Microdisectomy: 2 days post op

Day of OP here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sciatica/comments/arsvuy/night_before_the_microdisectomy/

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Good news, we made it! Its been a bit hectic over here so took me a while to make a post.

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Surgery itself went very smooth. Luckily no compilations and the surgeon said he was able to get everything out and cleared. Fuck, it felt amazing to hear that. Its been such a fucking gamble it feels like. The surgery itself was 35 minutes, but we had to wait around 3 hours until we saw him since the hospital was too full or something. So tell your family and friends to bring books, headphones and the like.

1 Day post OP:

He was in A LOT of pain from the incision. We thought it would be less than what it was, but we later found out that our surgeon does not like to give the slow release pain medicine injection (don't know the correct name). Not sure why, but he doesn't like to use it. My guess is that he thinks the pain makes the patient be more careful when moving? Right now he is taking 2 pain pills every 4 hours which is keeping his pain manageable, but still hard.

The good:

- Not too nauseous, but we still got the medicine just in case. Don't want him to throw up.

- He was able to start walking pretty soon after

- A LOT of the pain from the leg is gone, but some is still there. He says the pressure he used to feel when standing is gone. The sciatic pain he says its way less but he gets some shooting pains sometimes. Less than before. He said the incision is hurting a lot for him to truly be able to isolate the pains.

- The adjustable bed we got has been worth every single penny. He says zero gravity feels amazing and takes all the pressure of the back. If you can afford I say yes, get it. Worth every single time.

The bad:

- Getting up and off the bed has been such a nightmare for him. Its painful, its complicated, and it will take us some tries to get it just right. It gets better the more we do it.

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Tip:

Our surgeon suggested we lower the AC to keep the house cooler. That way he sweats less when he is in the bed for so long. It also keeps him comfier when on the bed which he is a while now

2 Days post op:

The Good:

- We finally got the pain medicine regimen down. We made the mistake of not waking him up when the 4 hours was up, so sometimes he would go 6 hours in between pain pills. BIG mistake. Now I wake him up every 4 hours in order to not allow the pain to get too bad.

- Getting up and off the bed is getting easier the more we practice. Depending on your bed you will figure out what works best for you. Its much more complicated after the operation.

- he is walking to the bathroom no problem. He also has made a lap around the house twice today which is great. He is listening to his body and he knows how long he can go. Can't stay standing up for more than 15 - 20 mins right now, which we think its really good.

The bad:

- Constipation is kicking in HARD which is annoying. We had been able to keep his bowels moving before surgery despise the opiods, but with the anesthesia and 2 pills every 4 hours, he is done for. They say its normal for it to take 3 -4 days to have a bowel movement.

Tip:

- Start fiber 3 days before the surgery. Colace is also a good idea. Right now we have also added prune juice to the mix to see if we can avoid anything drastic to stop the constipation.

- Ask the nurse to teach you good posture to get onto the bed and off of it.

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If I missed something let me know. If you guys want shorter reports also let me know haha now that I'm on this side of the equation its hard to decide what information will be useful and what is not.

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BUT FUCKING YES! It went well and hopefully to our recovery road. He is being really good about not bending/twisting/lifting.