post op

My surgery Thursday was completed without issue. It took about three hours, as planned. My greatest fear¹—waking up during the procedure—mercifully did not come to pass. Dr. Wang stopped by immediately afterward and said he was extremely pleased with how it went. Then again, I suppose a surgeon coming by to say “wow, I really did some mediocre work there” would be unusual.

After a few hours of post-op grogginess, I spent an uneventful night in the hospital. Every time a nurse or doctor asked me to rate my pain on a 0-10 scale, I answered “1.” I have a mild sore throat, not unlike the kind I’d get with a cold, and a sensation in my esophagus that feels something like a touch of acid reflux. Neither would be serious enough for me to even reach for OTC meds if they occurred during normal times.

They sent me home about 5:00pm on Friday. Per my discharge orders, I have been taking Tylenol for pain, and Flexeril to keep the muscles in the back of my neck from tightening up too much. That’s a thing that happens, apparently. I’ve needed no serious painkillers so far, though I have them handy if needed.

The million-dollar question, of course: did it work? I can say that the numbness/weakness in my right upper arm is completely gone. In fact I noticed that as soon as the anesthesia wore off. This makes sense, since the C5/C6 disc was far more crushed than the C6/C7 disc, and that C5/C6 foraminal cavity is where the upper arm nerve exits.

As far as the loss of dexterity in my fingers goes, I am not noticing much improvement yet. They did tell me it could take some time for that to come back, so I’m trying not to worry about it for the moment. There is no timeline; this is a wait-and-see situation. Open-ended patience of the kind I need now is a gift unbestowed upon me, so this will be a bit of a trial. I follow up with the surgeon in two weeks and again in six weeks, at which point I expect to be freed from the cone of shame.

The important thing for the moment is that I don’t feel any pain to speak of, which feels something like a miracle given how they were rooting around in there just 48 hours ago. The game now will be to manage my boredom and anticipation while I wait and watch for improvement in my fingers, and to deal with the frustrating limitations imposed upon my freedom of movement for the next six weeks of recovery.

I do have to say I have been blown away by the outpouring of support. So many texts and emails and calls! I’ve tried to thank everyone individually, and I hope I did. If I missed you, I’m sorry. I’ve said for a long time that my family and friends are my greatest blessing, and the last couple of weeks have only served to reinforce that. I’m lucky beyond compare. Thank you, thank you, thank you.²