Even before rehab, there was the no-bending rule. If something fell on the floor, it was lost for a time. I knew this would be tough at home, and learned to fasten the brace securely to the walker.
On to my rehab room. Below the tall glass area was a room-long ledge at hip height. I could reach books, the tools like sock-putter-oner, and presents and my plant. I was wishing there was such a ledge at home. At least I had a shelf set where I could reach a couple top shelves.
Why do you care? At home, some things can help you.
A Do-able Safety Must
For instance - though I didn't get to use it, the bathroom in rehab had a no-boundaries open shower area with a place to sit. If you're reading this, it's a bit late to install one at home, so. . .the "telephone shower."
Even the cheapest motel I ever stayed in had a hand-held shower. Easy and cheap, it's a safety miracle so we don't have to turn constantly and try to grab for support with soapy hands. One in my bath in the valley would have made the shower chair so much more useful. Once, my daughter actually installed a hand-held shower into the old wall-mount hardware in my apartment in the hills. Someone can do that for you.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
SPINAL FUSION - Just going to the hospital or already there?
If you can get to a computer or tablet or a visitor has one, read the SICK AGAIN article on NBC news, especially the findings of the Yale doctor. Ask your doctor if he's read it. Tell him you will need your sleep and maybe something to eat.
I was one who left the surgery hospital lacking sleep and having eaten very little. A large multicolor screen for meds and other records flashed in my eyes all night every night after surgery. The door was left wide open to the over-lit hall even by people I had asked once not to leave it open. I could not sit up enough to get to most of my food, and I was too tired and medicated to realize how little I ate. A friend fed me a few bites one day. Someone brought the trays, then split.
This was a well-known local hospital. We deserve to go on to rehab or nursing home rested and fed as well as we can tolerate, don't we?
I was one who left the surgery hospital lacking sleep and having eaten very little. A large multicolor screen for meds and other records flashed in my eyes all night every night after surgery. The door was left wide open to the over-lit hall even by people I had asked once not to leave it open. I could not sit up enough to get to most of my food, and I was too tired and medicated to realize how little I ate. A friend fed me a few bites one day. Someone brought the trays, then split.
This was a well-known local hospital. We deserve to go on to rehab or nursing home rested and fed as well as we can tolerate, don't we?
Monday, January 7, 2013
SPINE FUSION - advice I love!
Since this is for educational purposes, I think I'm allowed to steal this one wonderful idea from Jean Rexford, Connecticut Center for Patient Safety in AARP Bulletin:
"Bring a big bottle of hand sanitizer and put it beside your bed to remind you and the staff to keep hands clean."
There were moments when I would have put the bottle right on my dinner tray or taped it to my water pitcher, but I didn't think of it.
Thank you Ms. Rexford. I've been writing everywhere there's a blank space even on Facebook that
IT IS NOT MY JOB TO TELL NURSES TO WASH THEIR HANDS.
"Bring a big bottle of hand sanitizer and put it beside your bed to remind you and the staff to keep hands clean."
There were moments when I would have put the bottle right on my dinner tray or taped it to my water pitcher, but I didn't think of it.
Thank you Ms. Rexford. I've been writing everywhere there's a blank space even on Facebook that
IT IS NOT MY JOB TO TELL NURSES TO WASH THEIR HANDS.
SPINAL FUSION - have you just said yes to surgery?
What I wish they'd told me: And what I wish I'd done:
"Here is what you will be able to do in three to six months, probably. . . " I didn't get that much info on my future. I wish I had asked but it's natural to be in a little shock when you get the news that you need surgery.
Pain medicine can make you nauseous or have other side effects. I should have known, since one N-said table had made me nauseous in the past.
Not being able to lace your own walking shoes is annoying and feels like you're an invalid.
Spine fusion recovery can be like having a temperamental car - sometimes everything works fine, other mornings you don't think the whole contraption will even start.
Ask lots of questions. If you're going to rehab, ask questions beforehand and ask more questions after you get there. When I saw other people with worse braces wheeling down the hall alone, I should have reminded people that I could do that if I had a wheelchair that I could unlock. Or if someone had unlocked it for me.
The only thing my family doctor told me was that I'd be in pain for a year. Actually he said one guy was pain free in 9 months.
I didn't know about the huge brace I would get. If women put it on over all their clothes, they can't go to the toilet. I needed plenty of presentable elastic waist pants for walking in the halls.
If you are going to a rehab facility, ask if they have laundry service.
No laundry facilities in my rehab unit. Had to wear the same pair of elastic waist knit pants every day.
The nurse I met in the market said, as I've mentioned: One step forward, two steps back. Translated for my experience that has meant: This recovery isn't an escalator; it's more like a roller coaster. But the not so good days scare me--make me think I'm doing something wrong. Luckily, the surgeon is a very kind man who reassures me about where the little pains may come from.
