So, things didn't work out the way they were supposed to. Thursday I go online to register myself for the 5k and there is a big notice that says that the location of the race has been changed to Houston. This put a huge damper on things and I decided not to register. First of all, the plan was to take the kids and my parents with me that morning to the original location, La Centerra, here in Katy and have them go to breakfast at Panera while I go on my walk. After which they would join me at the finish line for photo op and whatnot. Well, the new location was at a park. A park with no shelter, and definitely no nice place to have breakfast. that would have meant that I'd have to go all by myself, walk a 5k, and then have nothing, but a bib to show for it. I wasn't about to take my kids out in the morning in the cold to sit out there for an hour. So I was mad, and my plans were ruined. That being said, I decided it doesn't matter. Bottom line is I walked a 5k on my own at 25 days post op, and I am going to try and get the proof to upload to this.
I have reached my one month mark and could not be any more pleased. I remember the day of surgery I kept thinking to myself, I wish I could fast forward this month. Knowing that one month mark would be a turning point and I'd be able to do more. I was never expecting that I'd be doing things at two weeks that I thought I'd be doing at a month and that I would be pretty close my totally normal world at one month. Just this Saturday, I took the kids all by myself to the mall where we walked around and went to Bass Pro Shops to ride all the boats and off-road vehicles. Then we went to the park where we walked around a lake looking at the catfish, played, and then enjoyed a picnic lunch together. In all, I had them out, by myself, for three hours that morning and we had such a good time. It was nice to have them all to myself again for the first time in a while. Lyla, age 2, got mad at me just once when I told her I could not pick her up and push her in the swing. Other than that, my very independent babies did very well knowing my limitations.
I have also hit the gym again. I couldn't wait any longer, and am back at it just about every day. My parents have a gym in house so I don't have to go far. I have been doing the elliptical for 30-40 minutes at a time. I put the resistance way up and I don't use my arms, and so I don't put any stress at all on my healing back. I have also been doing 3 pound weights with just a ton of repetition. I can only do biceps and triceps at this time though because those are the only two muscles I can work in my arms without causing strain on my back muscles. My back muscles just aren't ready for that yet. Then I do about a million squats with help from the wall and yoga ball. So I alternate between a gym day and a walking day.
All pain is essentially gone, and there are times when I actually forget about my new back until I try to do something I can't do, like bend. I am taking no pain medication now, not even tylenol, and I'm feeling great. If I could have looked into the future and seen how well I'm doing post surgery, and I would have spent have the time I did worrying about this procedure. Everything I read did nothing more than terrify me into believing this may quite possibly be the end of my normal life for me. It was few and far between where I read something that was uplifting and reminded me that there is life after fusion.
This week, I am going to put a series of videos showing how I do things day to day with adjustments because I can't bend or lift. So check back.
No comments:
Post a Comment