My Racing Stripes

Warning:  Surgical aftermath ahead!!

 

I'll write my post first and then if you choose not to see my new racing stripes, you don't have to.  (It's not that horrible....just some incisions closed with super-glue, but if you have a weak stomach, at least you've been forewarned!)

 

First off, thanks for the prayers after my last couple of posts.  It's been a rough few days with lots of fears and anxiety and pain.  I'm still not pain-free by any stretch, but I'm trying to just keep going and look for even small improvements.  I was able to sleep pretty well last night, so that seems like progress.

 

My left leg is still not very strong.  I can use it, but it doesn't like to cooperate fully and when pairing that with a very painful left foot, it's hard to walk well.  I can hobble around without the walker since I know my leg will hold me, but it's slow going for me, which I hate.  I need to get out somewhere and actually log some distance, but I'm not sure where.  A family outing to Walmart while mom walks behind her walker up and down the aisles just doesn't seem all the fun to me.  Then again, I haven't left the house (other than the hospital) since last Tuesday, so I'm getting a bit stir-crazy.  You can only make so many laps with the walker from the couch to the kitchen and back again before extreme boredom sets in.

 

And now I thought I'd post (mostly for my own records) how my surgical incision looks about 4 days-post minimally invasive TLIF surgery.  (I'm also posting this for anyone who, like me a few days/weeks ago, was searching for just how bad this surgery might be.  It was so helpful to find a few personal accounts on blogs and such that detailed exactly what the surgery and recovery were like.)

 

So without further ado (and with adequate warning!!), my new racing stripes:  The middle scar represents the first two surgeries (microdiscectomies) and the two ugly incisions are the new ones from 4 days prior to this picture.  They are super-glued together and are longer than the previous ones but should heal about as well once all the glue works itself off.