Final Post-Op Update
It has been about 7 and a half weeks since my spinal fusion. If you have read my previous blogs, you know that my recovery was rough, really rough, but I am doing much, much better now and am even typing this blog myself.
As you may already know, a big part of the result of my surgery was nerve damage. This impacted my mental and physical health greatly. I was often in great pain and was unable to do my typical every day tasks such as texting my friends and typing on my computer. Over the course of these past few weeks, my pain and mobility has slowly started to get better, and I would say now, I am about 90% recovered. Although, one of the hardest things for me now is playing the piano. I can’t use my left hand much, mainly because of the lack of feeling and pain in my pinky. I also can’t move my hands across the piano very quickly. Now, I just have to build up more strength, and hopefully I will be back to playing very soon.
Wednesday, September 16th was my first day of school. One of our biggest concerns for my nerve damage was that I wouldn’t get my mobility back in my left hand, especially in time for school. Here I am now, typing up my own blog on my third night of school. I may not be the fastest typer in the world, but I’m doing pretty well considering I could hardly move my hand 7 weeks ago.
On Thursday, September 17th, I had a doctors appointment with my orthopedic surgeon who did my surgery, Doctor Vitale. This appointment was to make sure I am healing and recovering well, and as Doctor Vitale says, I look great! I also got x-rays done, which you can see an image of below. When I got my x-rays done prior to my surgery, I could barely hold my head up, but as you can see in this image, I am sitting up nice and tall with my head held up high! I am beyond thankful that my surgery went well (at least the spine part of it;)) and that my hand was able to heal itself with time, just like the doctors said. Thats a wrap for my recovery updates. Expect some articles covering remote school and more soon!
