I go Under the Knife

I believe I've hinted at this before, but I chose to have surgery on my spine again.

Anatomic reason: having a herniated disc meant that the original disc between L5-S1 [lower back] vertebrae is shorter, and contributed to further degeneration in the area.

Physiologic reason: it hurt.

Last week I had a spinal fusion from the front [technical name ALIF]. I had originally thought my L5-S1 vertebrae would be stabilized with titanium, so prior to surgery I mentally-played Titanium: "You shoot me down but I won't fall/ I am titanium"
Turns out my surgeon used synthetic bone graft instead.
Well...whatever. Glad I didn't make any T-shirts with that phrase.

Me without eyebrows

I was kept overnight (maybe for pain control? they had me on a ketamine drip), and because inpatient hospital procedure schedules are dumb, Radiology sent a wheelchair to take me to my xray at 3am. I got out of it by having shaking, nausea, and lightheadedness once standing. Don't worry, I got better, especially once my nurse turned off my ketamine drip [under doctor's orders, of course].

When I first woke up from surgery, I didn't remember anything past pre-op area, but Mark tells me he followed me when I was wheeled out, and I kissed him before I got on the elevator for OR. I still don't remember that, but it sounds reasonable, so I'll take him at his word.
He was a little disappointed that I wasn't that disoriented on waking up (he wanted to have the repetitive conversation that occurred after my first surgery, when my short-term memory cycled through the same questions every few minutes). Fortunately, for his entertainment, I was ebullient. Everything was AWESOME. and I loved EVERYONE. STRONGLY. And fortunately for my social skills, that went away after a couple of hours.

me with eyebrows

Although I was switched from the stretcher to a hospital bed, I didn't actually have a room. All of the inpatient rooms were taken, so I just stayed in the post-op area. There were no interior walls, just the curtain divisions all the way round the room. Visual privacy, but no auditory privacy. So I could hear conversations about the Hot Topics: the respective surgery of the patient, and the coronavirus.

But there is a blessing in this: I could hear the hammered dulcimer--which a volunteer was playing in the middle of the PACU--very well.

I sent Mark to get this pic

I'm still officially recovering, but it's going rather well. One of the hardest things has been dressing myself without putting pressure or too much friction on my abdominal incision. Turns out that mimicking a hospital patient gown--bathrobes and loose dresses--works out nicely.

And that has accommodated another recovery issue: intermittent abdominal distention. Some days I look 5-6 months pregnant. Others, maybe just 2-3 months.

Just don't ask the gender.