CF Happens

I signed my parole papers around 5pm yesterday. Unfortunately, Walgreens took longer than usual to fill my pain meds and muscle relaxer. I didn’t get to take another dose of pain meds until 9pm. I had to play a bit of catch up to get the pain under control again and a bit more tolerable. It is very hard to find a comfortable position to sit or lay in. Obviously, I can’t lay all the way flat because I will cough a lot AND it will take a lot of core muscles to get back upright. You don’t realize how much you use and rely on your back core muscles to move and lift yourself until your back is cut open. haha Every position feels like it’s pulling on my incision which of course hurts. Obviously, they had to cut through muscles to get where they needed to go. With that said, my back muscles are pretty pissed off right now. My incision is about 4 inches long and is smack dab in the middle of my tattoo. It may no longer say “Never Give Up.” We shall see once it’s healed. haha.

Being restricted from “BLT” as my aunt calls it in her occupational therapist world is hard. “BLT” stands for Bending, Lifting and Twisting. For instance, when I drop something I can’t just bend over and pick it up. When I need something that is in a drawer below my waist, I have to ask someone to get it. This whole relying on someone to do simple things for me is hard and it’s only the beginning.

My restrictions are as follows…no BLT (bending, lifting (more than a gallon of milk), twisting) for 6 weeks. No running, jumping or impact exercises for 3 months. But let’s be honest, I NEVER run or do impact exercises so I’m good there. haha. No driving for 2 weeks and obviously no driving if I’m still taking narcotics for pain control. They said If I feel comfortable enough, strong enough and I’m not taking pain meds I can drive before the 2 weeks are up. I have a follow up appointment with the neurosurgeon 6 weeks from surgery day, which is February 24th.

My last day of IV antibiotics is Wednesday the 22nd. My left thigh is still VERY numb and the area of numbness is larger than it was before surgery. I’m hoping some of the numbness goes away. I will most likely have some lasting numbness in my left thigh regardless just from nerve damage that was done. The numbness is hard to explain because it doesn’t necessarily hurt per se, it’s just uncomfortable and feels weird.

Thanks to my sister for helping me shower today for the first time since surgery. I feel a little more human, a hurting human but more human nonetheless. I think that covers everything so far. I’ll update again when there’s something to update about.

Until next time…