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For the "Friends and Family" reading this; in the online patient community, we discuss many details that may seem to be too personal. However, for the spine patient that is about to go through the same thing... reading about all the various scenarios can be VERY helpful.
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We are both breathing a big sigh of relief. Things are going very well. Diane's surgery ended late yesterday afternoon... it's just after noon now... less than 24 hours out. She had some nausea in the recovery room that was nicely handled in 2 ways. An anti-emetic was effective, AND since her pain levels were lower than average, they were able to reduce the opiates that were probably causing the nausea. They stepped it down by 2/3 and she still had very low levels of post-op pain and slept comfortably most of the night. When she would wake up, she would use phrases like, "I can't get comfortable", or "yes, I have a little back pain." She could roll over without distress. She NEVER took opiates on a daily basis, so the pain meds were way more effective for her... unlike me... I had 3 years on large doses of opiates... so the amount of medication that they gave her, would have been like an aspirin to me. She's the opposite of that. The (relatively) small flow of opiates was like an elephant tranquilizer to her.

The down-side of this was some lower blood pressure readings that had me a bit nervous... by the 3 or 4 in the morning, it had stabilized with more appropriate readings and I finally got a nap at 6:30. When I went to check on her at 8, things were still good and we talked about moving her to the ortho ward instead of the unit she was on. (She was not in the ICU, but was an a ward adjacent to the ICU. Telemetry? Step-down unit? All the beds have full monitors that are tied into the station.)

They moved her to the regular ward at about 9am and she continued to rest comfortably. She made me promise that I wouldn't let her stay down too long, so I wouldn't accept her, "I want to sleep some more", and I insisted that she get up and move around. We put the brace on her and called the nurse for help. (Always... for the first time up, or if the patient is unsteady at all... have the staff help.) I was so pleased that she could sit up just like she could roll over. Yes, there is some back pain and some incision pain, but she sat up... sat there for a while... walked across the room and back... sat on the bedside and ate a bowl of soup (after the nurse verified that she has bowel sounds).

We talked about what she is feeling now and the great news is that she has no hip or leg pain at all. (These were her dominant complaints, pre-op.) She had some LBP when laying down, but when she got up and moved around, it went away and she was left with only incision pain. She is still on the pump... AND... she's been in bed for a couple of days, so we can be faked out regarding pain levels, but this is all so very encouraging.

It snowed enough on Monday night, Tuesday, and much of Wednesday (yesterday), so there was still some snow on the ground last night. It's all gone now. It's been a bit of a gray morning, but the sun is coming out now. Diane is back to sleeping, listening to my iPod with a peaceful look on her face. We are so much more relaxed now... the days leading up to the surgery were tough.... even with our extensive experience with spine surgery, Munich, Straubing, Bogen, friendship with Dr. Bertagnoli... there were so many stressors that most people have, but were absent for us... it was still amazingly stressful.

It's still early... we are not out of the woods yet... but only good news so far!

All the best... love to everyone...

Mark