Tethered Cord Release Update

I am doing really well since my tethered cord release last Tuesday. I have no pain at all from it! I only took prescription pain meds for about four days and haven't needed any since then. I still occasionally take muscle relaxers for the muscle spasms, but not very frequently. The only post op issue I have is that I can't bend over yet. It is still too tight to bend and I am not allowed to lift anything over 5 pounds for a couple of weeks yet. I also need to lay flat as often as possible to prevent a spinal leak. Since the covering of the spinal cord was opened there is a high chance of developing a leak.

Post op I did very well in general. I started the prescription potassium pills because my potassium is low. I haven't noticed a difference symptomatically since starting that medication, but low potassium can be extremely dangerous (causes cardiac complications), which is why we monitor my electrolyte levels frequently. I just got my electrolytes checked via a blood draw today (not for my autonomic doctor, but for GI which I will write a separate post about), but I haven't gotten the results from that back yet. I will need to get my electrolytes checked again next Friday to see how I am responding to the prescription medication.

One issue that I have had before with anesthesia is that my close up vision gets blurry. I always have problems with distance, which is why I wear glasses, but reading is never an issue. For some reason anesthesia makes my vision blurry for reading. Thankfully it only lasts a couple of weeks and then goes back to normal. It is nearly gone now and is really just more of an inconvenience than anything.

An issue I had this surgery that I never had with my other surgeries is a dislocated jaw. From the moment I woke up I said that the inside of my left ear was really hurting. No one new why as there was no obvious marks or redness and the way I was positioned during surgery should not have caused that discomfort. Once I started trying to eat and realized it was painful to chew is when we realized that it was my jaw that was in pain, not my middle ear. I went back to my surgeons office after I had been discharged and he checked on it and said that it will just heal on its own. Thankfully it is only a little bit sore now and it seems like it should heal up just fine.

I go on Monday to a primary care physician to get my stitches removed. We opted for non-dissolvable stitches this time because my body does not dissolve them the way most people's do.

This is my incision right now. It is on the very bottom of spinal column and appears to be sunken in a little bit. This was taken right after surgery, so I will get another picture after the stitches come out. It does look less red and irritated now than it does in the picture.

I will write another update very soon on the GI appointment that I had today. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!