← Return to Lumbar Spinal Fusion, Post-Op Day 6. Should I have these symptoms?

Discussion
Comment receiving replies
@upstatephil

@denman55 - @roma76 is right on target. Day six is mighty early in your recovery process. And as roma76 points out - you're actually recovering from two surgeries. Set your expectations accordingly.

My suggestion is to start a personal journal. That's not my thing but I did it anyway. It helped give me a safe place where I could vent and express my frustrations regarding recovery that was slower than I'd hoped. I also found myself losing track of time along the way. Every so often, when I felt I was getting nowhere, I would read some journal entries from a week or two weeks before and appreciate I actually was improving.

Maintain a positive attitude. Follow the doc's orders expressly. Learn to accept that you will be laid-up for awhile. Discover new and interesting ways to occupy yourself. Because your recovery depends in part on new bone growth to fully heal - that's a slow process and there's little you can do to speed things up! Frustrating but manageable.

Jump to this post


Replies to "@denman55 - @roma76 is right on target. Day six is mighty early in your recovery process...."

Thank you. I found your words comforting and reassuring, because right now on Day 7 Post-Op I am feeling a lot of discomfort and wondering if I should feel this lousy right now. Maybe I thought I could walk a little faster, have Zero pain/discomfort, be able to sleep in my own bed instead of this recliner and just go back to "life as normal". It ain't happening yet and probably not for a few months. You're right, I need to set my expectations accordingly. I'm sore, and I'm gonna be for quite awhile. So I thank you again for your words, they definitely made me feel better today on Day 7.