Released & Good to Go

This week, I met with my Orthopedic Surgeon to evaluate my progress after having 5 disks fused together 6 months ago...  L2 - L3 - L4 - L5 - S1...  which is considered major surgery and since I am 75 years old...  returning to normal takes longer.

My surgeon told me I was good to go...  I can do any damn thing I want to do as long as I do so with a little bit of common sense.

While this is obviously good to hear, it is still not dealing with the reality of my life right now.

1. My disks have not totally fused together so that is still going on.
2. My walking is still awkward in that it is being forced and not natural.
3. I cannot walk up steps without using the rail to pull me up.
4. I cannot bend over completely without holding onto to a table.
5. When I walk, I still have a slight limp.

My surgeon had previously informed me that it could be 12-18 months before I get back to normal, so if that is accurate for me, then I have another 6-12 months to go.

When I first started walking with a walking stick, it took me 58 minutes to walk a mile.  Today, I no longer use a walking stick and when I walk a mile, it takes me about 22/23 minutes...  so, there is an incredible amount of movement.

The surgeon told me that my core strength had to be rebuilt and it was the core strength not the surgery that was preventing me from doing what I thought I was doing before the surgery...  that memory before surgery may or may not be accurate as it was not being measured.

That may be true because you don't think about what you have until it is lost or gone or taken away.

I have no choice but to continue walking a mile a day for as long as I can to reduce the physical aging process as long as possible.  It is not to keep me feeling young...  it is to keep me doing what I want to do a few years longer.

When I turn 80 (5 years from now), I want to be able to go outside and walk a mile like I am doing now.  I want to be able to rake the leaves outside, spread mulch, cut the grass, and weedeat.   It would be nice to be able to do that when I am 85 and 90 as well.

The last thing that I want to do is sit on the porch and watch the traffic for several hours and then need help to stand up...   I want to be able to stand up and play checkers rather than having to sit down.  I want to be able to climb the stairs of a cruise ship without having to wait for the elevator.

My walking today will help me do all of that...