9.30 am
Nick seems to have had a good nights sleep and got up about 9 am saying that he felt good. Certainy had a smile on his face, which he didn't have the night before. Went straight in to a full set of physio stretches - we had read that straight after waking up is a good time to do them as your muscles are warm and relaxed.
Managed to sit up for a light breakfast - he's really focusing on sitting up straight now but, likes us all, finds he keeps forgetting and reverts to a slight slouch. Slight dull back ache around the wound area, so 2x 200g Nurofen and an ice-pack for 20 minutes. Back to lying on the floor, although he prefers lying on his side to avoid irritating the wound. Switches sides about every 20 mins.
Note about ice-packs. Buy several, as they need time to re-freeze and you are likely to need ice before they have re-frozen. Also, try to find really slim ones (we found the Boots hot/cold sports compress the best) so that you can lie on them without it forcing your back up.
10.30 am. Just discovered that a thin cushion under Nick's bum takes the pressure off his lower back and helps him to lie on his back in less pain :-)
11 am. Out for a short walk, managed 893 steps (about 0.4 km). We've devised a clever route plan. Starting from home, he walks 20 yards up the road then turns round and walks back. If he feels OK, he sets off again in the opposite direction, again for 20 yards before returning home. If he feels OK, he sets off again. Etc. This way he can walk a fair distance overall but is never more than 20 yards from home should it start to hurt. This works better than one's instinct of walking until it hurts, and then realising that you have to walk the same distance again to get home and hence overdoing it.
Some wound pain after the walk so more ice spray. Nick's saying that the nurofen isn't helping at all so trying paracetamol this time - 2 x 500 mg. He's trying to have a snooze now.
12.30 pm. Didn't manage to snooze much and by 12.30 decided to do another round of physio stretches, followed by ice spray for 20 mins. Pain only when moves, so perhaps paracetamol is working better than nurofen. Slight frustration that the best position to alleviate pain is lying on his front, but then he can't do anything at all and gets fed up!
4 pm. Further ice spray at 2.15 pm and then another walk at 3.15 pm. Managed a little more this time (about 0.6 km) and Nick said it felt better. Only has a low level of back pain. More ice-spray on return and now has settled down to watch a James Bond film!
5.45 pm. Another set of physio exercises followed by ice spray. Reporting 'very low' levels of pain. Keeping fingers crossed it stays that way. Have now added a page on this blog showing these physio exercises that he's been doing.
10.45 pm. Not much changed since my last post. Nick managed to sit up for supper without issue but did head back to the futon pretty quickly. More ice spray around 9 pm. Slight back pain before going to bed, and he was worried that he wouldn't be able to sleep well so 2 x 500 g paracetamol before bedtime.
Overall not a bad day, and both of us relieved no sudden increase in pain like last night. Ice spray definitely his preferred method of cooling his back because you can cover a greater area and he doesn't have to worry about keeping a pack in place. We seem to have developed a routine of stretching, walking, stretching, walking and a final stretching session coupled with applying ice every 1.5 hours. Hoping that the progress keeps up.
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