Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing well and that I haven't missed too much.
On Memorial Day my 17 year old son was cleaning the grill with a grill cleaner, got some in his eyes and it resulted in chemical burns in both eyes. He's healing up nicely and should come out of this without any vision loss. His left eye is back to normal...his right is still healing.
So, at 2 weeks post op I had to be his caregiver!!! I've had to do hourly eyedrops, I've had to drive because the eye doctor sees him every couple of days (my daughter looks side to side for me because I can only turn my neck a little), help him with schoolwork...it's been loads of fun (not!)
Everything considered I'm doing well, but I do have a few concerns.
First of all, whose neck is this? Finally, a few days ago I got the courage to touch the back of my neck and it doen't feel like my neck. It has some lumps and bumps. Is this normal?
I'm concerned about nerve damage. My left leg and right hand have improved, but my left hand and right leg have shown NO improvement at all since the surgery. Am I to assume that if some things have improved and some haven't then the ones that haven't will never improve?
Now, about pain from the surgery. I still have some. Not OMG type pain...just soreness, mainly in the back of the neck. Usually if I put my collar on and recline for 20-30 minutes it feels better. My doctor only required me to wear the collar for 2 weeks, but I still wear it to bed or when I rest. I worry about what's going on in there. Is the soreness normal or does it mean things are messed up?
The recovery from this surgery has been strange. Instead of seeing a gradual,steady improvement what happens is that I'll see no improvement for like a week or so, then suddenly a huge overnight improvement. Then I'll stay at that level for another week or so, then another huge improvement. I've only had 2 of these improvements so far...I'm due for another one

Since my nerve damage isn't really improving, I'm talking about improvements from the surgery itself...neck movement, pain lessening, basically just feeling more like myself.
I wish I had a guide that told what to expect each week post op!
Sulynn
one level acdf C5-6 with donor bone,plate & screws, severe cord compression, May 10th