Been a while since we've posted. I was going to go back and go through my list of things and pictures to blog about, but there's no way... so we are starting fresh! Here we go.
Back Surgery
To be specific, last Thursday March 16 I had a Lumbar Microdiscectomy L5, S1. Click on the link to take you to a text description. You're on your own to look up a video...although there are a few great ones out there.
This all relates back to my herniated disc from right after Logan was born. Or as Grant calls it- when the firetruck came to pick up Mommy. At the time, the ER docs didn't know it was a herniated disc, just a lot of leg pain. If you didn't hear about that story, click here and scroll down to "Tuesday, July 5. Finally settling in to a routine..." to read about it.
It has been 6 months after the initial incident, and I was not in pain. I had numb spots here and there on the back of my left leg and the bottom of my foot (from the nerve being pinched), and my leg was slow to respond. For instance, my right leg would sprint and my left leg would just try t keep up. I looked like a galloping horse of some sort. Either way, I was not in pain and had gotten used to working around a numb leg. This made it incredibly difficult to rationalize with my brain why I needed surgery. Yes, I needed surgery to release the nerve and make my leg work properly again, but the night before surgery when you are not in pain???? You start to rethink your thought process.
The short version of surgery is that you put on your fancy surgery gown, they knock you out, put a tube down your throat to make sure you keep breathing, flip you over and do a small incision in your lower back, cut off the part of the disc sticking out, sew you back together, flip you back over and you wake up. Easy peasy.
I tell you what, my throat hurt worst of all. I also learned that when I wake up from anesthesia, I am a crier. Full on tears for no reason. I heard the nurse ask Kyle if I was normally this emotional? I just remember needing so much water to drink and being sooo thirsty and my throat hurting - scratched raw like when you eat triangle tortilla chips and the corners scratch you as you swallow them. Once you wake up and go potty (proof yet again that most things in life revolve around going potty), you get to go home.
Here's how they send you home - big band aid, prescription for Vicodin and you can take a shower in 2-3 days. I must say, the actual back part of the surgery is not as painful as I though, and definitely doable. I can sit, stand, lay down, all for short periods. No bending over. Not that you shouldn't bend over, but that you can't, your back won't let you. If it was just the back, this surgery would be super easy. The problem is that your nerve is now released and needs to settle. That means twinges of pain down my leg that I haven't had pain in for the last 4 months. It's like a dirty mental flashback to the original injury. You just have to let the nerve settle.
In the meantime, you sleep when you can, stand and walk when you can, and sit when you can. Sitting is the worst for me right now as it hits the nerve running down my leg and I get that pain all over again. I've been walking around the house and am hopeful to go outside tomorrow. Toby and Ollie definitely know something is not right and have been following me everywhere, room to room. Last night I slept in the basement, as it is easier to sit up and switch sides to sleep on rather than roll over in bed. I had these two with me all night long. The first night I was home, every time I opened my eyes in bed, I would look at Toby and he was already looking at me. I think he watched me all night. When he saw me awake, he would talk to me with his low humming growl, and I would say "It's okay Toby" and he would close his eyes and go to sleep.
Sunday is day 3 of recovery - Thursday doesn't count as a day since you are mostly still screwed up on anesthesia and shock - and I'd like to say I'm doing well, although I would also not like to anger the karma gods. I did get to shower (YAY) and take off the band-aid. What is left is a 2 inch strip of stitches. Not so bad considering what they actually did to me inside.
Speaking of playing time, I saw this idea online and copied it for Grant. Kyle put it together, so basically I just bought the pieces.
6 potted plant buckets from Ikea $0.79 each
Lazy Susan from Ikea - $9.99
Kyle screwed the pots on the Lazy Susan and I filled them with fun stuff and off we go! We have crayons and markers upstairs in pencil boxes on the shelf, but we were constantly carrying them up and down to the basement and back to the kitchen. This one stays downstairs in the basement on the table.
We've also been finger painting and dot-painting lately. Pulled out the arts and crafts tote the other afternoon to see what we could play with. We are in between napping and not napping, so some days we are tired, but we just need to sit quietly and work to rest our brains.
See the green tray he is painting in? $5 at Michael's. WORTH EVERY PENNY. Contains the mess. Should have bought more than one.
Glitter! We also had fun with glitter. Lucky for mom these glitter tubes had sprinkle lids (like spices do) so you don't dump as much glitter all over the place. Still....I think the kitchen floor got a full sweep and mop that night.
Grant also has a blank book from his arts and crafts table. Almost like a journal, but a book full of blank paper. Fun to use with stickers as he will put stickers on the pages and then color around them later (pic above).
If you have not heard of washi tape, this house has a small addiction with it. It is technically patterned scotch tape, used to make stationery, add to your calendar or planner, or for fun decorations. You can buy it Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Target... but Etsy.com is the place if you are looking for specifics. I use it in my family planner that I have and the family journal I just started keeping - those two can be their own blog at a later date. I looked on Etsy for some fun washi tape for Grant to play with and found a roll of tape that looks like a road, and then a roll of tape that is really stickers of cars and trucks. We opened them today and he had a blast putting them on everything. The best part is, since is mimics Scotch tape, it comes off of most things. If you look up in the Lazy Susan picture, you can see one bucket that has tape in it. One tape is trains and the other one is dinosaurs.
Grant likes to type on the computer. Today we were talking about holding down the Arrow Button (Shift) to make a small "g" turn into a big "G". He also thought my desk could use some cars and trucks on it. The washi tape roll also came with street signs as well. Funny thing is that it was from a Japanese seller, so all the street signs are in Japanese. No one has noticed yet.
The hardest part about having surgery and not playing with the boys is exactly that - not playing with them. I feel like I am sitting on the sidelines literally watching them grow. Kyle put Logan in Grant's old car the other day and he immediately grabbed the steering wheel and honked the horn. I see driveway races in our future. Logan has 4 teeth now, going on 5. Whereas Grant got teeth one at a time, Logan seems to get them in sets of 2. He is so curious and aware of the world around him and super frustrated when he can't get to where he wants to go. He rolls all around the house and I keep thinking any minute he is going to start crawling.
The family dynamics in our house are a bit like a science experiment. Toby stays away from both Logan and Grant, but will run out to the van every time I come home to make sure I brought home everyone I was supposed to. Toby will, however, pick and choose his chances to give Logan a kiss and get some formula off his face. Toby tolerates Ollie, but Ollie follows Toby everywhere and just wants to be near him. Ollie and Grant play and run, but Ollie will bring his toy to Logan. Logan has picked up the game pretty quick and will hold on to the toy while Ollie plays with him.
Click here to see a video of Ollie playing with Logan.
And of course, everything goes in our mouth. Ollie lost this round, but I'm sure there will be more. I am hoping to get back on track with the blogging discipline and write again soon!
Until next time, keep exploring!
Love and hugs,
M, K, G, L, T & O
