The Day Before Surgery

It took me 4 months to get to this day from the time that my inability to walk properly first began...  My surgery was first scheduled for the middle of July but for whatever reason(s), I was offered an opportunity to move it to tomorrow which I jumped on immediately.

I had to not only get released for surgery from my primary care physician but I also had to get released from my Onocologist as well who suspended my daily and monthly cancer treatments for 3 weeks.  One week before and two weeks after.

In preparation for my surgery, I walked for 30 minutes several weeks prior to my surgery with the last couple of days spent on making sure all the yard work was completed...  this was done because of the rain that arrived today, leaving me with very little to do today except drink lots of liquids, eat light, and do stuff to pass away the time.

My wife's hip replacement surgery left us with all the items that I will need for my surgery like a cane, walker, walking stick, and a device to pick up items that have fallen to the floor.  Since my surgery will be on my lower back, I am pretty sure that I will not be allowed to bend over much for the first couple of weeks.

I have very few apprehensions regarding the surgery other than what I might experience after the surgery but I really won't know that until I get there as each person and each body is different.  My movements will be limited because I will have 2 screws in each of 5 vertebrae that will be attached to two rods and a scar down the middle of my lower back for about 6 inches.

My concern is that for the first couple of days maybe a week, I will be required to spend most of my time lying on my back or on my side rather than sitting up...  if that happens then I know there is very little that one can do in that position except look at the ceiling or sleep.  And, while there will be a lot of sleeping as a result of the trauma to my body...  laying in bed can get rather boring very quickly.

Other than than these thoughts, my last day before surgery is relatively calm...  I hope that later in the day when it is time to sleep, I will be able to fall asleep quickly and not wake up until I have to...

I have had heart surgery, foot surgery, neck surgery, and hernia surgery and never really worried about any of those surgeries other than what the hell was going to happen to me during surgery and afterwards...  those fears never happened the way I thought they might happen other than my nervousness as I lay on the table in the OR getting prepped for the surgery and no one was talking to you...

If you have been there, you know the feeling...  everything else is simply downhill from there...   however, the healing/recovery process is always slow and boring and tedious, but necessary.