Tag: rehab

BSRD20 – Updates

I have been on a 5 on 2 off schedule, taking the weekend off walking to spend more time with Nicole and Elyse who both seem to sleep an awful lot. I have been trying to add some very light weights work in order to reactivate some areas of my body which has included some shoulder work, traps, a few gentle squats and some crunch holds. I also have done a few push ups here and there which seem to be OK and actually are doing my core some good at the same time. It’s funny, everyone I meet who I tell I have had surgery is amazed at how mobile and “normal” I appear, it’s just too bad that the normality only lasts a short while until I have to lay down. That said, I am still happy with my progress.

I am not able to do any kind of twisting yet, any time I try I get a very sharp and pretty alarming pain through my incision site. So as far as my mobility goes I would say I am linearly back to 75%, I am able to put on socks and tie shoes and reach my feet for short periods but I have not tried to standing fold at this time, I don’t think I am up to that. Everything I do is done with particular attention to keeping my lower back straight, something that I have learned over the past year of deadlifting is not only recommended but actually engages the correct muscle groups required for heavy lifting. My foot drop is almost all gone, I can heel walk without issue and my lifting ability with my right foot is about 80% of what it was. I do still have a lot of pain in the left fibula area which I will have to monitor and see if I can stretch it into submission. The problem is that most of the stretches that are effective for back, hip and hamstring flexibility require twisting. Hopefully as that ability returns, the rest of the pain will subside.

It snowed here this past weekend (yes, May 12) and so I walked on the treadmill on Friday and Monday for a total of 2.5k each time. Earlier in the week I had been outside and I will hopefully be able to get outside again today, Tuesday, since it’s supposed to be 13 and then in the 20’s the rest of the week.

We have had some issues with WordPress this week, apparently a botnet of 90,000 PCs was attempting to brute force attack WordPress accounts to access admin rights on servers. This caused me to be unable to log into my admin panel to post anything. It seems like they have it under control now, but it was not just Dreamhost, apparently it happened starting last week to many providers of small business and personal websites.

As far as the other patient is going, I am still giving Lightning subcutaneous fluids 3x a week but his numbers are down to a high normal range. I am hoping we will get a little more time with him and that his health improves to the point where he is happy again. He has lost a few pounds which I know very well is always a help.

 

 

BSRD12 – The Swing Of Things

Changing-prioriteis-198x300So I guess I am into a kind of routine, walking during the day, mostly earlier in the day so I can eat after I am done. If not, then later in the day so I can have dinner right after. I am finding that I am not eating much at all, which is to be expected since I am not doing very much and my weight is relatively stable. Here’s an update on how the rest of the things are going and an insight into my next week.

Diet
Sticking with paleo obviously, trying to add more fruit and veg where possible, drinking coconut water where I can instead of coffee. I have smoked more ribs this week, the pork ones turned out spectacular but the beef ribs were a bitter disappointment. Also, the eye of round didn’t come out well either, but if I had some Au Jus it would have been acceptable on a bun.

Exercise
Walking is going OK, I took it easy last Saturday and took Sunday off, that meant that my hips have been much better the last couple of days. I find that when I walk I still get the shin pain in my right leg and I am still unable to heel walk on my right leg. However I am able to walk 2,5km like I did today at a decent pace. I still take my cane just in case but it’s a bit redundant so far. As far as other working out, I am restricted to limited bench, I haven’t even tried doing any pushups yet. I will be trying to expand my workout a little to get some shoulder work done and some bands work for my back, very limited since that it the biggest concern post surgery. I am also going to drop in some air squats so that I can work a little on my leg range of motion and strength to start getting back up to speed.

Pain
The surgery site is still very tender and the steri strips have not come off yet. I have very limited movement forward and that is when it’s most painful. My hips are better than they were, but they may go back to being very painful again after a couple of days walking we will have to see. The shins are much better, in fact no pain in my left leg at all but still some pain about 2 minutes in on my right leg. The pain seems to go away after a while, in fact once I have been walking for a while the hip pain also disappears but that it replaced by a feeling of fatigue that so far is preventing me from walking any further than about 30 minutes. I do still spend an inordinate amount of time laying down however, it’s a pain to stand for too long and too stressful on my back to sit. I am hoping that sitting will become easier so that I can return to a more normal life of standing and sitting, and saving the laying down for bedtime.
EDIT – I also wanted to comment on the hip and upper shin pain on my left leg which should  be unrelated to the back surgery. I get a quite sharp and intense pain in the very top part of my shin almost at my knee on the exterior side. It’s a real discomfort and I can initiate the pain severely if I lay on my back and stretch my left leg straight above my body stressing the hamstring and pulling the whole anterior chain into effect. For some reason that gives me excruciating pain in my shin, and I realize that it’s probably a ITB thing tying into the low back which hasn’t been stretched and is antagonizing the hamstring and thereby pulling on the knee but when it happens, it really doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.

