ScoliosisBirdy has come to TWITTER! @Summerbirdy

Oops almost forgot! i am now addicted to Twitter. Please follow me @Summerbirdy.

http://twitter.com/#!/Summerbirdy

thank you

6 Months Post Op

Hello,

So i am FINALLY 6months post op!, i saw Mr Tucker just before i went on holiday last week and he seemed pleased. My shoulder aches are still there when i have had a busy day and so for that i just need to keep exercising, and i will look into Hydrotherapy too and let you know how i get on.

Thanks so much for your emails and i hope i am still managing to help some of you out.

handscanderson@gmail.com

Almost 6 Months

Hello,
Its been such a long while since i have written on my blog! as i am sure you can see. This is mainly down to the fact that things have been at a constant.
Firstly i am SO HAPPY with the results, one of the hardest things i have ever done but one of the best too.
I am pretty much back to normal except that around 2-3pm my shoulder/arm hurts, its the muscles and resting makes it ok.
I am off on holiday to Egypt next week and i am planning to completely relax (been super stressed lately). I know the flight is going to be particularly uncomfortable so i am going armed with alot of pillows.
I see Mr Tucker on the Monday morning and i get the xrays and see if everything is as it should be and then i flyyyy off!.
Thanks again for all the emails i get, i reply to the majority so please if you have any questions etc.. then please get in touch! handscanderson@gmail.com

Chrissy

My Post Surgery Xrays!!

Hello,

I have just received my xrays in the post and personally i think they are amazing, it really does NOT feel like i have this lot inside my body.

A bad comparision that i knocked together:

Post Surgery Questions

Thank you OnePhatChick for your comment you wanted to know some things about Scoliosis Surgery so I will try and answer as best I can J.

Has my life changed since the surgery – Well it is only 2 months on and I am just in the middle of trying to get my life back, but I have to say that I did used to think about my Scoliosis everyday, in fact numerous times aday. It was always a negative thought as well, constantly shifting my body to try and alleviate the pain or stop my hip sticking out. Now I still think about my back all the time, maybe even more if the truth be told, but it’s a great thought!! I think about how happy I am with my back and how I don’t get that CONSTANT nagging pain anymore, and how I feel straight and symmetrical.

Did I get taller – I indeed got 3cm’s taller! I love it I am now about 5ft 7! I notice this when I put my old dresses on and they seem shorter, and when I keep bumping my head on the bus ceiling at the back.

Do I love my new waist –  Apart from the abolishment of my pain this is the part I love the most!. Its always been the one thing I have never had, and I didn’t hate my body before but im soo sooo so pleased with this, I really need to start investing in some belts to show it off!. I thought my clothes taste would entirely change once I had a wait but I still go for the same old things I would have done before.

Is my range of motion very restrictive – Not at all, I really thought it would be but I barely notice it. I think I am a lot more aware at the moment of trying not to twist and bend too much, but once I get the all clear to do these things the only way I notice how restrictive I am is when I try and shave my legs! Which I cant do in the shower anymore. I need to be out of the bath and put one leg up and do it that way. Once I can have baths again I think ill be find doing it in the bath. Havent tried it yet but I think painting my toenails might be tricky too.

Am I comfortable sitting up now or do I lay down most of the time – I never lay down in the day anymore, I sit on all different chairs, some are more comfy than others. Before surgery I used to find it hard sitting on picnic benches or stalls or anything that didn’t have a back to it, but now I feel like I have my own built in back support so when I am sit unsupported I am just as comfortable as I am when I am sat back. I do put pillows behind me when I am relaxing on chairs at home but this is mainly because otherwise I feel like the chair is pushing my head forward. I don’t know if I have explained it that well but its just a lot more comfy for me.

I really do feel almost back to normal, the first few weeks after surgery I never thought I would do. I get muscle aches now I am going back to work but that’s all healing pains and although its not pleasant its manageable. I would do it all again in a heartbeat, it was painful and frustrating but worth it!.

I would like to point out thought that this is just my experience and Mr Tucker said I seem to have had ‘an easy run of it’. J xx

Back to Work i Go

So 8 weeks post op i decided to give work ago.
I definitely over did it. It is a phased return so i should have tried a few hours on my first day but i stupid left the house at 9am and then returned at 5.15pm. Dont get me wrong, i wasnt in work all that time i took the commute very slowly, but id still didnt get a seat either way!.
By the time i got home i was feeling pretty uncomfortable but as the night went on i was in quite abit of discomfort, it wasnt full on agony and i didnt take any pain killers but i was VERY pleased to see my bed and slept like a log!.
Its so hard to know your limits, if you are ok 99.99% of the time how do you know how much you cant do. I think its safe to say i hit my limits yesterday.
Im not sure now how to handle this phased return and i am feeling abit miserable today as i feel like i am letting people down at work. I am working from home though, i just wish i lived closer to the office.
I just need to keep the positive attitude as i know i am flying through my recovery and i am getting abit spoilt by it so when something goes wrong i get really upset.
Anyway onwards and upwards.

