Yesterday was my day of freedom from restrictions. Today I’m figuring out what my body can and can’t do.

A big factor in my recovery is the nerve pain in left leg. It’s always there at a low level. Certain things make it flare up to the point where I’m really hurting. Pain medication helps, but I don’t want to be taking pain medication after every activity that causes a flare.

Activities that cause a flare are sitting upright in a chair for longer than 45-ish minutes. My leg goes numb and the pins and needles can get to the point of severe pain. Standing for more than 10-ish minutes cause the same pain. Leaning on my cane helps, but sitting down is ideal. A day of constant activity also causes the pain. If I can, I make sure to rest in between activities. That can slow the progression to severe pain. Then I’ll pay for it that evening. And pain medication may be the only cure at that point. The nerves likely got damaged between June 2023 and Oct 2023 when I had surgery. That surgeon said to give it 6 months and maybe it would be ok. Nope, the pain returned. Now my current surgeon said the same thing. So most likely this will be a chronic issue and I need to figure out how to live with it.

The second issue is fatigue. I’ve had fatigue since June 2023 when the initial nerve compression happened. After the first surgery Oct 2023, I started napping, or at least resting, around 2pm daily. That gave me some ability to go on with the rest of the day. 3 months post op, and I’m still napping or resting around 2pm. It’s a full body, heavy fatigue. I have no choice but to rest. I feel like I’ll fall over if I don’t. Sometimes I mistake pain for fatigue. The only way to know is to take medication. Alot of times the medication kicks in, and I’ll suddenly get energy and I’m not fatigued any longer. Figuring this out has been trial and error. And what I did before surgery hasn’t worked after surgery. So I rest first and if that doesn’t help, then I’ll try medication. Usually that is the key to being able to function the rest of the day.  Fatigue may just be part of the healing process. Hopefully it will subside sometime soon.

3 months post op and I’m only taking Tramadol ER in the morning. I have tramadol IR as needed. Gabapentin 800 mg 4 times a day for nerve pain. I really doubt it’s effectiveness. It’s cheap and I don’t have side effects so I keep taking it. Also tizanidine three times a day. I take 4 mg during the day and have no side effects (drowsiness). And 6mg at bedtime. I just started celebrex again last night for thumb joint arthritis (CMC) and it can help with spine arthritis pain also. Those are the only medications I’m taking now. I’m satisfied with that.

I am diving into medical marijuana for the nerve pain. I’ve done plenty of medical research and it’s promising for chronic pain and nerve pain. Worth a try. Of course I’ll post my thoughts after I visit a dispensary.

Thought I’d write about the constant challenges I have that may be things I’ll need to live with for the foreseeable future. That’s ok. My surgery and recovery has gone smoothly and I feel great overall. My worst day now is still better than my best day before surgery. I can’t ask for much better. My prayers were answered for sure.