Steven Boulet Music

6/26 Wed

Pain is settling itself into a bit of a groove. Mornings come with a higher level of inflammation and on the outside of the 6-hour window given by the Percocet. The medication creates a mental fog that takes a few hours to burn away after waking up. Here’s the crazy thing, I am waking up in less pain than the worst mornings before the surgery only 5 days later. I walk a mile and a half today and have no problem with the minor p.t. Dr. Guyer sent me home with.

I feel confident I can start breaking my pain medication in half soon; I will probably try tomorrow. The stitches become a little tender and irritated when I wear the brace for prolonged periods of time. Pain is still ubiquitous but is dull now. It’s a vertebral toothache and it throbs but I find dull pain much more bearable than sharp pain.

I’m a very active and productive person and sitting for most of my day leaves me feeling as if I’ve wasted it, but I will begin to designate more time for writing and planning. Friends come over for dinner and the 4-hour interaction is a pleasant distraction, however, I will say I still feel chronically exhausted. I don’t know if it’s my body trying to keep me static and quiet to speed up healing or a side effect of the opiates and muscle relaxers. I feel confident it’s a combination of both. My plan is to over the next 5 days gradually track and increase the time I spend writing and creating and decrease the dosages and medication.

6/27 Thursday

Best night of sleep yet, and only my right arm is still poorly circulating and becoming numb for no reason in my sleep. Pain remains a constant dull ache. The surgeon told me to expect this; I am still pleasantly surprised to experience a legitimate decrease in overall pain since the surgery; but This needs an asterisk because I move much less than I did pre-surgery.  I notice added tension in my hips but the limitations on how I’m supposed to move my trunk make it hard to work them. I have a physical therapy session scheduled tomorrow and can better educate myself on proper and improper movements.

The work I’ve put into understanding and maintaining a neutral spine position makes me feel I can perform almost all necessary daily movements without endangering my spine. I can imagine that without a strong core, full mobility, and practice with anatomically correct movements beforehand a spinal fusion is incredibly painful and limiting. I hope anyone thinking about spinal fusion will put a lot of work into these areas beforehand. I can’t say enough about how much Kelly Starrett’s, The Supple Leopard, and Naudi Agular’s, The Power of Posture, have helped with this.

I’m, spending 2 hours creatively today; feeling better about my productivity. I’m also using Kratom in place of the Percocet to treat pain and while it’s not as effective as Percocet it comes with little to no mental impairment. I think I may do a separate post on using Kratom to treat pain. I’m also planning to transition to weekly journal updates starting next week.