Back in Toronto

Well I made it safely back to Toronto as I outlined in my GoFundMe update.  I will replicate what I wrote here just to save some time in case people here haven't read it (I have also added a new update after):

"I'm now back home safe and (mostly) sound with my family in Toronto. :) The flight home wasn't as bad as I feared but it was no picnic :( - meds, my brace, wheelchair service at the airport and the random kindness of a family from Hyderabad on the flight made it manageable though. 

As of now I'm pretty sore and my rehab and physiotherapy begins in earnest. I should be in good shape by about 3 months according to my surgeon, but the road won't be easy (or cheap :P).

On a happier note, I wanted to give thanks to everyone who has helped out here or in other ways thus far. :) The response has been overwhelming and truly humbling. I also wanted to single out my friend Ben Reynolds who took the time and financial resources to accompany me to Barcelona. He was truly indispensable and I don't know how I could possible have coped over the past week and a half without him. :)"

As for now, I am week 2 post surgery and as of today I am done with the steri-strips on my incision - which looks good considering - and I am also done with the self injected blood thinner.  I have to say a good way to get over a fear of needles is to inject them into yourself daily. :O

My rehab is coming along - today I was able to walk from home to near to Lawrence and back.  This was a good practice run for when I am able to pick Daniel up at Daycare again.  I am also able to use the elliptical machine if I take it super easy - nice for when it is too cold outside and / or snowing.  One more week and I also get clearance for driving in a car - nicely just in time for the holidays. :)  That will mark week 3 and I will be a quarter of the way to the critical 3 month mark when I get new x-rays to ensure the discs haven't shifted. Fingers and toes crossed on that. :|

As far as pain goes, overall it is sort of an up and down affair - my back hasn't really recovered yet from the trip back home.  I think I really stressed my muscles that day and it will be a while before they recover.  I also can't sleep through the night comfortably yet: I wake up around 4ish in quite a bit of pain, its tough to get back to sleep, but I got some more pain meds today for that so hopefully that will do the trick.

Overall though things seem to be moving in the right direction.  It is just really hitting me that this is going to be a very slow and up and down recovery, but as long as the overall trendline keeps the same I should be okay. :)

Last day in Barcelona

Sorry for the dearth of posts, I've been focusing on rehab and giving status updates via microblogging.

Well today is my last day in Barcelona, what a beautiful city I can't wait to come back under better circumstances. Here is a bit of a recap of the past several days.

Recovery has been a slow painful process. Ever since I got out of the hospital Monday I've had very had hip pain on my left side this has yet to resolve itself despite some physio (more details below). I have been walking around the local neighbourhood despite this pain and it has slowly improved. My surgical pain has also slowly gotten better - I eventually stopped needing my walking stick to get in an out of bed around Wednesday and then yesterday I sat down for the first time for a meal which was awesome and super cheap - 9.95 euro for a three course meal with big portions as well as a bottled water - quite the find which Ben and I came across just by going for a long therapeutic walk.:)

Most have my days have been spent sort of watching old episodes of Lost and using the Internet so there isn't a whole lot to report as far as action.  Today was involved though as I saw my surgeon to get the all clear for flying and for him to check me one last time.

My surgeon came in to the hospital even though its a bank holiday just to see me - awesome guy. :) Says everything looks good, only issues that we discussed were the butterfly stitches that came off because the nurse put my last bandage in the hospital on such that it stuck to half of them. I had fixed this myself by buying some new bandages I bought at the pharmacia. Since I was familiar with the bandages and they had come off he opted to leave them on for another week rather than take them off now. The other problem is a possible urinary tract infection from my catheder. No fever or anything just a precaution due to some other symptoms.

I also asked him about the hip pain and he said it is probably related to the fact that I had 3 levels replaced and there was so much swelling and blood drainage into that area. He said it should resolve over the next couple of weeks and if not to get some physio to work it out.

