Well, I survived the surgery last Friday. Oh my God was the recovery rough for the first couple days...SHEESH.

I could barely move or breathe and was rushed to the Emergency Room on Sunday because the nurse came by the house and saw that my oxygen level was at 78...YIKES I also made the horrible mistake of taking pain meds without food and got sick to my stomach. They put me on oxygen and gave me a (forget the name) thing to breathe through to get my lungs back in working order by exercising them.

Anyhow, what they ended up doing for the surgery was they went through my side, collapsed a lung, broke 2 ribs, removed the bad disc and replaced it with a plastic one filled with bone type materials, put in a few screws and closed me up.

The head nurse told me he has been doing this for 30 years and his father also did back surgery and he has never seen one such as mine, way up at T7-T8 that is. I guess I'm one in a million eh? LOL

My oxygen levels are back to normal now but I still cannot sleep in my bed because it's too painful right now. I have to sleep on the couch sitting up in order to get any sleep. Hopefully, that will change soon.

Thanks for the support everyone!

OMG, wow, just reading that makes me hurt for you. :S Glad you seemed to be past the worst, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger and anyone who has had a spinal fusion is strong as hell when it's over!!

That's brutal about the lung collapsing, glad they are watching your oxygen levels now, try your best to rest and relax and hopefully you have someone close by to spoil you and give you lots of TLC!

Take care. God bless.
Cathie

Thanks Cathie. And, yes, I am very fortunate to have a loving wife by my side that spoils me.