What's up with recovery?

I’ve been able to find so few articles on what to expect during recovery.  When I asked my surgeon,  all he said was that the physiotherapist will get me walking and going up and down stairs in the hospital, then my goals over the next several weeks and months will be: walking on a treadmill, stationary bike and swimming.   Hmmm … not very detailed. 

I did find a blurb in one article on-line, but to what degree these things will be true for me, is to be determined.  It will be interesting to reference back to this to see how much of this was part of my recovery. My apologies to the author for adding my commentary in brackets :)

"A typical regimen of postoperative care for patients after surgery for intramedullary tumors entails the following:

1.       A level body position for 24-48 hours (your ass will be in lying down in bed for two days, except when we're hauling you up to pee)

2.       A 3-7 day steroid taper (the steriods will knock your socks off so we’re going to have to wean you off it)

3.       Foley catheter until out of bed (that one needs no further explanation)

4.       Sequential compression device and subcutaneous heparin for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis until ambulatory (until you’re walking, you’ll have compression pumps on your legs so you don’t get blood clots that cause you to stroke out)

5.       Incentive spirometry until ambulatory (we’re going to make you take long, slow, deep breaths until you’re walking)

6.       Careful wound monitoring for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak (we’re going to poke and prod the incision to make sure we closed you up properly)

7.       Physical therapy, occupational therapy and rehab. Virtually all patients will have some degree of sensory dysfunction that is a result of dorsal column manipulation during surgery. Most patients benefit from a course of inpatient rehab." (surgery causes trauma and you may have (hopefully) temporary movement or feeling issues that you need to work through.  A physiotherapist is going to kick your butt and make you move, whether you like it or not).

Patients get no dignity.

Edited to add a post-surgery note: All 7 of these things were true for me. I was in bed for a week, large doses of steriods to control swelling that tapered over seven days, catheters for several days, compression pumps for a week, not many breathing exercises, but lots of wound inspection and INTENSE physiotherapy for 6 months.

 (Source www.emedicine.medscape.com, author Alfred T. Ogden, MD.)