....I tried and although I could feel the impulse, nothing happened. I could feel my thighs but my thighs couldn't feel me feeling them. All manner of things shot through my head, it was as scary as hell thinking I was paralysed and not knowing if this was right or wrong. The nurse asked if I could feel her touching the soles of my feet - nothing! The next hour or so was a daze of fear basically and lots of pain but morphine is a good friend in those situations and I drifted off again. Some time later the nurse touched my feet again, I couldn't move anyting but there was a faint sensation almost like prickly fabric but only just. It was enough to make me hopeful. The nurse asked if I would like to have the head of my bed raised a little from flat out to see my wife better and I agreed. When she tried to raise it, it got to about 20 degrees and the pain was phenomenal. As she went to lock the ratchet, the bed dropped, trapping her hand in the frame and causing me more pain than I have ever experienced. It was apparently only about a 4 inch drop of the head end but it made me scream in agony I cannot describe how bad that was. I pumped away on the morphine and drifted off again.
Later I came round and felt no worse pain than before. My wife said they'd contacted the surgeon and he wasn't bothered about the jolt because he said the metalwork made that part of my back stronger than any other part of my spine so it was not a worry in itself but he was very upset about the pain they'd caused me. I drifted off to sleep again for an overnight of tests, drip changes and other thigs I was half aware of.
Next day I woke early and the pain was still there. About 10am the physio arrived with my surgeon and wife and they wanted to get me out of bed and stood up. They don't let you just rest anymore - it's cruel to be kind approach. I inched to the side of the bed with the aim of pushing up off my side with my arm at the point my legs swung out, so keeping my body in line. I tried, it was hell but I did manage to get sat on the side of the bed. As I put my feet down to provide support the pain was unbearable so with similar pain, I swung back into bed with them raising my legs for me. Now at least I could feel and wriggle my toes. It was progress.
The painkillers I was taking orally were super strong (Volterol or something) and they basically stopped my digestion working. That caused me to blow up like a balloon with trapped wind so that night I had yet more pain to contend with. At 2am I gave in and called the nurse saying I had to get to the toilet. I thought a good old fart would sort it all out!
The nurse was brilliant, having had the same operation herself a year earlier, she knew all the outcomes and process. She got me to the toilet and nothing happened! I went back to bed in pain and made it to morning when they gave me a glycerine suppository and 20 minutes later I was contributing to global warming like a small third world country
Whether that forced getting out of bed overnight was the turning point or not I don't know but that day I was up and standing. I managed a brief wash in the bathroom next door and five or six steps with a frame. More positive progress. That night the catheter and drain came out so less tubes and the left hand drugs tube too which was messing my hand nerves up and had given me a swollen hand with pins and needles permanently. Off to sleep again for another restless night.
Next day was better - the physio forced me to walk on crutches and I made it half way down the corridor, about 20 yards. I los the DVT sleeves on my calves that night too so better and better but the memory foam mattress in the bead was causing me pain in moving overnight so I was getting less sleep. In the morning I had the dressing changed to remove the lumpy part (2" thick) that had been for the drain tube exit. My wife saw the wound for the first time and says it's somehere between 6 and 8 inches and held together with clips that look like half of a 1/4" fuel pipe hose clip! More walking and boredom that day then next day I was up and down stairs on crutches with the physio and they signed me out for home last night.
