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Where Is She Now?
Dec. 17th, 2013 06:14 pmThree and a half weeks out from surgery, and I keep yoyoing between excitement and frustration, hopefulness and fear. Excited and hopeful because I can tell that I'm getting at least a little bit better; frustration and fear because I'm not all better yet, and I worry that I went through all of this trauma and downtime for nothing. Not to mention that rest is *boring.* As much as I'd like to dig into my handcrafts, I'm not supposed to lean my head forward, and it's hard to embroider or crochet without looking down at my hands. I've gotten better at spinning without looking down, but I want to do more, and I know I shouldn't.
I'm still tired - I'm sleeping 8-9 hours a night, and given the chance I'll nap at least once during the day, something I haven't done since I was about 3 years old. (True story - I was the only kid in preschool exempted from naptime, on the grounds that I was more stubborn than my teachers.) My pain is mostly limited to muscle tension in my right shoulder and neck, right where it was before the surgery. It's not exactly the same sort of pain, but it's the same area. And I've found that doing anything for more than an hour or so at a time is a good way to make the pain worse. And I still haven't fully gotten my voice back.
I'm bored. I miss working. I miss exercising. I miss cooking fancy meals and driving around to visit my friends. On the other hand, I'm better than I was two weeks ago. I can drive short distances, provided I haven't had to take any meds. I can walk a little ways - maybe a half mile to a mile, on a good day. And I'm getting a heck of a lot of reading done.
I talked to my doctor's office today, though, and according to them I'm at a pretty normal place for this stage in my recovery. I just need to be super-careful about my posture, and keep taking my muscle relaxants as needed. And, more importantly, I've been cleared for (light) massage, and given permission to start gentle, low-impact exercise as long as it doesn't impact my neck at all. So no running, no situps, but I can start some mild upper-body stretching and toning, which should hopefully help with both the muscle spasms and my stir-craziness.
Getting better is boring. Can I just *be* better now?
I'm still tired - I'm sleeping 8-9 hours a night, and given the chance I'll nap at least once during the day, something I haven't done since I was about 3 years old. (True story - I was the only kid in preschool exempted from naptime, on the grounds that I was more stubborn than my teachers.) My pain is mostly limited to muscle tension in my right shoulder and neck, right where it was before the surgery. It's not exactly the same sort of pain, but it's the same area. And I've found that doing anything for more than an hour or so at a time is a good way to make the pain worse. And I still haven't fully gotten my voice back.
I'm bored. I miss working. I miss exercising. I miss cooking fancy meals and driving around to visit my friends. On the other hand, I'm better than I was two weeks ago. I can drive short distances, provided I haven't had to take any meds. I can walk a little ways - maybe a half mile to a mile, on a good day. And I'm getting a heck of a lot of reading done.
I talked to my doctor's office today, though, and according to them I'm at a pretty normal place for this stage in my recovery. I just need to be super-careful about my posture, and keep taking my muscle relaxants as needed. And, more importantly, I've been cleared for (light) massage, and given permission to start gentle, low-impact exercise as long as it doesn't impact my neck at all. So no running, no situps, but I can start some mild upper-body stretching and toning, which should hopefully help with both the muscle spasms and my stir-craziness.
Getting better is boring. Can I just *be* better now?