I Feel Normal

Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to let you all know that today i realised i feel pretty normal, i have an achey neck/shoulder but thats it!
I think i have felt this way for a good week maybe 2 weeks but its only really just hit me.
I am going to start going back to work next week but the mean time i am doing all my work from home and really enjoying it.
I am so happy i had this operation, so far it has gone better than i could have expected.
My life is just going so well at the moment as the operation is out of the way i feel i have not a care in the world. My boyfriend has decided to move in with me in Woking and so i am so  pleased to have him around all the time and i have moved back into my own little house now too.
I hope my 3 month check up with Mr Tucker goes well now...
Thank you all again for your support getting emails from strangers who really care is so nice and uplifting, especially when my spirits were low.
thanks again.

Chrissy

My 1st trip back to work.

Today was the first time I have been back into my office. I am not ready to start back at work just yet, but I am lucky as I can work from home. I wanted to go into the office though to see everyone as I have missed them all so much. I really do love my job and everyone there as sad as it sounds so I was so excited go get back t say hello. I was also really excited to see how well i would do as it's so hard to know your limit's unless you push yourself to the point where you hurt, and I don't really wanna be in pain all the way out in London.
I left about 11.30am and didn't get home until 5pm and I was fine! No pain, I met Lindsay and Charles for lunch and had a big chat to Lainey, then went downstairs and saw loads of my friends everyone said how great i looked and what brilliant posture I now have.
I'm so happy today, I feel like that was a big milestone in my recovery and I feel like I can do most things now, the only things i really can't do is carry anything heavy and drive very far in my car, but I am so happy to feel normal and I'm so pleased I have had this operation.
Now I am having my work laptop sent home  so I will make sure I update more often of any significant changes.
Love to you all C x x x

Driving for the 1st time

5.5 weeks post op I plucked up the courage to drive. Just a very short drive which was from my house back to my dads house, it only takes about 5mins but it was absolutely fine!
Since then I have driven this route 3 or 4times and it's fine, just like driving before.
Yesterday was 6weeks post op and I went to the pub for the first time with my best friend Rikki as she was running a Karaoke night with her dad and I chatted go her for a couple of hours and then drove home, this was a slightly longer 10mins drive but it was great, I turned up my radio and had a big sing to myself which I haven't done in ages!
Oh also yesterday I got my hair cut and coloured which took 3hrs of sitting in the hair dressers, again it was fine and I came out feeling all human and refreshed. It's horrible how gross I felt post surgery I didn't think I would ever feel pretty again but I do now. Woo!

1st Night in MY OWN House

So at 5weeks and 2days post op i decided it was time that I could stay home on my own.
So last Saturday Tim came and picked me up and we cooked breakfast, and then took Alan into London to hang out with Nicole (Tims sister) and then we went to Tims and let Splat our Chinchilla out (he is staying with Tim while i recover) and watched a film and by the time we got back to my house I was so tired (and so was tiny Alan!).
it was fine staying in my own bed, I was out of my comfort zone so of course I worried a bit especially going into London as you don't know what kind of chairs people are going to have but I have noticed that I can just sit up without having a chair back to lean on, before my operation sitting on the floor in a field or a picnic bench would be my idea of hell, they used to really hurt after a while, but now it's like I have my own built in chair back. I feel so supported and happy to sit upright without leaning back it's brilliant, I don't now feel like I have an ironing board stuck to my back, I feel like I have great posture and i feel like my back is normal.

4 Week Check Up with Mr Tucker

Hello, sorry it's taken so long to update you all. I will fill you in what's been going on in the last 2 weeks but I will do it under a couple of headings.
So this one was my 4 weeks check up. Obviously knowing me I was scared about the journey as it's so far (1.5hrs)' but my dad drove me and I had pillows and reclined the seats,  I made it there pretty much pain free!. After abit if confusion about what building I was ment to go too I finally arrived at my appointment. It started to get in abit of as by the time i finally got to my appointment i was about 30mins late and sat in a really uncomfy chair and i didnt have my pillow, i mainly think this was due to worry though and i was very tense, once i got in to see Mr Tucker i forgot about that and I was SO happy for Mr Tucker to tell me I could drive!!! I wasn't prepared for that. He also said i was at the top rate of the recovery and we discussed me going back to work, as it's quite a long commute I have to do, it's been decided to have a phased return from mid July. I have to go back and see him in August for my 3 month check and then i will get x-rays taken and see how the actual fusing of the bones is getting on (argh!)
so all in all I was up and about that day for about 5hrs, by the time I got home I was a bit achey and I played with the idea of having a pain killer but in the end I just rested for 30mins or so and I felt ok again. That's the thing with any pain I have been getting lately it's not like the pain from before, before I would need to lay down all night and then have a lay in the in the morning the be able to get over the pain. But now I just lay down and it's gone. So all in all it was a very good day.