Wife’s Back Surgery: Update

So we are now 5 days into January and I was late delivering my 2013 Resolutions posted, haven’t been to work yet and I am getting on a laptop for the first time in nearly 12 days! To tell the truth, I didn’t miss the Internet, my website or social media (namely Facebook). Life took a very real turn on us at the end of December. Along with the move I discussed in Half Mile Away, my wife had major back surgery on December 26th. While I posted a few comments on my Facebook page and about 3 on her account, much else hasn’t been said to this point.

Any time you move it’s a major event, but toss in a major surgery, something as delicate as lower back surgery and it’s been very challenging for me as a husband and a dad. My wife was hospitalized for 6 days following surgery for some complications. The surgery, which was to take about 5 hours lasted just over 6 hours and her recovery was nearly 2 more hours. I spent the better part of 11 hours sitting in John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek the day after Christmas…waiting. Is there anything worse?

The waiting hasn’t been the worst part, the home recovery has been a real challenge. My wife cannot be alone and must have someone with her to accomplish some every day tasks. As mentioned, I have not been to work since December 23rd and won’t return to work until January 10. This is just a very short window that she has needed me all through out the night and day to take care of her. Hopefully on Monday we can get her doctor to write me a note so I can modify my work schedule to accommodate her morning and night time needs, while still getting to work and putting in an 8-hour shift.

The road to recovery has been painful to date, she was on heavy medication in the hospital for pain and while the dosages have been reduced, still taking meds every few hours for the pain, which is all through out her body. The supposed 3″ scar on her back is close to 7″ or 8″ and we wont know just how it heals. The doctor, when I spoke to him after the surgery was very confident on how it went. Going in he knew it was going to be complicated…and it was. But talking to my wife after the fact, she felt he thrived on this challenge in her lower back. The pain might be more than was expected when she is talking about birthing 10 kids instead of going through back surgery again!

For now my household responsibilities had increased. She takes most of her meals in bed, for good reason, as it hurts to stand or walk for too long. Unfortunately we have a staircase, so maneuvering stairs has been good for her, but slow and challenging. There has been not been a night of “restful” sleep, as the TV has remained on since she came home. The severity of the pain won’t allow her to sleep through the night, so about every 2 hours she is up shuffling to the bathroom, wanting to eat or drink or taking medication. This has probably been the most difficult for me. I don’t have any problems waiting on her hand and foot, for obvious reasons.

Unfortunately the move has really messed her recovery up. She comes home to a new house with stuff still in boxes or not in the normal places. For that I have myself to blame as I just did not have enough time in the day to accomplish everything I needed to do in order to have the house in good order before she came home. Even now I still have countless boxes unpacked and a garage that looks like a storage unit. I don’t even want to talk about my 2 radio antennas that are still in my backyard.

There is just so much work to be done, bit the priority is taking care of my wife and making sure she improves on a daily basis. The rest of the stuff can be accomplished as I have time. Hopefully next time we decide to move we don’t have any medical engagements. And I thought ACL surgery was bad…