I had, hopefully, my last two MRI’s this morning. I go in for my pre-op appointment on Friday & decompression surgery in 14 days. I’m more excited than nervous for surgery. I’m ready to feel normal again & feel comfortable for once in my life. I’m worried about the surgery but most worried about my recovery. I know everyone is different & recovery time changes case by case but do anyone have some tips that will speed up my recovery? I’m a 20 year old female that played volleyball for 14 years & I’m active in my day-to-day life. how long will it be before I can return to work & normal life activity’s? Any tips or comments are greatly appreciated :)) pretty pretty please help a girl out with anything & everything you have to say about this post
Hey Taylor,
I’m sorry to say but there is no set measure for ‘How long…?’ I often say "That’s a ‘how long is a piece of string?’ type question. There are just too many variables BUT the VERY last thing you want to do is ‘speed up’ or force your recovery. I say this because I’ve tried to do exactly that, force my recovery. I had the attitude ‘I could before, so I can now’ and I pushed myself too hard, too soon, doing myself a major injury requiring further surgery. I’ve now been told I won’t ever be able to return to my former profession. So DO NOT push your own limits. LISTEN to your own body, it will tell you. Mine was telling me, I just didn’t listen. Told myself I was building stamina by pushing myself. At first the signs were subtle and I thought ‘I can push past it…’, only I pushed too hard and POP. Ahh, don’t do that. This recovery thing can be a slowly, slowly process.
Now look, some people can come through it all relatively well. I thought my first surgery went ‘fairly’ well, I had a few up’s and down’s but I was OK. But with the subsequent surgeries the outcome has not been so good.
The slower you take it now, the better the final outcome. Don’t push it.
Merl from the Modsupport Team
2 months after surgery I was feeling good and went sled ridding, I went off a small drop. That night I had a bleed in my brain and was in the hospital for 16 days! Take it easy and spend the time to heal!
Prayers for your surgery
John