I go back to work tomorrow after ten days off. Why, you ask, did I take ten days off in the middle of what is decidedly not vacation season?
My boyfiend's back.
Specifically, his two-level microdiscectomy and associated recovery time.
Boyfiend had worked really hard all late summer and early fall, getting the brewery where he works up and running (yes, Boyfiend makes beer for a living. It's a perfect match.) and had started, just before Thanksgiving, having some pain in his knee. He'd messed up the knee years ago in a bike accident (yes, he rides bikes. Yes, he has a fixie. Yes, he has a beard and skinny jeans and flannel shirts.) and we'd thought it was just overwork. . .
. . . until the day that that leg was so numb he nearly fell getting out of bed.
I'll spare you the fun and games involved with the diagnosis of his problem, except to say that about six weeks into it, I said, "Honey-Bun, Snoogums, Sweetie-Pie, this shit is for the birds. I've got you an appointment with a neurosurgeon at Sunnydale General."
Whereupon he had a myelogram and various other things done that made the surgeon say OMG WTF, and then he went into surgery, where the surgeon opened him up and said OMG WTF EVEN WORSE THAN I THOUGHT OH NOOOOEEEES, and then the surgeon fixed him and closed him up and he's been pretty much fine.
I told him before surgery that he'd take less pain medication recovering from the surgery than he did prior. He did not believe me. I was right.
So for ten days I've been on light nursing duty. Boyfiend is not a whiner, he doesn't moan for attention, and he doesn't get in the way. Mostly he's been sleeping and reading and eating entire pints of ice cream late at night.
Monday he'll get his staples out. Then he can begin, very carefully, to be slightly more active. It'll be months before he's allowed to throw kegs around like Hulk Brewer again (if ever he can), but at least he'll be further away from surgery.
I have to say: it's been nice, after years and years of taking care of back-surgery patients, to get to see one get better.
Hey la, hey la.
Brilliant news .
ReplyDeleteAs I never tire of telling my back patients, sometimes surgery IS the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteBut only sometimes.
So glad for both of you.
ReplyDeleteHe sounds awesome. By the way, don't back surgery patients ever get better? I am considering back surgery for spondylolosthesis and am scared to death.
ReplyDeleteAnon, back surgery patients get better all the time. When you're working in acute care, though, you never get to see that--they're gone too soon. Being around a person who's actually recovering long-term has given me the chance to see the process in action.
ReplyDeleteOh Jo... that sucks for him and I'm so glad he had yo there for him. I think I told you I've had 3 of those surgeries. And you are spot on about taking less meds after than before. It's the only surgery I have ever had where I woke up and immediately felt better than I did before surgery.
ReplyDeleteYes, when the numbness and tingling start interfering with life and walking, that day to see the neurosurgeon just got moved up from "someday".
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad he got in before he'd end up at the Hotel doing rehab.
Sometimes, it ain't pretty when people wait too long.
Hope he's flinging the barrels again (even if they're only the tiny 5 gallon ones). It's still a barrel.
I'm glad to here this news and that he is not a whiner but a HOSS! Way to go guys - speedy healing.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
ReplyDeleteI consider a visit to the spine clinic or the office of E. B. L. Dr. Literandahalf every few months. I just want to know, for my own piece of mind, that someone, somewhere, has in fact told this patient preoperatively that pain will be a part of the postoperative landscape. Because when they are in tears, and wonder why their face is so puffy (how were you envisioning the surgery being performed?) And say things like, I just didn't think it would hurt so badly, I wonder.
ReplyDeleteThats wonderful that you were able to take care of him!!!
ReplyDeleteAshley S.
ReplyDeleteI too have taken my nursing skills from the hospital to home from helping with hospice care for a friends grandmother to post surgical care for my husband who had is tonsils and adenoids out at 27. I hope your bf is back to brewing soon!