One Week Post-Op

It's been seven days since I had the stimulator put in for my legs. And, I wish I could tell you it's working. I wish I could tell you I feel better, but I can't. And not because the surgery was unsucessful, but because these effing people who don't have the pain think it's better to deal with the ineffable CRPS pain plus surgery incision pains. Why? Because I might not be able to differentiate between surgery pain and CRPS pain. And what does that matter? It matters because that affects their precious little algorithms. So, yes, let me... the human being suffer... so your algorithm goes unaffected. I just want to scream!

Moving on. The surgery pain and incision pain haven't been too bad. I figure, if we compared it to CRPS pain... it's papercut status. It hurts; sometimes it is a sharp pain, but mostly it's just noticeable. The strongest pain I feel is my butt. Yep, everyone, I have a battery stored in my left ass cheek! And, it is a rechargeable battery that I have to push a wireless charging pad on in a perfect position to charge myself. Even better - when I have my next surgery, I will have a battery put in my right ass cheek! Nobody told me I was getting a butt lift in the process! Ha!

The night before surgery, my family had a special dinner to celebrate my last night being human, because after my surgery, I would be part cyborg. We have to keep it light and humorous, especially for the kids.

The surgery went as expected. I was awake when they mapped the locations for the leads. Then, they knocked me all the way out to install the connectors and battery. When I came out, I was able to walk myself to the car. I was definitely disappointed that they didn't activate the system on the spot. I wasn't told that it would be a week until it was turned on. And, I think you know how I felt about that.

The first day and night went pretty smoothly. I still had the fentanyl and anesthesia in me, so I was a cloudy blur. The next day, I was ok, but definitely needed pain killers to help with the incision pain. About day 3 or 4, the incision pain was nothing worth talking about. But my CRPS leg pain was full throttle and I was in so. much. pain.

I reached out to see if I could get the stimulator turned on sooner, but they said no. So, I just waited and waited and waited.

Meanwhile, I have just been completely and utterly drained. All I want to do is rest and sleep. I don't think I realized how much of a toll this surgery would take on my body. Healing from this has me on a very limited leash. I have been so tratefu for all my friends and family who have visited, checked in on me, helped with rides for the kids, delivered a meal. My village of people have made recovering so much easier!

So finally today, I went to the doctor's office. Lots of good news and one frustrating piece of news. They changed the dressing, which all looked good, and activated the stimulator. I will hopefully be able to sleep better tonight. I am released to drive as I feel comfortable, which is the greatest sense of freedom! The frustrating news: my March 24th surgery just got pushed to April 7th. All the rides and meals that were set up need to be rescheduled. Ugh. But in the big picture of my whole life, these two extra weeks will be just a blip.

I just keep looking forward to May. May will be less painful. May will be getting stronger. May will be healing. May.

#ineffablepain #nevro #HF10 #scifi #robomom #cyborg #scs #spinalcordstimulation #crps #crpsawareness