It has now been just over 4 weeks since my spinal fusion therefore I thought I would share some of my thoughts and progress with you.
The last few weeks have been hard.. to say the least. I chose the photo above because this feels like an accurate representation of how recovery is. Its not easy, its not all sunshine and roses. Staying motivated and positive is a challenge especially when little things feel incredibly difficult. Last week, I started to learn a lot about what I can and can't do, for now and in the future. Some of these things include riding rollercoasters, gymnastics (not that I plan on joining a circus!), bungee jumping, skydiving (not high on my to-do list but always cool to have the option), general bending until physio/surgeon says I can (Im getting amazing at the slut drop!) and sitting at a desk for longer than a couple hours.
Its all a long frustrating hill climb. I have been told that, I wont have full flexibility in my spine anymore, however nothing is definite as everyone heals differently and a lot of things depend on how well the operation worked in curing my pain - patience is a virtue!
However onto the more positive!
I had my first physio-therapy session last week. It went well, and we have devised a treatment plan of alternating each week between physio-therapy and hydro-therapy. My first session of hydro-therapy is tomorrow so wish me luck! For those of you who do not know what hydro-therapy is - it is when you do exercises in a warm pool, so you are not putting weight on the injury allowing more movement. I also have daily exercises to do for my physio-therapy which are mostly pilates based which will help build up my strength again.
Exercise wise.. I am incredibly stubborn when it comes to staying in the house therefore I have been making an effort to get out each day and go for one or two walks. At almost 3 weeks, I decided that I was going shopping (for anyone who knows me, you know I can't resist a good shop!). I was very nervous about how much I would be able to manage however I was able to wander for a couple of hours before I needed a good rest.
Over the last couple of weeks I have built up the distance I can walk, beginning at 10 minutes down the road, to a couple of km and so on, trying to go slightly further each day. The most I have managed in one go is 5km yesterday, which is the normal hour long walk that I used to do almost daily before, so I'm pretty proud of this accomplishment.
My wound is healing quite nicely, which I'm very relieved about. The bottom of the wound, which is taking the longest to heal, has finally stopped seeping *double yay*, so hopefully with time it shouldn't look too bad at all!
Last but definitely not least, I managed to drive yesterday! Not a very long one, but all the same, it is great just to know that I can and my poor car (or Hugo, for anyone who knows that i've named by car hehe) can have some exercise too!
Its hard to see the progress that I'm making day by day but looking back to where I was even just a week ago, makes me feel very proud of what i've accomplished and hopefully things keep going up from here.
Hannah
❤
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