"Here is what you will be able to do in three to six months, probably. . . " I didn't get that much info on my future. I wish I had asked but it's natural to be in a little shock when you get the news that you need surgery.
Pain medicine can make you nauseous or have other side effects. I should have known, since one N-said table had made me nauseous in the past.
Not being able to lace your own walking shoes is annoying and feels like you're an invalid.
Spine fusion recovery can be like having a temperamental car - sometimes everything works fine, other mornings you don't think the whole contraption will even start.
Ask lots of questions. If you're going to rehab, ask questions beforehand and ask more questions after you get there. When I saw other people with worse braces wheeling down the hall alone, I should have reminded people that I could do that if I had a wheelchair that I could unlock. Or if someone had unlocked it for me.
The only thing my family doctor told me was that I'd be in pain for a year. Actually he said one guy was pain free in 9 months.
I didn't know about the huge brace I would get. If women put it on over all their clothes, they can't go to the toilet. I needed plenty of presentable elastic waist pants for walking in the halls.
If you are going to a rehab facility, ask if they have laundry service.
No laundry facilities in my rehab unit. Had to wear the same pair of elastic waist knit pants every day.
The nurse I met in the market said, as I've mentioned: One step forward, two steps back. Translated for my experience that has meant: This recovery isn't an escalator; it's more like a roller coaster. But the not so good days scare me--make me think I'm doing something wrong. Luckily, the surgeon is a very kind man who reassures me about where the little pains may come from.
Friday, December 21, 2012
SPINE FUSION - shoes and a couple Real Solutions
I'll start with some solutions, and get to the whining later.
Showers:
- a long-handled back bath brush is good for feet and calves.
- in a situation with no grab bars, I've fastened the cane to a door knob. The door to the bath area opens with the knob right right next to the tub. It steadies me safely getting in and out of the tub.
Thank Heaven this tub has a non-skid bottom surface.
-there are non-skid mats for the bottom of the sink. You can carry a couple home for the tub easier than the tub-size non-skid mat.
- I found a funny looking glove for 99c that is apparently intended for the tub. I bought it because it's some kind of plastic mesh that dries quickly and you can slip a little soap inside so you never drop it. A regular bonanza for anyone who can't bend. BONUS: it makes a nice exfoliator if you're gentle.
-At probably the same little store, I got a small mesh bag that hangs over the shower rod AND holds my shampoo and my "soap glove." (The grabber doesn't pick up wet shampoo bottles that fall in the tub.)
Maybe the shoe thing isn't a problem unless your fusion is lumbar? Or maybe it is. I gave up heels. I bought the walking shoes that look like nurse shoes used to look, because they don't have dangerously excess non-skid tread. Lacing them feels like it's putting my fusion at great risk.
Would a professional brow shaping make up for the way I would feel with Velcro walking shoes? Might as well wear a sign that says Beware of Old Broad. Note to shoe manufacturers - a wedge can be wider than a razor blade and still be stable-with-style. Please manufacture some right now.
Your turn: How many uses have you found for your "grabber?"
Showers:
- a long-handled back bath brush is good for feet and calves.
- in a situation with no grab bars, I've fastened the cane to a door knob. The door to the bath area opens with the knob right right next to the tub. It steadies me safely getting in and out of the tub.
Thank Heaven this tub has a non-skid bottom surface.
-there are non-skid mats for the bottom of the sink. You can carry a couple home for the tub easier than the tub-size non-skid mat.
- I found a funny looking glove for 99c that is apparently intended for the tub. I bought it because it's some kind of plastic mesh that dries quickly and you can slip a little soap inside so you never drop it. A regular bonanza for anyone who can't bend. BONUS: it makes a nice exfoliator if you're gentle.
-At probably the same little store, I got a small mesh bag that hangs over the shower rod AND holds my shampoo and my "soap glove." (The grabber doesn't pick up wet shampoo bottles that fall in the tub.)
Maybe the shoe thing isn't a problem unless your fusion is lumbar? Or maybe it is. I gave up heels. I bought the walking shoes that look like nurse shoes used to look, because they don't have dangerously excess non-skid tread. Lacing them feels like it's putting my fusion at great risk.
Would a professional brow shaping make up for the way I would feel with Velcro walking shoes? Might as well wear a sign that says Beware of Old Broad. Note to shoe manufacturers - a wedge can be wider than a razor blade and still be stable-with-style. Please manufacture some right now.
Your turn: How many uses have you found for your "grabber?"
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
SPINE FUSION - more incidental healing
A nurse, somewhere away from the hospital, heard me say something about swollen feet. She looked me in the eye and said firmly:
Swollen feet are about the chair, not the shoes.
Finally someone who gets it!
