Kristi Therapy

It has been 4 months since my surgery and about three months since my last post.  Since then time has gotten up and moved along in quite a hurry.

Recovering from sciatica was all consuming.  Most of my day was spent trying to alleviate my symptoms.  I would do the exercises and stretches prescribed by my physical therapist two to three times each day.  I would lay on my heating pad as often as I could.  I hardly thought of recovery from Arnold. 

Within two weeks I was able to drive for Audrey's field trip to Gilroy Gardens, chaperone all day, and drive back with minimal discomfort and just enough energy.  The sciatica was not gone, but it was improving and manageable. 

With my energy level coming back up and the sciatica no longer all consuming, we launched into summer with both kids out of school and plenty of time to plan all kinds of fun activities.  I actually had intended those activities to be day trips to various museums and the beach and all the fun the bay area has to offer.  But oh no, fate decided the best way to enjoy the summer was to jam pack it full of trips out of town. 

First stop, camping in Big Basin with my brother and his family.  Here I discovered my super power.  On the last night of our trip, the camp site across from us loaded up with a bunch of young, rowdy people that decided to party until 2AM.  I was sound asleep by about 10PM since I could bury my left ear in my pillow and, well, I can't hear a damn thing in my right ear so I did not hear them partying at all!

Second stop, Florida.  No better test for how well I have been managing my sciatica than having to sit on a plane for 6 hours.  The plane rides were not too bad.  I did take ibuprofen for the flight home, but the discomfort in general was manageable.  The strange thing was getting onto the people movers in SFO and suddenly being all wobbly.  It took me a second to realize my brain was working on figuring this one out!  The other good test on this vacation was playing in the waves in the ocean.  I was a little wobbly, but really not all that bad.

 

Third stop, backpacking in Tahoe National Forest with the Queen and Special K.  Nothing like hiking 4 miles with 37 lbs on your back to test your strength and stability.  We kept it simple and made a base camp and day hiked around.  

The girls decided to dedicate themselves to "Kristi Therapy."  They helped me work on my stability by taking me cross country, off trail, scrambling over boulders and even getting us lost for awhile.  I would say they did a pretty good job. 

Final destination, New Jersey to visit Greg's family.  Another airplane ride to test my sciatica.  Then a week of fun and swimming. 

So here we are, the summer flew by and now school starts in just about two days.  The up side is that surgery does seem much further away.  The down side of all this travel is I did not stretch and exercise as much as I should have, so the sciatica is still with me.  I have minimal discomfort from it, but it is still there.

As for the real recovery, from Arnold, that still needs work.  In my day to day activities I have no problem, but if I move my head too fast or try to jog, things start to get a little bouncy and twirly.  Somewhere along the way, though, I changed my expectations.  Before, when I would lose my balance or trip or something, I would think, "oh, that was bad" and get a little nervous.  But now, I kind of expect it. If I stumble or have to throw my arms out for balance I do not think anything of it.  It is just how I am.  I did not fall, I caught myself, it is helping my brain figure out what to do next time.  In fact, maybe that was a good thing.

I am almost back into the swing of things.  I have to add in work soon and then hopefully some gym time.  I would say I am feeling pretty darn normal and I know, no one can tell that I had brain surgery just 4 months ago.