Scoliosis... My story

I am home now, in quite a bit of pain, but I have a walker (like most of you old farts have too ;) ) Kidding of course, but the pain is pretty tolerable, but yet severe at the same time. He fused from T4 to L3, so that covers most of my back. I'll get a pic of my wound up soon
 
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Posted this on facebook, but forgot to put it here. This is the titanium inside of me. I wonder if they were anodized...
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Well I missed school last week, and I'm missing this week too, but I am finally able to walk around confidently without my walker, and I'm being weened off of the pain drugs a little at a time according to how they reduce the pain. I still have quite a bit of soreness in my muscle on my back, almost feels like I was hit with a baseball bat sometimes, but overall not too bad. I appreciate all of your concern for me. I would have updated you earlier, but I didn't want to seem obnoxious with bumping this too many times.
 
Well here's an update a few weeks later... I'm pretty much off of the pain meds. I hate taking the hydrocodones because I tend to get mood swings when they wear off, so I was wanting to take it less and less, and just today I was able to get through (so far) without much pain.

Except, I still have a whole lot of issue sleeping. Since I cut down to 10mg (originally 20mg, then 15mg) of hydrocodone, I haven't been able to sleep through an entire night. I was not able to sleep very well at first, but I wasn't doing any activities so I could sleep in later. Now I have school so I need rest. I haven't really been able to get more than 5 hours of sleep at a time since I have cut back, and the reason seems to be when I lay down, I'm not the most comfortable on my back, so if I turn to my side for a few hours, I will wake up with severe rib pain. I knew right away that my futon mattress (super comfy before surgery) was inadequate, so I got a memory foam mattress from sams's club, and it feels like it's too firm too. I've read that the memory foam on those (blue gel stuff) is about 5lbs, so I may try to get a memory foam topper that is closer to 3lbs.

I went to a sleep number store today to kill time, and I found my sleep number to be 40, so a little on the softer side, and the memory foam mattresses tend to be on the firmer side, so I believe with a softer topper I may be able to solve the issue (and keep the receipts if they don't).


I've also read that people suggest recliners to sleep in, but I really didn't feel like it helped much last night, and with school again tomorrow, I think I'll try my bed again. But the main problem is that most people want a bed to align their spine, and I need a bed to conform to my aligned spine, which if it doesn't, I hurt.



Anyways, follow-up with the doc on Thursday, so I'll be able to ask a few questions then.
 
Good to hear you're progressing, Mike. Ask the doctor for suggestions on the bedding. I know my wife and I decided memory foam wasn't for us and the day after we tried the sleep comfort beds at a store our backs really hurt. Hang in there.
 
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