All Fixed Up

My back is fixed! As you know if you’ve been reading my blog awhile, I had increasing back pain last year and was diagnosed with spondylolisthesis. When I got to the point where it even hurt before I got out of bed in the morning, I was ready to get it fixed. After a bad experience with foot surgery – something that took two years to be resolved to the point where it felt better after the surgery than before – I was leery. But it hurt all the time! I went through with the surgery on January 5. I can’t believe that I feel so good now, and I’ve felt this good from about the two month point. Two months! Now my muscles are gradually getting back to normal and will continue to gain strength and functionality for the rest of the year. I have only low level pain, and that’s only when I’m tired at the end of the day. If I lay down to rest, it actually helps. And I’m on no pain medication at all. I really think the most difficult part of the recovery (after I left the hospital) was withdrawals from hydrocodone. So, definitely a success all around! And cool x-ray pictures. It’s obvious which is the before and the after – note how my spine was shifted and stuck in place with screws. When it was shifted, I got taller, nerves got unpinched, and the cracks in that one section of spine were able to heal. The screws look so huge I keep thinking I should be able to feel them through my skin, but no.