I made it out! Surgery

[drobertson]

Saw the lights go out at 10:00 this morning, asked Christy when was I going in at 6:10 this evening! Wow! Walked at 10:30 this evening no walker but hands on the nurse's shoulders. Praise to the Lord! And many thanks to you all for the prayers, thoughts and encouraging comments!! Thanks!
David

[thechknhwk]

Hope you heal up quickly and completely!

[thecfarm]

Boy that sounds good!!!!!!! 

[Chuck White]

Now, that's some WONDERFUL news!     8)

[sandsawmill14]

  glad it went good

[Magicman]

Thank you David for the update and it is good to hear that encouraging report.  Please keep us posted with your healing and therapy progress.

[Ed_K]

 It's the greatest feeling to be able to come out of surgery and walk  8) . Takes awhile to build the muscles back up,took me 3 weeks to get to where I could walk 1/4 mi.

[drobertson]

Thanks guys! Just got done with tthr first official OT/PT.one went through the back brace,log roll out of bed, standing and walking, got 4 more laps today, the other gal, learned me how to you know the number 2, the proper way. And some other stuff around the house,  I got to say flat out, this is life changing no doubt bout it, not really sure what I'll do,
Whatever it is milling its not be back later with more progress reports

[Jeff]

Squatty potty eh?  ;)

Good to hear David.

[21incher]

Great news, I hope you heal quickly. Thanks for the update.  8)

[Peter Drouin]

Good,  8) 8) 8) 8)

[WDH]

Mind your manners and follow the protocol.  Don't try to short cut your rehab.  Pretty soon, you will be running circles. 

[samandothers]

Great news!  Keep us updated.

[SLawyer Dave]

Hope the rest of your recovery is as smooth.   8)

[drobertson]

Mind your manners and follow the protocol.  Don't try to short cut your rehab.  Pretty soon, you will be running circles.

I
Danny I tel you this doc leaves no room for fudging, he is very direct and to the point, not listening and following directions is not in the play book.  The results we be worth the change, crazy how time and events change courses in our lives.

[customsawyer]

Glad you made it out and are doing good.

[red]

Eat sleep and go Fishing  you know the drill. Take the pain meds for now. A good attitude goes a long way. Yes flat out on your back to let everything heal . You got some non original parts in there . Factory remanufactured . Be strong my friend.

[drobertson]

Made it home! Brutally painful, but home,

[Magicman]

It's good to hear that you are home.  Please keep us updated with your progress.

[OlJarhead]

 8) 8) 8)

[red]

Glad you are Home. You said in another thread that you will be sawing very soon while taking pain meds . Someone else said don't let a temporary recovery become a permanent result. If you need to move your sawmill to someone else's property , please do it . Do not go near that sawmill . Remember your taking some strong pain meds now. Keep us posted , get healthy. Slowly

[Peter Drouin]

Glad you are Home. You said in another thread that you will be sawing very soon while taking pain meds . Someone else said don't let a temporary recovery become a permanent result. If you need to move your sawmill to someone else's property , please do it . Do not go near that sawmill . Remember your taking some strong pain meds now. Keep us posted , get healthy. Slowly

Ya, you fix your back, now use your head and let it heal. :

[trapper]

Glad your feeling better.  don't overdo it.

[Savannahdan]

We'll keep the prayers going.  But, please, follow what the doc orders, do rehab/PT and stay away from things that don't help the healing.   

[drobertson]

Well I need to clarify right now, the mention of sawing under meds or not was a poor joke, I meant I would be sleeping sawing logs in the recliner, right now its a struggle to clean up a no. 2,, but thanks again to you guys for your thoughts and prayers and great advice! This just proves you all have the sawdust bug too!!! Lol hard to quit ain't it , you all know I'm thinking about it, but the mill has to go,

[timberlinetree]

Glad your healing. Be real careful of the pain meds.

[sandsawmill14]

hate to hear your gonna have to quit  :(   maybe you can still do a little wood working or something far as the pain meds when i had my hand fixed the doc told me not to use them to prevent pain use them to stop the pain  so wait till your hurting before taking the next dose . he told me if you did it that way you would be surprised how soon you would be cutting back and no matter how strong of  pill they gave you it would cause no trouble if done that way where if you just took the max dose every 4 hrs you would think you needed it whether you did or not    he also said dont sit there hurting because it slows the healing process good luck and hope you heal quickly

[red]

Your still in your first week . It's a long recovery so just concentrate on Walking . I mean walking around the house . Do you have any favorite Authors ?  Keep your mind busy . One day at a time .

[red]

Maybe you can explain exactly what was done during surgery. We know the first surgery /fusion had to be done again . This was major back surgery . You will not be moving around very much . Getting out of bed is a major chore.

[bucknwfl]

Glad to hear all is well. Keep up the hard work in rehab and recovering.  Me and Angie will be praying

Thanks

Buck

[Ed_K]

 sandsawmill14 is right on, when I had my back surgery it took me a long time to understand this. That was the reason for getting hooked on the pain meds. because as soon as I felt the pain coming on I'd go right to the max dose. I thought the pain was going to be the same as before the surgery. I have also found that prune juice works better than pills for #2 problems.

