My L5-S1 Spinal Fusion: Day 2&3 in hospital; going home; pics

Didn't sleep much at all night one, so I was very tired, but I was doing a lot better!! Day 2: still no appetite, the medicines were making me so itchy and groggy, still with a low fever and a very high heart rate, but all in all, still definitely better than day 1. I was getting the hang of how to get up, and how to put my brace on..I still definitely needed a lot of help, but it was getting a little bit easier. I went on a walk today, all the way around the nurses station and back to my room, by choice and by myself! Very exciting, and the nurses were very impressed; don't get me wrong, it was very painful, but I did it!! I felt so weak, and everything seemed like such a huge task. A huge struggle for me was not being able to do things myself, like using the bathroom, or getting up, or moving. They say that moving around/walking is one of the best things you can do to help healing, so I was really trying to push myself to go for walks every now and then. I was extremely uncomfortable and in pain, but I was making myself push through it. I still needed the morphine pump along with the pain meds and muscle relaxors, as much as I hate medicines and how they make me feel (groggy, dizzy, itchy) I needed them. I had visitors throughout the day which was really nice, however, we tried to play uno and I kept dozing on and off, it didn't work out too well. I was glad to see everyone though! I tried eating every meal, and I just had no appetite, and my mouth was still so dry that when I did eat anything it was horrible. It felt like I had a film in my mouth, I couldn't taste anything no matter how many times I brushed my teeth. I had to use a spirometer (sp? - its to help get air in your lungs to prevent pneumonia and other infections) every hour, which doesn't look/seem hard but it was very tiring. I would go from having sweats to chills throughout the day, not fun at all. Still very depended on others, but trying to do things by myself little by little. I still had a great deal of pain, but with the medicines and compared to the first day, they were better and bearable to an extent.

Day 3: Early in the morning, my surgeon came in to change my dressing on my incision. It was very swollen, bruising, some blood, and little discharge, but he said that it looked good. I have a few pictures I will post at the end of this. He put on a new dressing and I had to keep it on for 2 days until I could shower. He said that surgery went very well and he was pleased with everything; he also said that he wanted me to get discharged from the hospital that afternoon. I had to wait for the physical therapist to come and then I could go. My morphine pump was stopped and I was just down to flexoril and vicodin. I was still in extreme pain but I was fighting through it. The physical therapist came and she was very pleased with seeing how well I get up out of bed by myself and how well I was walking. It still hurt to walk and my left hip still hurt a lot too, but I guess that is to be expected. She took me on a walk, taught me how to use stairs, and taught me a few leg exercises to do at home. The only thing I was waiting for now was for my walker to be delivered to the hospital (the toilet commode was being sent to my house so I didn't have to wait for that). Once it got there, I was free to go. Excited but nervous, because I wouldn't have the nurses to help me all the time, and because I had an hour car ride ahead of me. The car ride was very hard, very painful and very uncomfortable!! I was glad to be home though at the end of the day.

Here are some pictures of the 2nd and 3rd days in the hospital and my incision:

Up and about: