The First Two Weeks After Spine Surgery Are a Different Planet
TL;DR
The first two weeks after spine surgery are mostly about moving less and planning more. Turning over, sitting up, and getting comfortable all take real effort! The right tools set up before you need them do more than willpower does. Some days the only unit of time that gets you through is hour by hour.
Recovery runs hour by hour, or minute by minute
Outside of it and before surgery, recovery looks like a timeline. Day 3. Week 2. Month 1. In my mind, I had all of these milestones that would be reached according to what the doctor said was 'normal.' But inside it? Ha! The only manageable unit is sometimes the next minute. Because I had to relearn how to walk again, I first had to remember how to sit up. Whenever I tried, 2 days after surgery in my hospital bed, I fainted. Every time. So, we took things literally second by second (shout out to my PT's who were amazing!!) When your body is in space but you don't know quite where (hello, proprioception), your sleep is wrecked, and everything takes effort, that timeline can feel too ambitious. Shrink the frame until it fits. I focused on the next small thing instead of the bigger timeline, and it made a difference.
Turning in bed is an event
This sounds minor until it isn't. When you can't move easily in bed, everything downstream gets harder: sleep, rest, asking for help, even wanting to ask for help. A wedge pillow was the only way I found a sleeping angle I could live with. Bed rails gave me the leverage to turn myself without waiting for another human to be awake. And an adjustable bed, if you can swing one, shifts your body at the push of a button so the bed does the work instead of your back.
The tools are not glamorous or sexy
You won't be excited to need a reacher. But, I used mine for everything from picking up my dropped phone to grabbing a tissue off the floor. And yes, I also covered it in bling, because why the hell not. The shower chair wasn't optional either, in the stretches when I couldn't stand and needed to do transfers, it was a life saver. If this is also your case, be sure to get one that has the cut out where your butt sits, it makes cleaning a million times easier. Again, none of these things are sexy, but they make daily life easier at exactly the moment daily life gets weirdly hard. They exist for a reason. Use them.
The week-one list is not the month-three list
Early on, the whole problem is barely moving. Later, different issues show up and the early ones fade. Stay flexible with yourself, and remember there will be a time you don't need all of these things anymore.
Keep a pen and notes book by the bed. It was really helpful for things I would remember and also journaling when I felt like it. And by journal, I mean sometimes I wrote one sentence saying, 'Today I sat up and closed my eyes without falling over.' Record one win a day, no matter how small! On the dark days you'll want proof you're moving.
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From the 2am search bar
Do I really need a shower chair?
Yes. Yes. Yes, you do. I was glad it was already in the bathroom before I came home. Now figuring out how to TRANSFER to it from my wheelchair was an Olympic sport. Whether you need one depends on your timeframe and your setup. I was happy to have one because a shower was a highlight of every single day.
What should be ready at home before surgery?
Check out the free room-by-room checklist.
More in early recovery
Before spine surgery: your room-by-room checklist
A free guide to prepare your home