Health update - 10 weeks out (or so)

Most things are coming along very well.  I am walking without a cane 95% now.   There was a big test for me this morning when we went to a picnic at someone's home in the country where there was a lot of uneven ground/grass/slope walking.  I was able to do it all without a cane.  A few weeks ago I started going up and down stairs with one foot per step.  It is challenging and sometimes slow but I can tell it is great exercise for me.

I have been on a few trips and managed to navigate anything that came my way well.

My back is getting more sore.  I'm using it a ton more now.  I saw the surgeon 4 weeks ago and he reminded me of the two disks I have (one above and one below) that are bulging.  So - back problems are always going to be in my future.  I will permanently now lift heavy things and will use the grabber for things on the floor pretty much always to try to save my back.  We had a really hard landing on one of my flights on Thursday and that really hurt my back.  I was also on a small boat recently and the wake wasn't the best thing for it.  I need to just be careful about what I do.  The surgeon said I need to live life and it would be good if I didn't need to do physical labor to support myself.  Being an accountant is a good job for my issues.  He told me not to horseback ride and that is pretty  much the only thing he would rule out.

At the end of the appointment I asked the doctor about my residual numbness and muscle paralysis.  He was kind of surprised I still had some (not the best response I suppose) and talked about the three things that can happen to nerves.  They can be trapped and then released via surgery and recover (nope) they can be severed during a surgery and then reconnect (nope not severed) or they can be crushed and they may or may not ever recover (yep).  He said that at the 6 month mark I may get the nerves back.  It would be sudden. However - with the crushing thing I am wondering how realistic that is.  

The bottom line is that I can walk and drive with my current level of numbness and paralysis and so if this is my end point I can totally live with it.  I think I had written before that there appears to be 3 main muscles that won't activate and my calf and foot are numb.

I'm still in physical therapy and still have goals to attain there.  With my increased back back we will have to see what I should do and what I should avoid.  I had told her I wanted to eventually be able to get down on the floor.  She had be get down to one knee and back up but I hurt after that.  I can't imagine getting all the way up off the floor.  My right leg isn't quite there and my back might hate me.

As far as pain other that the back I do have weird nerve pain.  Sometimes it literally feels like someone is stabbing my foot with a knife but it doesn't last very long so that's ok.  If I wake up in the night often I find that my muscles are spasming and forcing my toes to curl.  However - it doesn't wake me up.  It can be annoying but that's about it.

So - that's my current state.  All very positive.