@sherrym25 Sherry, what a wonder well thought out post! Thank you for sharing the details of living after major spine surgery. Your descriptions are very helpful. I went through some of this for my cervical surgery.

I know you are very early in your healing now, but I wanted to give you a heads up that surgical scars tend to tighten up a lot as they heal and can generate pain. When that happens, don't let it get you down, because there is help when you are ready for it. You kind of have to endure that until the incisions are fully healed, and you are fused and cleared for physical therapy. A therapist can stretch out surgical scars to help relieve the pain they can cause. You may want to look at our discussion on Myofascial Release for some information. Doing MFR work has helped me a lot not only with my cervical spine incision, but also scars from surgeries from an ankle fracture.

Keep up the good work healing! Here is our discussion.

Neuropathy -"Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/