Brian Back Injury

Brian's surgery was put on a trauma waiting list at Spectrum (downtown) for Friday 12/19/08. We were at the hospital at 130pm for surgery that was supposed to happen at 4pm, however, he did not actually get into surgery until 9pm. It was a long wait and Brian was in a lot of pain (the two morphine shots didn't last very long). The surgery was only supposed to be 1.5 hours long, but ended up taking quite a bit longer. I was not able to see him until 130am Saturday.

The doctor explained that he removed about 1.5 inches of disc and extracted the fluid from around the nerve. He reported that the surgery went well and he expects a full recovery. Apparently Brian has some degeneration and arthritis in that area of his spine, therefore the doctor expressed the importance that Brian take care of himself with exercise and diet. (Not a bad thing - we could all use a reminder to take better care of ourselves.)

When Brian came out of surgery he was quite dilerious. He was determined that I had caught a shoplifter, which I "shouldn't have done in my condition". That same shoplifter stabbed Brian in the back when trying to steal a $250 stereo. It was quite funny to listen to, but also showed that Brian wasn't quite ready to be on his own at the hospital. He hadn't eaten for over 30 hours and I wanted to make sure that he got some food into him, so I stayed at the hospital with him and everyone went home for the night. His parents drove us to the hospital and had waited with us that entire time (my family was there a majority of the time as well).

The next morning Brian worked with a physical therapist who cleared him to leave the hospital. Brian's instructions for the next two weeks are to lay flat on his back as much as possible, with limited time sitting (20-30 minute intervals), limited stair climbing and a 5 pound carrying/lifting limit. My Dad and Nick brought the mattress down from the guest bedroom and put it on the pull-out couch in the living room for Brian to use during this time. Brian's parents brought us home and helped us to settle in. They also took care of all of the shoveling after the big snowstorm that we had Friday night.