Other than that I got my pamphlet of dos and donts and timelines for each as well as exercises that I need to read up on. :P I asked him what I could do to insure a good result and he said to make sure I keep walking mostly over the next 3 months. That will be a challenge in winter in Toronto once we get snow so I got the okay to use my elliptical (he was originally reluctant but we both saw it as the lesser of two evils if there is snow on the ground).

So that is pretty much a wrap for Barcelona - For our last night here Ben and I are going out to dinner tonight to Indochine a nice reasonable Thai restaurant near our hotel that we went to the night before my surgery. It has its dining area setup over an artificial river with real fish and lots of vegetation.  There is also jungle sounds and a nice breeze so you feel you are on or near a river in Thailand - very cool.  :)

So tomorrow morning I fly back home - I looked into an upgrade because of the amount of siting involved but it didn't work out. :( Hopefully the meds and my brace will make it bearable. I should be back in Toronto around 4:30 tomorrow.

Mostly though can't wait to see Trish and Daniel and get into my own bed. ;)

So day 3 after surgery and I am making sort of steady progress, it is hard to tell from the nurses since so few speak English.  I was told earlier today that I need to stay at least an extra day in the hospital - until Monday. :( It kinda sucks but given the amount of swelling I had and where I am in the recovery I am not totally surprised.  I am making good progress on the walking front.  Today I walked to the end of the hallway twice with no assisstance which felt really good (if very sore).  My incision is the primary culprit of my pain.  the muscle and the incision itself are both very sore and hurt the most when I am moving around.  Luckily that isnt too often but I need to keep moving in order to make progress. :)

All in all things are moving in the right direction if a little slower than I had hoped.  Looking forward to walking out of here in a few days for sure. :)

Surgery!

Well I had my surgery yesterday - everything went well according to the surgeon. :D Apparently my bottom disc was a little hard to get at from the angle it was at but ultimately it was fine and it looked great on imaging.  Still pretty sore from the procedure but I have a nice morphine drip to take care of that. Last night was tough for sleep and my friend Ben literally spoon fed me my soup.:P

 Later today I will walk for the first time post -surgery and try to sit.  I also have to put on a brace because my stomach is swelling quite a bit - not a rare side effect the surgeon told me.

Everyone here on staff has been great, my Spanish is definitely improving but the had an interpreter here over night to help the night shift since they tend to have fewer English-speaking nurses on staff.  I will update this post later after the session with the physiotherapist.

All in all I'm feeling pretty good though considering what I went through but I'm not looking forward to getting up as I am sure it going to be pretty painful just from the pains I am getting shifting in the bed.

Edit: So I saw the physiotherapist and I did a little walk around the room. :) the most painful part is the incision, my back itself doesn't really hurt at all.:O  Currently sitting in a chair relatively pain free (with some help from meds). 

So I finally arrived in Barcelona after a missed flight due to delays and a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt.  The hotel here was a little iffy at first as Ben and I would have been in a little cozy in the first room they put me in - it was essentially one long room with dividers and only slightly frosted glass for the bathroom and shower which were right in the middle of the room.  When I explained my situation they moved me to another room that has a better divider and totally separates the bathroom area.  Only slight hitch is that it is a bathtub shower, we'll see how I navigate that post surgery. :/

Overall Barcelona has been pretty cool thus far, really nice people and clean modern city.  Looking forward to my appointment with the surgeon tomorrow and then sneaking it a quick bit of site-seeing in the afternoon if time permits.

Well travel day is finally here, Barcelona here I come (flying tonight)! It's weird to think in 4 days I am technically going to be a cyborg, or more technically bionic, with my three new artificial discs.

Still pretty nervous about this whole thing and praying that I have made the right decision and that all goes well  but everything is out of my hands now so I am trying to be pretty Zen.  I also have confidence that I have done all the due diligence I reasonable could and am just hoping for a good outcome.

I've probably packed too much, but I wanted to err on the side of not wishing I had something - read too many stories about people regretting they didn't bring X.  I only have one suitcase though (which isn't even that heavy) so that seems like a win. ;)

Next Stop - Barcelona!