To whom it may concern...

[SlayerOfVampyrs]

Hey folks and folkettes!

This is the first time I’ve really felt up to doing any sort of post on here. And I don’t think it’ll be a long one, just a brief update.

The surgery went off without a hitch, literally could not have gone better. The hospital stay was….Alright. Met some sweet people, but they tended to take a little too long to answer their calls. When you’ve just been sliced open, gutted like a fish, and had an unnatural item placed into your body, you are uncomfortable enough. Too uncomfortable for them to take ten minutes or more almost EVERY TIME you ask for help.

I brought LotR to reread, a few graphic novels, Tina Fey’s autobiography, my laptop, an external hard drive with the entire Friends and Big Bang Theory DVDs I’d ripped to it, and my i-Pod. Guess how much I used? My i-Pod. Period. That’s it. Just my i-Pod. Oh, and my cell phone. I was too out of it to do much of anything. I even kept falling asleep while trying to eat. At one point, I fell asleep with a mouthful of bacon.

Had two awesomely amazing nurses, one of which was almost my age who I wish I could have gotten the contact information for. The rest of my nurses were alright, no one particularly stood out much except for this one named Porche who was a right bitca. She seemed annoyed and bothered every time I called her, as well as having a very judgmental attitude about her.

The doctor was able to work absolute wonders, and now I have no wonder in my mind as to why he is one of the best in his field in the world. It took me a long time, over two weeks post-op, to be happy that I had the surgery. Yesterday, though, my first post-op visit with my doctor, that all changed. I couldn’t be happier to have had the surgery, no matter how much discomfort or anything of the sort that I am in, I know now, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that it was absolutely more than just the right thing to do.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/Tainted_Goddess/xray.png

 

[Taake]

I'm obviously very glad that you feel it was the right thing to do and that you're feeling better!

That said, I'll have to add that I would have paid good money (or if I'd been there - taken it myself) for a picture of you asleep with bacon in your mouth. That's priceless! 🙂

(Porche... like the car? Didn't know you could be called that, it's a bit strange to my ears at least)

Anyway, *hugs and lots of love*

 

[FaithsFollower]

Aww! I'm so glad everything is going smoothly!!

 

[Skytteflickan88]

OMG, you must have been very very uncomfortable. I didn't know a spine could be bent that way.

Glad you're ok.

 

[SlayerOfVampyrs]

Thanks so much for the warm wishes everyone! I love my BB family, you guys are awesome!

Recovery continues to go smoothly. Two weeks out and I'm already using the stairs and I even cooked something for myself a few nights ago. It was only something simple, but still 🙂. I have hit a point where I can shower by myself, and I don't even have to use the shower chair to rest in the middle of it 🙂. I'm not using my walker to get around AT ALL, and even though I am moving slowly, it's still a pretty big accomplishment. I was able to go to the local market yesterday, that felt really good. I have plans to go to Boise (The city around these parts, I live out in the boondocks outside of Parma,) to go get new walking shoes, go to an entertainment store, and to a comic book store. I tried tackling Walmart on Tuesday, but even sitting in their motorized chairs, that's a bit much just yet.

Wish me luck on finding a well priced good treadmill, as walking is my physical therapy. I'd have no trouble just doing it outside, but when you live in the boonies and the only things around are dirt roads and main roads, no sidewalks, it's more of a challenge. I can't risk tripping and falling, as it'd end up causing me major problems at this stage, so it isn't a challenge I am willing to meet just yet. I have to walk a minimum of a mile per day, starting ASAP.

And [MENTION=8557]Skytteflickan88[/MENTION], I was. Especially when it progressed. There was about a four year period in there where what I could do got less and less, at the end I was pretty much only able to go to the store or shoot a few rounds at the range. I wasn't even on pain meds, so I was a real mess.

Interesting fact: SMG has scoliosis. Look at her in a backless dress some time and you can tell. I'd say hers is about a 30 degree curve or so, nothing too terribly major, and at this stage in her life, it is unlikely to ever progress, so it's doubtful she will ever need surgery.

 

[Abbeycat]

[MENTION=10588]SlayerOfVampyrs[/MENTION] I'm glad recovery has been going well so far.🙂

 

[VisionGirl]

Wow look at that improvement, that's amazing!!
I'm so glad it went well- continued good luck in your recovery! 🙂

 

[SlayerOfVampyrs]

Sorry, to those who are concerned, that I haven't updated in a while. It's been an...interesting and frustrating couple of weeks.

Recovery is going great. I've actually ventured out of the house...4 times now or so. I leave as much as possible, figured it's best that I get out as much as I can. It helps that my friend Becca came from Ceour D'Alene (A small college town here in Idaho, about 8 hrs away) to visit me shortly after I got out of the hospital. That was pretty great.

I started my physical therapy on the twelfth. Have been doing, on average, over 2 miles per day. Some days, I go above that number, to 3 or higher, example yesterday at 4 miles. Today, since I am actually up before the sun rises, I plan to go, hopefully, 6. It's hard to get going when you are in pain and it is burning hot out there, but I've been managing. Someone on Facebook actually had the nerve to call me a slacker yesterday - Heh. It's like "Uhh...Try having filleted like a fish, have your bones twisted and moved about, have 2 feet and 10 pounds of metal stuck in you, and then we can talk about who is the 'slacker' here." Y'know? I don't expect ANYONE to be in awe of what I am doing, or how far I am going on walks, but when someone downgrades what is actually fantastic progress, it REALLY rubs me the wrong way.

I'm not taking near as many pain meds as prescribed, and haven't been for a while. I don't take any in the middle of the night at all, and during the day, I have had stretches where it's been 8 or more hours between doses of anything.

A lot of the brain fog has finally left me, and though I still have my days, I'm finding myself actually able to watch and read things competently. Sometime soon, we will see if we can add 'cooking like a BOSS' back onto the list of things I can do. Hopefully. I'd like that. My mom has an entire week off the week after next, and I'd like it to actually be a week off for her, rather than her having to deal with cooking.

Never did find that treadmill. Those babies are EXPENSIVE. The ones offered to me on craigslist were always broken in someway. Heck, the ones listed on craigslist period were broken in someway. Except for the ones where they wanted 300-600 dollars. For a fracking ten year old machine. What even is that?

Okay, that's it for my ramblings. Ciao and have a great day, guys!

 

[SlayerFest]

Hahah the image of you asleep with a mouth full of bacon is hilarious. Ugh I hate when people have a tude about doing their freaking job! I can't even imagine seeming annoyed if I volunteered at a hospital, let alone if I worked there and got paid for acting like a total bitca grr...but I'm happy it went well 🙂 I actually thought you were joking about the x-rays haha, awesome! It sounds like you're making tons of progress 😀.

 

[SlayerOfVampyrs]

Thanks for all the well wishes and support, guys! You are all awesome.

I went 6.2 miles today. 4.6 this morning, 1.6 this evening/afternoon. Slacker my (ever shrinking) donkey.