get back to being “me” again.  It’s been 8 years of living on painkillers (since the COX-2 inhibitors were taken off the market in 2004).  So now I’m on a reduced dosage and in 3 weeks I’ll be off the time-release product altogether!  Apparently it’s uncommon to have patients requesting to be weaned off the narcotics.  Seems it’s frequently the other way around.  Go figure.

And now for the real show-and-tell.  The before and after X-Rays.

The image on the left was taken one year ago.

The one on the right was taken today.

WPH Spine Xray. Before and After Scoliosis Surgery

July 9 update:
I find it interesting that after not driving a car for 30 days, I notice some stiff muscles in my pectorals / armpits after driving for awhile.  Curious that those muscles lose their capacity after such a short time of not performing a routine function.

I also find my stamina is improving considerably.  I don’t tire as easily now, but I’m still not seeing or feeling any significant change in my muscles in spite of fairly heavy workouts.  Apparently that will take another several weeks.

Having 2 new high-energy and very affectionate kittens in the house is very therapeutic – and amusing.  They have appropriated my desk chair as their mapping spot:

Kittens on my Chair

July 30 update:

It has been nearly 2 full months since my surgery and now comes the fun part.  Detox.

I’ve been working out a lot in PT and regaining some strength and stamina.  I feel just fine – more or less like the “old me” except for my stamina.  If we’re out too long and I’m on my feet or driving too long, I’ll “hit the wall” with little to no warning.

It’s really not bad.  I no longer wear a back or neck brace and  people that don’t know me would never guess I’ve just had major surgery.

But back to the topic at hand.

Detox

For anyone who has been on a serious pain management protocol for any time, you will be dependent on these drugs to keep you pain free.  There will come a time when you will want to be rid of these toxic chemicals.  It could be post-surgery when you know you shouldn’t need them anymore.  It may be when you realize you’ve graduated to addiction.  It may be when you’re cut-off from either your Doctor, Pharmacy or Family as a result of your addiction.

Keep in mind this important fact:  Dependency is unavoidable.  Addiction is optional.

If you are over-using your meds to get high – you’re an addict.  Period.

The best way to eliminate your dependency or addiction to narcotics is to wean yourself off slowly, reducing your usage every week until you’re clean.  You will still go through some real Detox.  This is unavoidable.  Your body WANTS these drugs now.  It LIKES them a lot.

Detox is the best gift you can give yourself after years of pain and medication.  The world will be more vibrant.  You will have more energy.  The “old you” will re-materialize and your family will breathe a collective sigh of relief.

A plethora of good information exists on the Internet to help you with getting clean.  Your pain management Doctor should be your first stop for help.  They can put you on a schedule to wean you off the drugs.  They can also prescribe some non-addictive drugs to help with the detox.

The protocol below is one used by a commercial detox clinic operated by a family member.  It may be educational for you:

Opiate withdrawl protocol.

• 750 mg. methacarbamol (Robaxin) 1 every 6 hours for muscle cramps/aches.
• 50 mg Hydroxyzine PAM ( Vistaril) 1 every 6 hours for anxiety.
• 800 mg Ibuprofen 1 every 8 for pain.
• 50 mg Trazodone 1 at night for sleep.
• Clonidine 0.1 mg for anxiety (hold off if Blood pressure is 90/60 or lower)

This is all guidelines based off any allergies or other medications prescibed. Check with a physician.  We prefer using holistics for sleep, like Gaba, and Melatonin.

There are a couple of popular formulas for detox as well

A forum post with the Thomas Detox Recipe

Another forum post for Unassisted Opiate Withdrawal Protocol

The Waismann Method for Rapid Detox

My personal observations:

The worst thing about detox is RLS or Restless Leg Syndrome.  I'm sure you'e seen TV ads for this and snickered as did I - right up until I felt like all my nerves were "live" and my legs wanted to run out of the bed, dragging me behind,

• This is a classic symptom of detox.
• So is having the shakes, sweats, always feeling cold or alternating rapidly cold to hot.
• Then there’s the sneezing. Seriously. Sneezing. Loads of fun.
• And then the runny nose, aches and pains and all the other fun tricks your body plays on you just to get you to take another pill.
• You will feel like crawling out of your own skin.
• Many people describe detox as having flu-like symptoms.
• It’s not a lot of fun – but it will pass.
• Stay hydrated.  Drink as much water and sport drinks as you can hold.
• Green tea is supposed to aid in detoxing – and it tastes good.
• Exercise as hard as you can.
• Sweat out the toxins in a sauna or hot epsom salts bath.
• Watch movies – it’s very distracting.
• And you will feel so much better than you have in months – or years.

Unless you have the willpower of a Monk in an all-girl school, I highly recommend flushing all your meds before you start detox.  Success is much harder than failure and if you simply cannot backslide, the odds of coming out the other end "clean" is much better.  And besides...  Do you really want to ever go through detox again?  I know I don't.

If any of this is helpful to you, or if something important to you is missing, by all means, leave  a comment.