The supposed solution is to put a cushion on a hard chair (or a painful wheelchair) which makes the seat even higher. As I mentioned earlier, some nurses or aides didn't know that the foot rests on a wheelchair can be raised to take some pressure off the backs of our thighs.
When I was a decorator, I never found a manufacturer who gave a choice of seat height on a particular chair. So if the client/wife was much shorter than her husband. . .
Donald A. Norman, in The Design of Everyday Things reminded us that even if we design for over 90 per cent of people, we still neglect millions if others.
After the hospital trip in July, I gave up wearing heels (except for the mid heeled evening slippers hidden in my closet In Case.) So a church pew is going to be torture.
Now I do what I have to do. I put a box "footstool" in front of my posture chair, since my ottoman didn't make the move to TX with me. I also put a low box in front of the desk chair.
If you want to share how you change your environment to serve your recovery, please let me know.
Soon: about the car
Swollen feet are about the chair, not the shoes.
Finally someone who gets it!
The supposed solution is to put a cushion on a hard chair (or a painful wheelchair) which makes the seat even higher. As I mentioned earlier, some nurses or aides didn't know that the foot rests on a wheelchair can be raised to take some pressure off the backs of our thighs.
When I was a decorator, I never found a manufacturer who gave a choice of seat height on a particular chair. So if the client/wife was much shorter than her husband. . .
Donald A. Norman, in The Design of Everyday Things reminded us that even if we design for over 90 per cent of people, we still neglect millions if others.
After the hospital trip in July, I gave up wearing heels (except for the mid heeled evening slippers hidden in my closet In Case.) So a church pew is going to be torture.
Now I do what I have to do. I put a box "footstool" in front of my posture chair, since my ottoman didn't make the move to TX with me. I also put a low box in front of the desk chair.
If you want to share how you change your environment to serve your recovery, please let me know.
Soon: about the car
Monday, December 17, 2012
SPINE FUSION Incidental healing and
One more incidental happening:
I may have mentioned this, but it's worth repeating:
Waiting in the surgeon's office, I mentioned that at the end of 4 weeks, I started getting some leg pain. His assistant asked what I'd been doing and I confessed this blog kept me at the keyboard a bit longer. She said:
Divide your time: a half hour at the computer, some time lying down, some time walking. . .
And of course I need time for the exercises. I still have to force myself away from the keyboard. Since it's a laptop, my posture is at risk.
Look around you in a coffee shop, and ask yourself if you're doing some of those duck postures that will have consequences. I see a bonanza for orthopods coming in future years.
The car
I liked my car and my jeans. In my free time, I liked being totally relaxed, JoanCool in the driver's seat. Since the surgery I realized:
That shoulders-and-hips in the same plane move that gets me out of bed should be getting me in and out of the car. Guess what! In my youth, all women were supposed to back into the car and then rotate shoulder-and- hips in the same plane into the car. So now I do. Takes too long, but. . .
Guess what else? I saw my friend Tom getting out of his vehicle that way, mentioning that it's good for his back trouble.
Now I'm getting a real course in using the side mirrors, hoping to eliminate twisting to look around the hateful head rest to see whether I'm backing into someone's lobelia or on someone's shiny new bumper. Another learning experience. . . Face it, I'll still have to get out of the car and look sometimes. And since my lens replacement, I'll still be four feet from the car I thought I was hitting. I'm way too young for all this.
I may have mentioned this, but it's worth repeating:
Waiting in the surgeon's office, I mentioned that at the end of 4 weeks, I started getting some leg pain. His assistant asked what I'd been doing and I confessed this blog kept me at the keyboard a bit longer. She said:
Divide your time: a half hour at the computer, some time lying down, some time walking. . .
And of course I need time for the exercises. I still have to force myself away from the keyboard. Since it's a laptop, my posture is at risk.
Look around you in a coffee shop, and ask yourself if you're doing some of those duck postures that will have consequences. I see a bonanza for orthopods coming in future years.
The car
I liked my car and my jeans. In my free time, I liked being totally relaxed, JoanCool in the driver's seat. Since the surgery I realized:
That shoulders-and-hips in the same plane move that gets me out of bed should be getting me in and out of the car. Guess what! In my youth, all women were supposed to back into the car and then rotate shoulder-and- hips in the same plane into the car. So now I do. Takes too long, but. . .
Guess what else? I saw my friend Tom getting out of his vehicle that way, mentioning that it's good for his back trouble.
Now I'm getting a real course in using the side mirrors, hoping to eliminate twisting to look around the hateful head rest to see whether I'm backing into someone's lobelia or on someone's shiny new bumper. Another learning experience. . . Face it, I'll still have to get out of the car and look sometimes. And since my lens replacement, I'll still be four feet from the car I thought I was hitting. I'm way too young for all this.
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