A bit battered and bruised but I am home at last.

I came home last night around 6pm but was just too tired to blog at all. The ward was a mixed ward and some guy thought it was necessary to push his buzzer every few minutes all through the night which isn't conducive to much sleep for the rest of the ward.

In the end I had a mix of 2 operations. I was in theatre from 8am until around 2pm but in post op from 2 - 4.30pm as I wasn't very well after the anaesthetic. I woke up to be told that I couldn't be in pain. I was screaming and thrashing about by this time telling God I wished I had never had the op done. Half asleep or no - I can tell pain! I lost my stomach contents several times in a rather spectacular manner which made me less than popular with the post op nurses.

I came to a bit more to find out that I was paralysed all down one side. I was told it could be an effect of the epidural but very scary never the less. I was still in pain despite constant reassurances that the epidural was working fine. They had to back down the dosage to check that my left leg worked. Thankfully the feelings came back after a few hours. I suffered with the pain for 2 days until I demanded that the pain specialist took a look and she said Oh dear - the epidural is hanging out! Thanks for that - I knew I was in pain! Once they gave me morphine orally then the pain subsided to my normal level plus a few spikes every time I moved.

Today I am still trying to find a comfy position as my new sofas are lovely but way too low for anyone recovering from spinal surgery. I am now on the recliner chair with a spare sofa cushion under me for extra height so can at least get out of the chair better.

The operation was fusion at L4/5 plus all the ironmongery associated with this. The good news is that although he really struggled as the the nerves were stuck to the spine,and trapped very tightly, he managed to get them free by nibbling bits off the bone bit by bit. I presume he meant with a bone cutter. This meant that he didn't have to use any donor bone or any bone of mine harvested from another site. He also cleaned a lot of my own blood used anti biotics to clean it and reused it. This means less chance of infections as everything returned to me was mine originally. I had plasma and anti biotic drips also. I appear to have a scar around 5 - 6 " but as long as it heals well I am not bothered about that.

I won't know the success rate of the op for a little while as my legs rarely went dead in the house and the pain I have is from the swelling at the operation site so there is bound to be pain. The pain should reduce slowly. Today I didn't have such a good day. Mostly I think because I could not get my back comfortable on the sofa. Worst of all I haven't been able to knit or crochet today. My back feels like it is on an angle all the time instead of straight. I am supposed to be getting some aids for the loo, the bath (so that I can shower) and the bed but no calls from the physios today. I was given a bag of dressings and told to change them on Thursday and again at the weekend. Luckily for me my niece isn't squeamish as apparently the district nurses don't call and I would have to go up to the walk in centre. I was only given minimal amount of pain tablets on release and had a struggle to re-order them today. Fortunately my neighbour took my release paperwork stating dosage and medications prescribed by the hospital up to the GP's or I would have run out of meds before the weekend! Bite the bullet Jan as they don't give painkillers for long. I know it is a controlled drug but the pain specialist did say I should be pain free until the operation swelling goes down and the wound settles down in a week or so's time.

I am off to bed now. I had a fairly good night's sleep last night but every time I dozed of today either the doorbell rang or the phone so I am very tired. Catch up with you all soon and thanks for all your lovely words and thoughts. I am available for visitors to any of my friends who would like to call and see me now I am home.