Re:Robin's Revision with Dr. Rand, 1/18/2010, 12:00 am

[Guest guest]

Robin,

Good luck with your surgery tomorrow. My revisions were Dec 8 & 10 2009 and I'm doing fine! I had that horrible "what have I done" thought when I awoke from surgery and quickly remembered it's everyone's first thought and to remember it all gets better from here. You'll hang tough and do fine. Getting up the next morning wasn't too hard for me nor was walking.

Here are some random things that happened to me that maybe you can use.

-Contrary to what I was told I learned by emptying the 1st catheter bag when it gets full relieves catheter discomfort.

-Ask the nurse to phone your doctors on-call number as needed. For me my nurse said she'd ask my doctor in the morning for a different pain killer. I suggested she phone his on-call number and she said "Oh...I can do that." It worked and I had the meds within an hour.

-I couldn't get comfortable one night to allow me to get to sleep. I kept calling the nurse who kept rearranging my position. Finally both of us had ran out of ideas. She went to talk to some other nurses who saw where my TED hose had been removed earlier in the day...I'd been wearing them for 3 days. They suggested putting them back on and who knows why but it worked. Persistence pays off when it's done in a kind way.

-Chocolate treats do help keep the nurses happy.

** I presume they will be log rolling you with a sheet you will be laying on. They would roll me onto my side and place pillows behind me and in front of me to hold me in place so I did not accidently twist. However sometimes I would still be uncomfortable so they'd rearrange me. Well there was one little gal who would slightly pull the sheet from behind after she'd position all of the pillows. This small movement rotated my hips just enough to align them with my shoulder position so I was straight. Each time she did this I'd give out an "ahhhh that feels good" . Not all of the nurses knew to do this but my husband paid enough attention to figure out what she was doing and he could do it for me in the hospital and at home. So in case you experience this you'll know what to suggest they do.

It's been 5 weeks since my surgeries and my before surgery pain is gone! I'm standing straight and my lordosis has been restored a bit!! My back feels a little foreign and at times I use a u-shaped neck pillow on my back so the incision doesn't touch the back of the chair when I lean back. I'm taking less Percocet than right after surgery. My incisions are still painful but I'm no longer taking pain meds every 4 hours around the clock.

I'll be praying for you. Keep your chin up & know you'll soon be a new improved you.

Thinking of you,

Robison