I had my one month follow-up appointment with my neurosurgeon on Tuesday - got told again: “gold star for recovery” so far! They are very happy with my progress, and gave me clearance to start physical therapy, allowed to take baths/start walking in pools, increasing weight I can lift, doing a bit more, and increasing amount of time sitting. Still no dog-walking, vacuuming, dishes, lawn-mowing, or most laundry for another month or two though - too much strain when being pulled, turning, and bending over. I am so far 100% happy that I went through with the surgery - I am so much better off than I was with the back and leg pain from the get-go.
So all week, I have been working on the amount of time I can sit at once at a chair, while just getting up to walk around every 15 minutes or so, but avoiding major laying-down sessions (which always relieves the pain around the incision spot).
I’ve been able to improve quite a bit, so following doctor’s suggestion, I am going to start going into office today, finally. I’ve been working at home full-time, but for next week or so, I am going to switch to half-days in office, half-days at home, with physical therapy 2x a week as well. That way, I continue to push towards getting back to “normal” (which may take 3 months or so to fully feel), can continue to be productive at work, yet still provide my back some down time by taking advantage of the comforts of working from home, while at the same time having face-time to work with my team and others. My body will tell me when it’s ready for full-time days. Hopefully soon, but the doc did caution me to take it slow and steady.
I am excited to get back - it’s been a long path of pain and recovery!
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E-mail I just sent to work:
“Hey All…
Just a quick update on my status.
Recovery is continuing to go well, and I am now able to sit long enough to make it worthwhile to start working from home again (so I can work from both chair and laying flat as needed, as too much sitting is still not good for me). Trust me, I am getting bored not working :)
As such, my plan is:
1) I am going to come into office for an hour this morning to catch up with everyone, and to figure out where all of the projects are at (so I know where to focus on for working from home)
2) I’ll be working from home starting today, until at least July 8th (next Tuesday), when I have my one-month followup with the neurosurgeon. I’ll know more about my medical clearance to work from office once I meet with him.
3) I’ll be available via phone and email while I am at home. Feel free to call me for anything needed and to call me into any meetings I am needed at.See you this morning!
- Aaron”
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While most of the time has been spent laying flat, reading, and watching TV, there has been a few activities over the past few weeks…
And yes, you can also call this post: Aaron is clearing out his camera from old pictures!
(As always, click on the pictures for larger versions)
- We’ve been wanting to get a fence put into the front yard - it makes the outside of the house enclosed, so if we are BBQing, doing yard work, or just reading and enjoying outside, Molly can now be with us. So we hired some folks (clearly, I couldn’t do it myself, with or without the back condition) to put in our cliche white picket fence - very white indeed until it starts raining again!
- Joelle finally found planters she likes, and put them out on the front porch:
- Molly bought me a book on Macaroni and Cheese for Father’s Day, so of course, I immediately wanted Joelle and my mother to make me one of the dishes - asparagus macaroni gratin. Fantastic, albeit a little heavy, was the universal agreement. Perhaps better as a side dish so you don’t try to eat too much of it.
- Got a Get Well Soon cookie from some really nice friends - overnighted from New Jersey, OU-certified and everything:
- My mother bought Molly a necklace thing from the Edmonds Art Fair (she went with my sister). I am not one to know these things, but everyone commented on how pretty she was with it on - on her end, at least she didn’t mind it the one time she wore it!
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Recovery has gone very well so far - having Joelle, my mother, and my sister to take care of things makes it really easy! I’ve been resting, laying flat on my back (or occasionally, on my side) for most of the time, with occasional walking around. Most importantly, no pain pills since Friday. I am still taking it very easy, and plan on taking a while more off from work, per doctor’s orders. If I start working at all, I (as most patients do, so my doctor warned me) know I’ll push myself too much, making the chance of re-herniation much more likely, which would be very bad.
Walking has been going real well so far - I can do about a half-hour before tiring out and needing to come home and rest. I can sit for about 10-15 minutes, but then need to stop. That’s mostly due to the incision though - once the stitches come out on Thursday, it should be much better.
I’ve also been doing a ton of reading - so might as well post my recent reading lists, as I have done in the past. What I’ve read:
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- Dog Lover’s Companion to the Pacific Northwest (library)
- Wry Martini’s (library)
- How to Raise a Jewish Dog (funny gift - thanks!)
- The Gospel of Food: Everything You Think You Know About Food Is Wrong (library)
- 2 Economist magazines
- Northwest Brewing News magazine
- The Stranger news-weekly
- Seattle Weekly
- Lots of web-pages - especially checking out http://www.howcast.com more and http://www.spine-health.com
- Surprisingly little TV. That said, watched a bunch of golf yesterday, and today, since I am laying in bed, happily watching the US Open Playoff WebCast (free, yeah!)
Next on reading list:
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- Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World (gift again - been wanting to read this)
- Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash (library)
- Any other suggestions?
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As those of you following my Facebook status updates know, surgery went very well (the main back/leg pain is gone - albeit with a new back pain from the surgery itself), and I am back from the hospital, and well on the path to recovery (walking a little, sitting a small bit, resting a ton). I’ll write more later when it is more comfortable to be on a computer, but just wanted to pass along the latest updates in case I haven’t had a chance to talk to you in person.
And for everyone who has passed along good wishes - thanks! it means a lot to me to hear from everyone :)