Recovering basically became a gradual building of physical strength and a lessening of pain. And it takes months, even 1 year to really feel like you've got all your energy and strength back.
Initially there is a lot of pain with movement and a bit of adjustment in how you do things because you cannot bend over. So things like turning on the shower and spitting out your toothpaste after brushing your teeth needs an adjustment. At first I had someone turn on the shower for me, but then I started turning it on with my foot. I would spit into a cup to brush my teeth. I wore slip on tennis shoes so I didn't have to tie them. I had someone get food out for me from the refrigerator for me to eat, because I could not bend at all to get anything. Likewise, If I dropped something (like food) on the floor, it stayed there until someone else could get it.
Having my mom there to help take care of me was so nice. She would make food for me and we would go on walks everyday and she kept me company. We watched a lot of movies and read magazines. People from my church brought over meals for us for 2 weeks. which was incredibly helpful. The first day home I walked around the corner of our building to CVS and back and that was too much. I was in a lot of pain that night. Everyday I would see how far I could go. It wasn't painful to walk; it was more exhausting and uncomfortable (I could acutely feel the rods).
Being at home all day, feeling like crap was so boring. I could really do much but lay around, go for a daily walk to get some exercise and watch daytime tv. I didn't have much attention span to read much, but magazine material was light and short enough to handle. I window shopped a lot and did buy a pair a really pretty purple high heels shoes that I would wear in bed with my pajamas (obviously couldn't walk in them there). They made me feel better. I generally felt pretty crappy all day, everyday for the 12 weeks I was off home before going back to work. At least I kept telling myself, I am getting better. This is the worst it will ever be, each day is an improvement over the next.
Initially there is a lot of pain with movement and a bit of adjustment in how you do things because you cannot bend over. So things like turning on the shower and spitting out your toothpaste after brushing your teeth needs an adjustment. At first I had someone turn on the shower for me, but then I started turning it on with my foot. I would spit into a cup to brush my teeth. I wore slip on tennis shoes so I didn't have to tie them. I had someone get food out for me from the refrigerator for me to eat, because I could not bend at all to get anything. Likewise, If I dropped something (like food) on the floor, it stayed there until someone else could get it.
Having my mom there to help take care of me was so nice. She would make food for me and we would go on walks everyday and she kept me company. We watched a lot of movies and read magazines. People from my church brought over meals for us for 2 weeks. which was incredibly helpful. The first day home I walked around the corner of our building to CVS and back and that was too much. I was in a lot of pain that night. Everyday I would see how far I could go. It wasn't painful to walk; it was more exhausting and uncomfortable (I could acutely feel the rods).
Being at home all day, feeling like crap was so boring. I could really do much but lay around, go for a daily walk to get some exercise and watch daytime tv. I didn't have much attention span to read much, but magazine material was light and short enough to handle. I window shopped a lot and did buy a pair a really pretty purple high heels shoes that I would wear in bed with my pajamas (obviously couldn't walk in them there). They made me feel better. I generally felt pretty crappy all day, everyday for the 12 weeks I was off home before going back to work. At least I kept telling myself, I am getting better. This is the worst it will ever be, each day is an improvement over the next.
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