Tomorrow is the day!

Well, tomorrow is hopefully the day that I finally get my stitches out and can move past the problems I have been having after the back surgery. After having my back surgery on 3/25, I was on top of the world. I hadn't felt that good in such a long time that I was totally unprepared to be told 4 weeks later that I had an infection, a staph infection. Nor was I prepared for what was to be my future for the next 6 weeks. When I went to see my primary care doctor to see what I should do and she asked me how I was able to walk, I knew what I had was not a good thing. Having a high tolerance to pain, I just thought she was being over dramatic. I wasn't prepared for the pain that was to come from this hole in my back that was now about 2 inches wide and almost as deep.

I learned more about wound care, antibiotics, and staph infections over the next few weeks than I ever wanted to know. I took trips to a wound care specialist 3 times a week to be tortured while they cleaned the infected material out and packed my back. The antibiotics would only work for a short time, then they would stop working (4 of them in all). I began to learn why my doctor asked how I was walking; the more the infection grew, the worse the pain became. The day they finally admitted me to the hospital to have it surgically irrigated and debrided, I was in such pain I could barely walk.

Now 6 weeks after learning of the infection, it looks like I am finally healing. With any luck the stitches come out tomorrow and then I just have routine wound care appointments to close the remaining hole. I am so looking forward to being completely healed so I can have a normal life again. For over 2 months I have not been able to sleep comfortably and more importantly, take a nice long shower. Showers now have to be quick and at strategic angels so the wound stays dry.

I am so ready to have my life back. The one that I was hoping for after the original spinal fusion - no pain and being able to do normal activities with my family and friends. I am ready!