Recovery day 2

Things have been progressing well today. I woke up this morning and they removed the catheter, which I was glad to be rid of. The physio came and I went for a short walk and then managed a shower while sitting in the shower chair. I managed to put my contacts in, brush my teeth, and hair, before I started to get light headed and felt a little faint. So I quickly put my gown back on, and laid down in the bed and felt better in just a short while. The nurse had been waiting outside just in case. She checked my bp which was fine and gave me a little oxygen as a precaution.

I was then taken down to xray to confirm that the disc was still in place, and everything looked ok to my untrained eye. Mr boeree had popped in earlier just to see that I was doing ok. The anesthetist, mike Herbertson also came in to check on me and also popped in later in the evening. I have been very impressed with just the number of times the doctors have stopped in to check on me.

They removed the ports in my hands and also took several large chunks of arm hair as they use some sort of freakishly strong tape to hold them in place. My wrists are sporting a couple nice bald spots. Brett had warned of this on his blog, and he was right.

I was allowed to return to eating normally today and the food here is fantastic. I had a light breakfast of cereal and fruit, a lunch of beef consumme, lamb, potatoes, and vegetables and a dinner of prawn cocktail (which was kind of like shrimp salad), roast duck, potatoes and veggies, and a vanilla creme brûlée for dessert.

With a little food in my system, the light headedness started to go away and I've been for a couple short walks just down the hall and back. They may release me to the hotel tomorrow or Sunday depending on what I'm comfortable with. The anesthetist said I'm doing about as good as one can do after getting a disc replacement. This is good news, but it will still be a long road back to recovery over the next 3-4 months.

I got a surprise visit from Si, who has posted a number of comments on brett's blog as well as my own. He lives nearby and was at the hospital for his physio appt. He is around 3 months out from his M6-L disc replacement with Mr. Boeree and seems to be doing pretty well so far. We chatted for a while about our experiences and it was nice to meet someone face to face that has had the same surgery. Hope I'm doing as well as him in 3 months.

Thanks again for all the support and encouragement!