The surgery on my back was more complex than first planned and the operation took over 8 hours.
It
was a bit of a roller coaster for the next few days; pain control
medication was chopped and changed and I was fitted for a corset which I
wore daily for the next 3 months. The OT's had me walking the day after
the operation and going up and down stairs the day after.
The
operation was a success. I needed to do daily exercises and keep to a
sensible amount of exercise, but in less than 6 months I was virtually
pain free and was sledging in the snow with my 2 boys.
There
has been irreparable nerve damage; I have a degree of numbness in my
left leg and occasional pain in my hip, but I cannot thank Mr Blackman
enough for such a phenomenal success; it was far beyond what I could
have ever imagined or hoped for.
It
seems strange now, that just after having such a positive result with
the operation that I went into a deep depression about what I had not
achieved during my life. This lasted several months, but I was not going
to let this new opportunity go; I needed to do something that I had
always wanted to do and started thinking about all the places I wanted
to visit or the things I wanted to achieve.
I
was very aware that I needed to let my back heal properly and that the
convalescent period was 2 years. On my last appointment with my surgeon,
I asked him if he felt it was okay for me to go to the Amazon jungle to
undertake a survival course.
"Yes", was his answer.
(Sorry for the lateness in updating the blog, had an illness in the family).
