Post op and Recovery Day 1

Surgery day - post op
I don't really remember much about waking up from surgery except for asking the surgeon two questions: a) what time is it? (3:15)
b) how many vertebrae did you cut? (6)

After that it is mostly a blur of in and out of sleep and multitudes of pain killers. Also the surprise of a 5" incision in my right thigh where he did a ligament graft for my back.  OUCH!!   I know the staff in ICU continually checked my temperature, blood pressure, pain medication, IV and leg function. I'm not a big fan of being woken every hour, but it's not like I was really sleeping.

Day 1
In the neurosurgery ICU there were three nurses and three patients.  There was me, the quiet guy beside me and crazy guy.  Crazy guy turned out to be not crazy, but he was having nightmares and kept trying to take the tube out of his nose.  He kept the staff busy all right, and he was none too pleased when they put that tube back in.

My day started out with a brief conversation with the surgeon. He was thrilled at how the surgery went "given the situation". Hmmmm.  Herm was was bigger and complicated in real life, the surgeon had some very delicate cutting to do in my spinal cord, and while there are concerns about my right leg, he thinks I'll walk again. Hmmmm.  The rest of my day was filled with incision checking, more vitals checking and bandages checking.

Then the physio ladies showed up.  I had been warned that they would try to get me out of bed on the first day. And boy, we're they going to.  Holy bananas.... It freaking HURT.  Did I say hurt!!!! Holy crap.  one serious mental blow.  I stood up, leaning heavily on the walker and tried to lift one leg at a time.  Did I mention PAINFUL??!!

How did I come out?  My upper body has way more strength and movement and lack of pain than I was expecting.  Back incision reacted well to the morphine and barely hurt at all. I alas, had NO reaction to the morphine and have no exciting stories to tell.  The incision in my thigh hurts like stink and I have no idea how much ligament he grafted.... Probably 5".  Then there's my legs.  The left leg feels almost identical to pre-surgery except my foot is swollen and feels like it's asleep.  My right leg is spazzy. Way spazzy. It  feels like the whole leg is asleep.

But I have survived my first full day.