January 6 – “Six months …”

I finally have some news about my back surgery follow-up.  Yesterday was my appointment with the neurosurgeon.  First time I have seen him since the surgery.  Well, I saw him in the halls when I went in to have the stitches out, but a resident did that deed for him.  He was on his way to get his regular Covid test.  Yesterday was his first day back after a six-week vacation, so I suppose he was well-rested.

 

The session didn’t really take very long.  He watched me walk to make sure I was straight up and down.  He looked at the incision site.  Well, I guess it’s the scar site by now.  All appeared well.  Then he sat down and went over the whole, don’t lift anything stupid thing.  He did say I could walk as much as I wanted, and the pain I have been having should begin to dissipate.  “After all,” he assured me, “it’s going to take you about six months before you are fully recovered from the surgery.”  I’m supposed to take stock of my situation at the beginning of each month.  If I can say to myself that I feel better than I did last month, then I still have a ways to go.  When I reach the point where I say, “No, I feel about the same,” then I have probably reached the “as good as it’s going to get” stage, and that’s what I’ll be blessed to live with from then on. 

 

But then he sat down and said, “Now here’s the thing.  You and I both know that the rest of your lower back is messed up.  And the fix for that is something neither of us want to do.  In fact I will do everything in my power NOT to do anything to your lower back.  You and Dr. Not Me will have to be debating that in the years to come.  In the meantime, I am sitting here as a fat man telling you that the next step in relieving some of the issues in your lower back is to maintain or lose weight, because all the weight from our upper body is transferred at some point to that lower back.  Basically, do what I say, not what I do.”  I had told him earlier about Chris’ heart attack, and he jumped all over that.  He said basically, what she was doing to stay alive, I needed to do to stay away from a greater degree of pain.

 

So, out of all that … I have been officially released.  No further follow-ups needed.  Lifting heavy stuff is stupid; don’t do it.  Walk a lot.  Lose or maintain weight. Eat healthy, tasteless stuff.  Thanks, Doc.  Can I go back to dealing with Covid and the Zombie Vaccine Apocalypse now?

 

Psalms 75:1 says, “We praise you, God, we praise you, for your name is near; people tell of your wonderful deeds.”

 

Father, thank you for the good news that things are going well with my back.  Help me to still be careful.  Amen.