TLIF surgery in Dubai. And getting no sleep post op day 13!

Spinal Fusion surgery: Is today a step back? 

One of those up and down days, but mostly down?

Well. Starting the day (Day 13 post op) with near zero sleep. I wonder if other surgery patients go through this severe insomnia that I am suffering. I am somehow getting by with just a couple of hours of sleep a night – and it is not like I am compensating for this during the day.

As I look back on today... It has been a fairly tired kind of a day. While I did my early morning walk routine – and my pace is improving every day – I did feel kind of exhausted all day. 

Bad news is that the surgery site pain is back in a big way today. But why?

The pain is back! And it is pretty much up there on that dreaded scale. I feel that changing the dressing (may be the fresh one is back on too tight), the physio session and the taxi rides to and from the clinic in combination did me in. I am in pain. Again. My back (surgery incision site) hurts a lot today. And, I am guessing that's not hugely out of sorts. As I have read in many of the forum posts – every time you over do a day, you pay for it the next. 

Lying on my back has been a bother all day. I hope tomorrow will be better.

Here's a forum post on recovery...

TLIF surgery – what can I expect during recovery?

Recovery at 2 months

I had a diskectomy,PLIF L5 - S1 and decompression with Autograft, rods and screws, 2 months ago. The first couple of weeks were awful- severe pain and I could barely move. But the sciatic pain that was incapacitating me before surgery was completely gone. 

At 1 month, the pain was reducing unless I bent my body even slightly or sat up in a chair completely straight. I found that leaning back a little or lying down reduced the pain a lot. I am not using a brace. At 3 weeks I tried to drive but had difficulty getting in and out of the car, but more pain just trying to sit upright in the car seat. 1 week later, pain reduced enough that I could drive. Most of my pain is in the area where the bone was taken from my illeum (bone top of the pelvis). At week 7, the pain majorly diminished. I take pain medication only about once or twice a day (tylenol arthritis) only if I need it. 

I have really felt a major change this past week which completes my 2 months.

The most difficult thing now is since I am not in a brace, remembering not to bend. It does take about 4-6 months for the graft to complete. It is frustrating that I still can't do physical things that I want to do, but it is so much better being able to walk and be free of that severe sciatic pain that went all of the way down my leg. Glad I had the surgery.



TLIF and new too

I am new to the site as well. I had a TLIF on L4,5,&S1 25 days ago. I will try to tell you what my experiences have been so far. I did come home too early, 2 days after surgery.

 I think the 5 hour ride home and my intolerance to many pain meds did make it difficult the first couple of days home. I used a walker for during that time and then used it to help get myself standing after lying down. 

The first 2 weeks, I played musical chairs and beds. I found that chairs or beds too soft were extremely painful. I am happy to report that I am now back in my bed after my kids tried 6 other ways for me to sleep. 

I have found pillows to be invaluable and I sleep on my back or right side. I am having the nerve pain in the sides of my thighs with the left at times radiating to my foot. 

The nerve pain in right thigh is just about gone and my feeling returned so I am optimistic. Within a week, I was outside walking in the yard. Shortly after that I started 1 mile and today I added about another 1/4 mile. I find the initial getting out of bed to be the toughest as far as pain but that goes away pretty quick when I get to moving.