Other
Nicole’s truck cost $1000 to fix but drives like new. It still could use another $2000 in various repairs and I think for that reason it’s about time we parted ways. With the limited kms on her schedule a lease would be much more sensible and would enable her to be covered under warranty 100% of the time. Nowadays places even throw in oil change schedules as well.
Lightning is much better, although still not exactly a frisky feline. We spent a week giving him fluids under his skin twice a day and it seems to have worked to some degree. He is going for more blood tests Thursday so we will know exactly just how well it worked then.
The weather has been just great for being outside, the mid to high 20s during the day so at least that’s one plus. People ask me all the time how I am doing, and I guess the appropriate response is that I am doing better and I think that is the truth. Each day brings it’s own challenges and pains but I think in the general scheme that I am on the upswing, and that’s the best I can expect at the moment. I do have to admit that it’s been better than I imagined, only because of the nightmare that happened last time. Still, it’s not something I would recommend as a fun time…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BSRD9 – The Weekend Is Here

I just wrote several paragraphs that got lost due to the inexplicable frailty of the ridiculous Bell internet service we have. I am not going to repeat the effort, so here are the basics.

Hips still very painful, intermittently so.
Will skip walking tomorrow to see if it helps.
Walked downtown yesterday, not impressed with it.
Some idiot St Mike’s employee stole my cable, but not the USB adapter.
The tenderloins were amazing, eye of round not.
Went to farmers market this morning, no brisket.
Back not really that painful any more, but hips seemingly not recovering or improving. Also not responding to heat. Confusing.
Nicole needs a new truck, hers is dying.

BSRD3 – Pain Tolerance

percocet-abuse-help-infoI went for a 2km walk early this morning, but it was apparent as soon as I started that trying to stop taking Percocet today may have been a mistake. Before I even got to the end of the street my shins were on fire on my right leg. Strangely I cannot get rid of the pain by stretching as per normal and the pain didn’t get any worse as I went along, then again I am not sure what is worse than excruciating so….

Anyway, the good news is that it was a long walk all in one go and that my pace was up slightly from the last couple of days. I have gone from 26 minutes per km the first time out to around 20 yesterday but today was a lightning quick 17 minutes per km. I suppose it is a good reflection of the progress, not only the increase in exercise time and distance walked but also the increase in pace. I am not sure which of these will become the best indicator of my recovery so for the time being I will continue to report them all. As noted above I have tried to quit the Percocet at this time. I had to take some at 5 this morning to get back to sleep but I am hoping that I will be able to make it through the whole day without them, after all, a day filled with back pain is normal for me. I find that the pills make me foggy, restless and disinterested in almost everything. I remember from last time what a devastating effect it can be trying to come off them cold turkey if you are on them too long and so this time I will try to get away ASAP. I figure if I can come down to 2 a day today and tomorrow and then quit completely for the rest of the week that should be good progress.

Today I am missing my girls compete for the first time in my coaching career. I have never had to miss a competition and it’s killing me not being there. However, I understand fully that missing this day will enable me to be there the rest of the year, a short term sacrifice for long term gain, but the guilt is killing me.

Cat update – He apparently is a little better, and although he is on the road to recovery, it is not clear exactly how far he is going to be able to come back. Apparently he was mere days away from being too far gone so although we are keeping our fingers crossed, we just don’t know.

 

Back Surgery Recovery Day 2 (BSRD2) – Summer is finally here!?

Today was a wonderful day weather wise which is so much better for rehab than the dead of a Canadian winter. I was able to get out and walk twice again today for a total of 1.6km or so, slightly ahead of my projected goal of 1.5k. I will try for 2k tomorrow but I think that I should stick with that for a few days, my leg was sore, I had some hip pain and the speed was noticeably diminished at the end of the walk.

Also I have noticed a certain physical difference. I have always know that the mass I lost off my right leg was at the top of the outer quadricep muscle. After the most recent nerve impingement I lost the ability to control my foot lift but also the ability to flex the outer quad down to the knee (the vastus lateralis). I just noticed this evening that I am starting to get an overdevelopment of the sartorius which is actually very pronounced but on BOTH legs not just one. This is puzzling to me since I believed the overdevelopment was due to the lack of nerve messaging and not a compensatory development of some kind. I will look into this some more but I think it is pretty interesting that I have compensatory muscular development in the leg with what I believed was no neural involvement. I suppose this could mean that I actually did have some neural effects on my left side, but it could also mean that my gait has been altered by such a degree that the effects are being felt on both sides, but not only that, in equal places on both sides. Very weird. Also on the physical side, in addition to my hip pain alternating from side to side today I also gained enough strength back in my foot to pull open one of the doors in the kitchen cabinets that we have taken the handles off as a childproofing measure. This is pretty significant and although I still can’t lift the ball of my foot while standing, it’s a move in the right direction.

On the medication front I have cut down to 5 percocet a day, mostly after walking when the pain is more and at night when it seems to be worse. I am on target to be done with the things under the 30 that I was given so I am happy about that. There is nothing I fear more than the addictive properties of pain killers. As for the cat, apparently they have found that he has a heart murmur now as well as his kidney failure and it is starting to look more and more like his time may be close to the end. I really hope we can get a few more years out of him, I think he has a pretty good life here and he deserves to go out with a little dignity rather than be forced out due to failing kidneys. We will find out more on Monday until then he is in good, albeit very, VERY expensive hands.