[Czech_Made]

Saw the lights go out at 10:00 this morning, asked Christy when was I going in at 6:10 this evening! Wow! Walked at 10:30 this evening no walker but hands on the nurse's shoulders. Praise to the Lord! And many thanks to you all for the prayers, thoughts and encouraging comments!! Thanks!
David

Hope you feel better soon.

[drobertson]

Czech made, I am eating those words now, in the fith day out, the pain is worse, but thanks to a dose of olive oil/ splash of lemon juice, got engine no.2 back on the tracks☺ 
I think the worse part is the tension, all over, my glutes and ham strings followed by the incesion , you guys really are great, it seems that this forum has the perfect blend of folks that's been there in so many situations that there will always  be some form of constructive advice, to plain ole down to earth encouragement!  I still can smell the last saw job☺ its just beautiful here this morning! I hope you all have a great day and week ahead!

[catalina]

Great news!!

[Grizzly]

Do they offer massage at the hospital? That was the one thing German hospitals offered that I wasn't acquainted with and it was a tremendous help with that tension pain (which they called distraction pain). Not a deep tissue massage but more of a brisk relaxing massage.

Be real careful not to overdo things but make sure you do a little everyday.

You probably don't need advice just sharing my experience if it's any help to you.

[drobertson]

No, did not here or get a massage til I got home, it helps for sure, dang glutes and hams are really tight, and I have orders not to bend yet,

[drobertson]

Had the ten day follow up yesterday.  All on track, the spasms are the culprit now, but nothing unexpected they said. For now easy peasy and it stinks! Never realised it would be this hard to sell the mill.

[Grizzly]

Good! Remember to take muscle relaxants so that you can just kick back and veg out without that pain. Take care.

Lyle

[YellowHammer]

Just keep to the plan, and it will work out.  We are pulling for you.

[red]

It's a marathon not a Sprint.

[Carson-saws]

OUTSTANDING!!!...VERY happy for you

[sawwood]

Good to hear you are doing better David. May be I will come down to see you later this year. I need to see my family
member in Cobol so you are not to far east from there. Stay strong and it will get better in time.

Sawwood

[red]

Ok you survived a few weeks . How is it going ?

[drobertson]

 Red its going good so far, as to the shooting,numb,to tingling leg issues, all gone,what's left is the area around the incesion, my loins are still a bit weak, and iam completely off meds, no need for them currently, biggest pain sorta is this bone growth stimulator I'm wearing 4hours a day all said doing good. Thanks folks  sure miss sawing,,,

[thechknhwk]

Glad to hear you are doing well.  Will you have permanent weight restrictions when fully healed?

[21incher]

Glad to hear that the recovery is going well. Will you be starting PT soon? The next best thing to sawing is reading Forestry Forum posts. 

[red]

I figured you were doing good .  Keep on keeping on . 

[drobertson]

Glad to hear you are doing well.  Will you have permanent weight restrictions when fully healed?

This is one thing doc stressed from the got go, 30 lb after year, right now 10lbs kinda of a drastic change for sure,

[customsawyer]

As long as you can still lift 12oz your okay.  :D

[MikeZ]

drobertson-I would like to know more about your surg if I could. I just committed to fusion after thinking about it for 4 days. T10 to pelvis. Brings tears to my eyes thinking about recovery. Stenosis and degen disc problem. Surgeon says better now than in 5-10 yrs if even possible. He said would take 2 surgeons 8 hrs to pull this off and 100K$ worth of titanium. I totally understand your pain before and after but hope it all helps. Dr is looking to improve my walk and 50% reduction in pain. I wish you the very best of healing!!

[drobertson]

Mike sorry to hear of your issue man, rough, it sounds like your problems are just above where mine were, regardless it stinks. My procedure was unique in that my previous fusion L4 L5 had to be redone from lack of fusion. Then L4 and L3 and S 1. It was a fast 5 hours for me on the table! Ha! Now things feel great, just can't work,, like everyone says, follow docs orders and behave, and you will heal, let us know if you feel like it, will be thinking of you, 

[drobertson]

Well crapola! Six week check up not the report card I was looking for.  A!l good except a short section of incesion. Seems like its not quite healing like it should.  No pain or discomfort, just not what the doc liked to see, go back Friday again, I reckon best to air on the side of caution.

[Ed_K]

 Caution would be best. I had a similar problem when they stapled me up after hernia surgery, would not heal then we found it was an ingrown hair was causing the problem, when it starts feeling warm that's not good,get it looked at quick.
Let us know how it goes and hope all's ok. It's a bummer when you write up a long post and it doesn't go. Rita's learning to use her phone to text, some of the words don't come out right,funny some times not so others. I'll wait as long as I can before going to the new phones with all their gadgets  ;D .

[thecfarm]

Wife just went for her check up of a knee replacement. Had one of those stiches inside that was trying to come outside. He knew as soon as he saw it. All gone now.Hope it's that simple.

[Magicman]

Hopefully David, this will only be a minor setback on your journey toward a successful back procedure. 

[dgdrls]

dr,

I hope your incision has healed properly and your on the "full mend"

best
D

[drobertson]

Thanks D, slowly getting there, scar tissue from previous fusion is the culprit, getting there,