Spinal Fusion Surgery Recovery - Day 9

It's day 9 of my recovery from spinal fusion surgery.

I had L5 S1 fused via a bone graft and some hardware and had posterior and anterior incisions (that means I got cut in the front and back).

I've been meaning to write about this for a while but today was the first day I felt mentally clear enough to do it. Probably because today is the day I've taken the least amount of pain meds.

When I initially had this surgery recommended to me over two years ago, I just googled "spinal fusion" and found a LOT.....and I mean A FREAKING LOT....of really bad stuff online. Lots of people complaining a lot about how horrible the surgery was for them. I admit, that scared me off, so I put off the surgery.

The thing is........my particular situation wasn't getting better on it's own. And I was in line to lose most of the feeling in my right leg and maybe lose control  of my bowels.

So about a year ago, I googled "spinal fusion SUCCESS STORIES" and that totally changed my results. I found a bunch of folks on Instagram who were posting about their work outs after surgery and it was inspiring.

Soooo....I thought. I'd write some of my positive experiences.





I have to say....I came into this thinking it was going to be a positive experience. Every step moving towards surgery and every day since, I have viewed this process as one more step towards my body being healed. I think a lot of folks view surgery with fear and view their back problems as permanent life problems.  And I believe that what you believe about your life is what is going to come true in your life.


So all that is a long way of getting around to today.

Today is a good day. It's 9 days after surgery and I can pretty much get around just fine, if not a little slow. Yesterday I started tapering off my meds, which is actually just percoset right now. Mainly because I'm tired of waking up in the middle of the night.

It took me a week to poop. And in that time I got horrific hemorrhoids. So take all the stool softeners and laxatives they give you in the hospital! I'm pooping fine now. But a week of no poop was no fun.

The first day of getting up and out of bed was torture. Pure torture. By far, the worst part of this. But I will say this....for me, every single subsequent time of getting up has gotten easier. Every time I get up and every time I walk it's noticeably easier than the last time. That's tremendously motivating.

I am sleeping less and I walked around more today. I event went outside.

I get tired REALLY easily. I'll feel like I have tons of energy and walk around the house a bit or even just sit up and color and then *BAM* I feel like I have to fall asleep right that second.

I've spent my life being a really strong person, and pushing through tough times. But I've made a commitment to myself to NOT push through this time. I'm going to ride it out, take it easy, and not tough my way through anything.


I plan on writing a lot more about these and talking more about my background, how I got here, my surgery, and the recovery. But feel free to email with any questions. I know that I felt like there was a huge void of positive information about spinal fusion surgeries when I looked, so I hope to do a little bit to fill that void.