Progress

I realized I haven't been very specific about Ben's progress so far! I want to update you all on where he is now.

His walking and balancing has improved since he came home from the hospital. He is definitely steadier on his feet each day. He still has a lack of sensation in both his legs and his feet. They're not exactly totally numb, but they certainly aren't 100% normal. This lack of sensation makes it harder for him to walk with shoes on. His balance is worse because he can't feel the ground nearly as well with the shoes between his feet and the ground. But, he is spending time each day walking around with the shoes, and we are hopeful that the sensation in his legs and feet will get better and better.

Along those lines, he sometimes feels twitchy/tingling/indescribable sensations in his legs, especially at night. The numbness sometimes 'travels' as well--right now, he has numbness in his thighs and quads that he didn't have yesterday, but his lower legs/feet are feeling a little less numb. We assume that all of this is nerves/pathways re-working and re-connecting. While he was still in the hospital, the physical therapist mentioned that sensations like these would likely continue as the swelling in and around his spinal cord went down. She described his surgery as a 'trauma' to his spinal cord--a planned (and completely necessary!) trauma, but a trauma nonetheless.

His arms and hands don't have nearly the level of numbness as his legs, but his hands are very stiff and sore. Some of this is definitely from the (seems like) millions of IVs he had during and after the surgery. Both of hands are full of bruises and his wrists/arms are bruised up, too. As such, his fine motor skills aren't at 100% either, and at this point we're not sure how much to attribute to his spinal cord and how much to attribute to the bruising. Either way, it's a bit frustrating to Ben. He is practicing as much as possible with his hands--opening his own drinks, opening his pill bottles, doing some writing and typing, etc. We're assuming occupational therapy will help a lot with these actions.

His incision looks good, but his neck is also (understandably!) extremely stiff and sore. Until he starts physical therapy, he is being very careful with his neck movement. We are eager to see what kinds of exercises are safe for him to do so that he can regain some flexibility. We're also glad his sutures will be coming out soon so that we can better see his incision to keep an eye on it. Although they told us it was fine if the steri-strips fell off, none of them have yet. His pain levels are usually manageable, but the pain does get worse at night. His neck is the gauge we use for his activity levels--too much sitting upright or standing/walking causes neck pain pretty quickly.

Luckily, his lingering stomach issues have resolved, so he is much more comfortable. His attitude is quite positive, although I know he wishes he could get better even faster. We have to keep reminding him how far he's already come!