Sorry for the delay. Adjusting steadily to a new environment and changing physical conditions has put me a little behind. This post should be full of information about what I'm feeling, what to expect, and best of all - what assistance is required. The time frame covers the stay at my friends' (Paul & Marie) place here in Ottawa, as the doctor wanted me to stick close by until the followup appointment tomorrow. At that time I will have the darn staples removed and head on back home to Belleville. The visit will likely include a blood test and an X-ray just to make sure things are healing OK.
So just a quick summary of how I've been getting along. The first day or so home I used a walker to help shuffle around, and required a cane to assist getting up and down stairs. For the next 5 days I used only the cane, and following that I only required the cane for stairs. Unless I am tired I can move around on a single floor without a cane.
Both walking and sitting contribute a fair amount of fatigue to the surgical site, I suppose stressing the screws, rods and implants. It is tough to sit for more than an hour without de-stressing the back by laying down for a while. They recommend only sitting for a half hour at a time, but you can play it by ear. Small amounts of movement and stress is conducive to bone growth, but too much can set you back somewhat - it's a fine balance. You can't lay on your stomach, only your sides with a cushion between your legs/knees, or on your back with your legs slightly bent so the lower back remains flat against the mattress. Get used to it, this, along with the other uncomfortable stuff is yours to live with until the brace is removed or the doctor says otherwise.
When I was discharged, it was with a prescription for regular Tylenol, and enough Dilaudid (a low-dose morphine pill) for about 5 days. So after last Monday I had run out of any real pain relief medication. Words of advice, stock up on Tylenol #3 prescriptions from your family doctors before embarking on a similar journey. There was and still is enough pain & discomfort to make it difficult to sleep, and you need your sleep. Fortunately I had a few Percosets left over from the previous summer which also helped out. I don't think the doctor was being strict, I think he just forgot that I was from out of town and would not have been able to see my family doctor for refills. I have found that regular old muscle relaxants are helping out with the muscle fatigue in the lower back and buttocks. I can take pretty musch as much regular Tylenol as needed short of bothering my stomach, but it doesn't really do much except get rid of my headache.
Getting efficiently and comfortably through each day requires some planning and assistance.
I don't know about the rest of you, but my bowels start rumbling first thing in the morning. You can't really use a bedpan because that would entail arching your back and twisting and bending - all are strict no-nos. Nope - you have to get to the bathroom and use a commode. Oh, first things first - you must always wear your brace while out of bed, so get used to putting it on and off - quickly! By the way, here is my brace. It extends from just below breast bone down to the tail bone.
For those that don't know, a commode is a device that fits over the toilet seat and usually has handles. A commode helps in two ways - it gives you handles to assist you in getting up and down, and just as important, gets your butt up higher than your knees, which is a lot less stressful on the back. Some info about a commode for guys only. It is really difficult to have a whiz (cuz there's no room to put it!!) while seated on a commode. Trust me, once you sit down to service your bowel, your bladder can often want to join in the party, both before and after. Solution is next. Here meanwhile, is a commode:
The solution, as promised is a plastic urinal. Then why am I showing you two you might ask? Because you don't really want to be lugging this thing back and forth from bedside to toilet every time you need to go potty. No - it's hard enough to walk around let alone carry junk with you, which already may be very full. Get two - they are only about 7 bucks each, and can come in handy next time you are sick, camping, at the cottage or hunt camp, or just generally feeling lazy. Actually, I only purchased one and the nurse sent me home with the hospital supplied one. I am guessing because they are plastic they can't disinfect them so they just throw them out.
So this was the easy part, getting there, getting settled in and doing your business. Skip the next paragraph if you are squeamish. I suppose you wouldn't even be reading this blog if you were now, would you? Can you imagine what the the next item is useful for? Go on, take a guess and remember the context.
That's right - they are BBQ tongs, craftily re-purposed to a handy toilet aid. Remember when I mentioned swallowing your modesty and having a cheery nurse help you wipe up after potty. Unless you have a Platinum medical plan with unlimited coverage and in-home nursing assistance, then you will need one of these. You can get them at the Dollar Store for about uhmmm - a dollar. Or you can go out and get the Buckingham EasyWipe Toilet Aid for about $40 - your choice. Anyway, get a regular pair of tongs as above, and do a little bending so they form a bit of a curve, and Bob's your uncle! Bundle a little toilet paper, clamp it in the tongs and ... well you know the rest.
Throughout the night you find you probably want and need to drink a lot of water. You are not that flexible while lying down, so I found that a sippy-cup style water bottle container, pictured below, was ideal. Water can be drank from virtually any position in bed, and saves having to uncomfortably contort yourself to take a drink. Keep this on the bedside table along with urinal, tissue, meds etc. because all are needed to be close at hand at short notice. You might as well keep an entertainment device and or phone close as well. I found when I was having problems sleeping, which is about every 2 hours every night, these items kept me occupied until I was enough pain-free or drowsy to drift off again.
An extremely handy device is a grabber. Pictured below are the working and control ends of the one I have, the style which I highly recommend. The jaws on this model have nice rubber gripper pads, nice little curves and angles for managing a variety of object shapes, and a great little hook on one side which can easily snag thing like towels, pants etc. The handle is much easier to use than the conventional pliers style, and this whole device is very solid with a strong grip.
Just a few more things to show you. When your dressing comes off at home after a several days, you are left with quite a zipper of slightly protruding staples. Since the incision site has shrunk down from its initial swelling I was left with 27 staples, some of which extend about 1/16" above the flesh. I don't need to say that these catch on clothing, like the shirt between your skin and the brace, and the movement can be quite irritating. Heather found this dressing strip in the pharmacy, that can be cut into many pieces, and applied over/around the staples, to act like a friction buffer. We pull it off every night in bed so that the skin can breathe, and it really works well.
OK - that's enough for now. I'll finish up the aids, tricks and tips next post.
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