Two and a half weeks later...

I had surgery on Halloween, spent two weeks recuperating in a busy house with 3 small kids, and finally was able to return to work on Tuesday.

Physically, I still can't feel the back of my left leg, my left foot has mostly stopped tingling, and I walk very slowly with a slight limp.

My incision in my back is a bit itchy, but mostly healed up. My back is still stiff but it doesn't cause the same amount of pain as before.

Mentally, I'd say that life is not getting any better. I haven't been at 100% physically since June, and the strain is starting to get to me. Both neurosurgeons I talked to said that recovery would be slow, but I always hoped that because I had it diagnosed early that recovery would be faster. The nurse seemed surprised that I was nearly off painkillers this soon. But I still can't do the things I need or want to do. Sitting down for more than 20-30 minutes makes my back really stiff. Standing makes it better, but then my feet start to hurt after awhile...

I took one last night just to wind down after a long day and to help me to ignore the residual pain that I hadn't noticed during the day. Even though I'm down from as many as as many as 6 pills a day (right after the surgery), I can't help thinking this is how addicts get started.

Hard to concentrate on work, hard to make things work, hard to just pay attention to things that I need to remember...