The View from 58-inches High

I feel like my life has been dominated by my injury. As much as I hate to write about it *again* I simply don’t think of much else. Thursday I had my follow-up with the back doctor. It always amazes me how different the instructions sound from the nurse than from the doctor. All of the strictness in the nurse’s instructions were all but laughed off by the doctor. He was fully aware that the second X-rays were taken with without the brace. He was fine that I didn’t wear it when I was up for something quick. I hate how vague the instructions are. He told me I could skip wearing the brace when I wake up to use the restroom as he was walking out of the office at the end of the appointment. It’s frustrating that the instructions aren’t written down every time.

So now I’m approaching the 10-week follow-up for my leg and, of course, now I’m analyzing all of the ways I could have screwed up my recovery. My post-op instructions said “non-weight-bearing” and “follow-up in 2-weeks”. At the two week apt I received no instructions. I was given a brace after the surgery that I was also given no instructions on. The nurse told me I didn’t have to wear it while sleeping but never said when or why I did have to wear it. The assumption is when I’m not sleeping but what about if I’m lying down? What if I turn a lot in my sleep? What if I sleep on my side? Since my 2-week follow-up I found post-op instructions from other hospitals and these instructions are far more restrictive than what I’ve been doing. One specified that the brace could not be removed, even while sleeping, until after 6-weeks. Again, if my surgery did not heal correctly it will be because I never received proper instructions and that is extremely frustrating. So now I go into this appointment completely worried and thinking there is a chance that I might have to have surgery again. I know it’s not common but it’s possible and I just don’t know.