5 weeks post-op summary

Nick is now 5 weeks post-op. Generally he feels he is doing quite well, fairly positive about it all. Not taking any painkillers or muscle relaxants, just continuing his course of anti-inflammatories. This is where he is at....

 

• Stands tall and straight
• Sitting - haven't really tested recently. Can do about 30 minutes - will be trying a 45 minute session at school tomorrow
• Bending forwards. Can reach past his knees, about 2 inches.
• Describes a hamstring tightness as the reason for being unable to bend further (rather than sciatica)
• Sciatica - occasionally has a little sciatic pain in his calf
• Buttock pain/ache seems to have gone
• Doing the 4 weeks post-op exercise routine
• Finds swimming a bit tricky, can trigger mild sciatica
• Schoolwork. Doing some at home but finds he gets very tired. Doing most of it lying down. Hoping to do a GCSE at school on Friday
• Currently trying to plan how he can return to school, whilst still doing physio stretches and not over-doing it and causing a flare-up.

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4 weeks + 5 days post op. 1 step back, 2 steps forwards

One step back, two steps forward

Nick visited the physio again this evening. To his delight he seems to be better now than he was pre his flare-up. His straight leg raise is now about 50 degrees and he can reach about two inches below his knees. He has no sciatica, even when she raises his leg. He does have incredibly tight hamstrings and it is this tightness, rather than sciatic pain, that prevents him raising his leg further. We regard this as good news, because we know that we can loosen his hamstrings.

He has some additional exercises - see page '4 weeks (post flare-up) exercises' and is back to a little cycling and some swimming. He is beginning to think about how he will cope when he goes back to school which we are hoping he will do next week. So tomorrow I need to start talking to the school again about his return.

So, it looks like he took one step back but two steps forwards.

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4 weeks + 1 day - over the flare-up!

Phew, Nick seems to have got over the flare-up. He can stand and sit properly again, has virtually no pain (just a little sensation in his calf), needed no painkillers today and is generally back to his normal pre flare-up self. He has been incredibly cautious today re exercise, basically just a couple of short walks and the basic physio stretches but he says that he wants to start re-introducing the 1 week post-op exercises tomorrow.

 

He tried a little gentle swimming in a hydro pool yesterday but found that it triggered a little pain in his calf so will wait until next week before going again. Mind you, his idea of 'gentle' was 100 lengths - admittedly it's a very small pool - which was a bit more than I was envisaging!

 

I'll give him one last diazepam tonight to help him sleep but I am hopeful that he is back on the road to recovery.

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3 weeks + 6 days - shitty day

We've had a pretty shitty day today....

1 am. Nick wakes me up. He's in a lot of pain (buttocks), very upset and can't sleep. Desperately worried about this new pain. Took 1 x 30 mg Dihydrocodeine which after a while kicked in and he managed to get to sleep. Before going to bed he couldn't stand up straight which had upset me - he looked like his pre-op days which was depressing.

10 am. Nick wakes up and not looking or feeling too bad. Walks into the kitchen standing properly and walking tall - huge relief. Perhaps last night was just a temporary glitch. Cancel the planned trip to hydro pool for swimming because his tummy button is looking very infected.

11 am. Starts his first mock GCSE. We've planned out the day with basically cycles of sit - walk - sit - walk - exercise - rest. Each sit is doing his exam paper with an expected finish time of 3 ish.

Buttock pain gets steadily worse and he gets stiffer and stiffer. By the third cycle when he gets back from the walk he collapses on the floor by the door. Virtually in tears, unable to lift himself up to sitting and certainly can't stand. Abandon exam paper, another Dihyrocodeine.

Crawls to living room and rests on futon. Can't find a pain-free position at all.

5 pm. Visit to physio. His lower back had shifted a bit and muscles gone into spasm. Strangely can bend forward but can't stand straight. Lots of massage on lower back and calf. Advised that this may just be a flare up, and to rest with a warm pad on back. Revert back to the 1 week post-op stretches only. If no improvement in next 24-48 hours to contact surgeon again.

So, at time of writing (7. 30 pm) feeling pretty miserable and uncertain what is going on.

10.15 pm update. Took a couple of paracetamol and now looking a bit happier. Just praying that he manages to sleep tonight.

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3 weeks + 1 day post-op. Physio visit.

 

Nick went back to see the physio today. Generally happy with progress but did re-iterate that this will take some time. The main issues are twofold. Firstly his nerve is still tethered somewhere, which is why he still cannot get beyond about 40 degrees in the straight leg raise or bend forwards to touch his toes (with his knees straight). Secondly, a lot of his other muscles have tightened up, eg his hamstrings, glutes etc as a result of his limited movement for such a long time.

So, she is stepping up his activity levels. Nick felt ready for this too so is happy with the idea. The main extra activities are

• Cycling, but starting off with only a few minutes and gradually building up and avoiding hills or bumpy roads. Nick will start off indoors until he can manage a reasonable amount of time.
• Lunges, for 2-3 minutes
• Bridge with a stability ball, holding for 10 seconds, 10 times over
• Wobble board balance. Total of 20 minutes a day. Nick struggled just to stand still, but once he can manage that to try squats
• Standing hamstring stretches for 2-3 minutes at a time
• Sitting. To limit to 20 minutes, then walk, then resume sitting (rather than sitting until it hurts)
• Swimming. He can start swimming lengths if he wants to.

He is to continue his walking. For his existing '1 week post-op' stretches, to continue any which he feels are working for him. He's decided to continue the clam and the sit to stand.

Nick also tried out the cross trainer but found that it caused pain in his calf, plus we don't have access to one at home so we decided to leave it out.


Overall, the physio felt that Nick should be reducing the amount of time he spends lying down so we've decided that he should follow a rotation of the above to keep him moving. Not great news for his exam revision!


Will get a page up tomorrow summarising the three weeks post op routine with a few photos.


 

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