Final Update from Full-Time Recovery

Hello everyone!  It is Ben again.  Jesse has been quite busy with work and traveling the past week or so.  I have not been particularly busy, but I just did not get around to blogging over the past week.  The title of this blog alludes to the fact that I will be returning to work on Wednesday, May 15th.  At my May 1st appointment, after speaking with Dr. Asher and one of his nurses, we decided on a tentative return to work date of May 15th.  If I continued to improve, especially with neck stamina and flexibility, I would call their office to get my return to work note.  I called last Wednesday and got my return to work note as my neck had substantially improved (although it still has a ways to go in the muscles on the left side of my neck and upper shoulder).  I am excited to get back to work, as it is a place I enjoy working.  It feels like I have been gone much longer than five and a half weeks, but I am sure I will get back into the swing of things before long.

I am continuing with my rehab in occupational and physical therapy.  I continue to work on my balance, coordination, leg strength, and neck flexibility/strength at physical therapy.  I have my next PT appointment Wednesday morning, at which time we will evaluate and update my PT plan.  In exciting OT news, I have one appointment scheduled for next Wednesday (they had to cancel my OT appointment from this morning), which should be my final OT appointment.  They will discharge me to a home therapy plan where I continue to work on exercises they give me from home.

Also, in my conversation with Dr. Asher's nurse last Wednesday, she also answered a few questions I had.  They are actually reducing some of my restrictions.  I can now bend, twist, stoop, etc., as long as it is nothing strenuous and I do not overdo it (I know Jesse is happy I can help more around the house with some of the chores now, although the ones she hates of carrying trash and heavy litter I still cannot do).  They also increased the amount of weight I am allowed to lift from 5 to 10 pounds.  I am also allowed to jog slowly as I am able!  I am not allowed to run at this point.  However, I tried a couple minutes of jogging this weekend.  I most .likely looked like the 80 year old man you see out shuffling along in a jog on the street, but it was progress none the less.  I look forward to incorporating a little more of it into my walking regimen as I go forward.  These restrictions will be in place until my next office visit towards the end of June.

I hope to continue my recovery once I return to work.  I think working will speed up my recovery in some ways, as I will get used to the motor skills required to do my job that I may not be able to practice as much at home.  Although, my typing is pretty good now (not including my pinkie on my right hand which still is not cooperative).  I think my writing is close to as good as it was before.  After all the balance exercises I do at PT, I think that may end up being better than it was before the surgery.  My physical therapist was commenting that the goal will be for me to be like the Six Million Dollar Man ("We can rebuild him, we have the technology...better than he was before...").  The lower body numbness still moves around and can be quite annoying and uncomfortable, but that will hopefully resolve over the coming months and year.

Thanks again to everyone who reads for all of your support, thoughts, and prayers.

-Ben

Follow-Up Visit

Good morning! I am so glad Ben posted yesterday. :-) Being back at work has certainly kept me busier, but it is going well. Ben continues to get better and better, which makes it easier for me to leave each day.

We had the follow-up visit today with Ben's surgeon. We thought we would be meeting with the surgeon's PA, but we got to meet with Dr. Asher instead. That was a pleasant surprise!  The appointment went well. Dr. Asher looked at Ben's incision first and said that it was looking great. He said that recovery will continue to take a while, especially given the size and complexity of the tumor...the tumor was (as we knew) compressing Ben's spinal cord significantly. Dr. Asher said that the spinal cord was actually translucent in some areas where the tumor was...how crazy (and scary) is that?  He also said that the numbness Ben is experiencing is 'part and parcel' of recovering from this type of surgery. It will take months for Ben to reach the place of ultimate recovery, and it could take up to a year or two for him to reach the final recovery period. We knew it would be a long road, but we can certainly hope for continued improvement moving forward long-term.

Overall, Dr. Asher is extremely pleased with Ben's progress. He used the words 'delighted' and 'phenomonal' to describe his feelings about the recovery so far. That was wonderful to hear! The chance for recurrence of the tumor is low (around 5% or less from what we have read).

Moving forward, Ben will have another MRI in 4 months to assess the cysts on his spinal cord. Dr. Asher said that it could take a while for the cysts to drain, so at that point they could still be there (but hopefully smaller). He is continuing his therapies through May 15th (at which point they'll re-evaluate him and decide on how to move forward). He is released to move his neck as normal (Dr. Asher's words were "you won't break anything"), so he is going to work on stretching it (and his shoulders) out. If his neck and shoulders continue to hurt, Dr. Asher's office is happy to write him a prescription to add neck exercises to his physical therapy routine.  Ben is going to give it a few days and see how he's feeling.  He has also been tentatively released to drive. He is supposed to practice supervised driving short distances at first to make sure he can use the pedals and do everything he needs to do to drive safely. He is planning to take it slow! Wish us both luck as he practices. :-)

He mentioned yesterday that the last of his steri-strips came off, so I have another couple of pictures to share. The incision is definitely healing!!

Up close picture of the scar

The scar again

 We continue to walk whenever we can, of course! :-)

Walking, walking, walking