It Worked!

Apparently this blogging thing isn't so difficult at all - so I think I'll post some more now, since I seem to be wide awake and there's nothing on TV except "Miss Congeniality 2" and I'm feeling too lazy to see what the TiVo has recorded. Don't get me wrong, I love me some "Miss Congeniality 2" (I have a soft spot for what I lovingly term "stupid movies" - my calling them stupid is not to say that I don't like them, because I do), but it's 1:16am and I've seen this movie too many times for it to still be funny when I'm this tired.

I mentioned in the previous post that I have a lot of time on my hands these days. Now, most of you who are reading this are probably my friends and therefore know the situation, but just in case anybody else is joining in (in which case: welcome!) I'll give a brief recap (well, as brief as possible... it's kind of a saga).

I have a history of back problems dating back to high school. In December of my senior year of high school I had a laminectomy to repair a herniated disc at L5-S1. It was absolute hell for about a week leading up to the surgery, but the operation worked a miracle and I basically cartwheeled home and never worried about it. The best part about that ordeal was that I missed all three weeks of school between Thanksgiving and winter break, and I was accepted into college during that time (thank you, early decision) - so none of my high school teachers made me make up any of the work that I'd missed. Anyway, I re-herniated that same disc when I was 23 and needed another laminectomy to repair it. Apparently only 5% of people who herniate a disc will ever re-herniate that disc in their lifetime so, having herniated the same disc twice by age 23, I was a rare case and had an excruciatingly long and difficult recovery. Just what you want to hear: your orthopedic surgeon telling you that you're "special." I was in graduate school at the time and remain ever grateful to the professors who went out of their way to help me make up the months' worth of work I missed at that point. Acupuncture finally saved me, and to this day I'm convinced that acupuncture was the reason I became able to walk again. It's fantastic.

Anyway, over the last few months my back started to act up again, so now at the ripe old age of 26 I'm about to have surgery #3. This one will be a fusion and should fix the problem once and for all (well, as much as spinal surgery can really be considered a "fix"). I'm nervous for the surgery but have an absolutely phenomenal surgeon, so that's comforting. More than anything, though, I'm just anxious to get this all over with, already.

So that's where I am now. I'm camped out at my parents' house awaiting surgery - all my doctors are here, and it's incredibly helpful to have my parents around since my mobility is pretty limited and I can't do much for myself. I've been here since mid-October and will remain here until my recovery is complete, which should be somewhere around mid-March to mid-April. As grateful as I am for everything they're doing for me, you can imagine how frustrating it is to go from living alone to being completely dependent on your parents again for everything (seriously, everything - they bring me all my meals on a tray since I'm stuck in bed, and after the surgery apparently I'm even going to need help showering) - so I suspect you'll probably read about that quite a bit if you choose to stick around. Which I hope you do. Understand that my purpose here isn't to bitch, really - it's more a place for me to just air out my brain and get some "head space" since it's hard for me to get any here at home. It doesn't help that I'm quite literally in my parents' bed. I know, I know - what am I doing in their bed? Well, they have one of these amazing adjustable beds - it's the only way I can get into comfortable positions for my back, and I am obsessed with this thing. Anyway, my goal is not to write about my back all the time - I of all people know that can get boring. It just seemed that explaining all my newfound free time was an appropriate way to begin here.

At any rate, my percocet is starting to kick in so I think I'm going to try to get to sleep. Thanks for visiting the new site!

PS:
To those of you who know my parents - best to keep this blog between us. I need some space that they're not in at the moment. As you know I'm incredibly close to my parents, but I'm feeling a bit smothered lately. So this is just between you and me. Deal?