Last week was a pretty rough week with everything happening in our country and trying to recover from my surgery. As a country we try to move on together although that has been forever changed with  the events of last week. Today though I want to give you an update on how I’m doing after the implant surgery and where I’m at with all of that. To say that things have been easy during this recovery would be a bold faced lie! I’ve had moments as I slowly get better where I ask myself how much more I have to put up with. This has by far been the hardest surgery to get over and I feel beaten up inside and out.

Its been about a week and a half since coming home from the hospital, and I still spend a fare amount of time flat on my back trying to get comfortable. Am I getting better? The answer is “yes” but I had expected things to be a bit quicker, and to be up and around a bit more than I am. The pain is the biggest problem but my energy level is down as well. I’m still dealing with a few symptoms that are affecting my right side. The fingers in my right hand are still numb and weak and my lips ( upper & lower ) on the right side are still numb. I’m being told that this is because of how extensive the surgery was, and that the nerves are all out of wack. The surgeon is saying this should normalize over time. We are watching this however just in case something else is going on. I’m really at the stage right now where I’m letting my body do the talking and not pushing things to hard. I knew that this part of things was going to be hard but never this hard.

As is always the case this has been difficult on the entire family. My wife has been more than amazing holding this entire family together! As with every surgery that I’ve been through she amazes me with how she does it all! She is a true gift from God! We started this journey together and we will finish it together no matter what gets thrown our way. My kids have had it tough as well through all this. No child should have to watch a parent suffer with an illness of any sort. This has been hard and upsetting to them but they see dad making improvements and that brings a smile to their face. My illness has affected their lives in a huge way and that makes me sad. Childhood has been a little different for them and I wish I could change that. After coming to see me at the hospital one day my youngest daughter was awake at 4am worried about “her daddy” and when I was going to come home. She should be asleep cozy in her bed having dreams about being a princess not worrying about my illness! These are the reasons I’m so passionate about helping others so they don’t have to go through what I’ve gone through.

After being through all of this however the implant is up an running and I’m happy to say working well. It’s going to be a bit before I can say how effective it will be because of all the surgical trauma that has my CRPS and nerves so flared up. As I’ve said before however I’m a strong advocate for the neurostimulators and the quality of life they can give you. I wouldn’t have gone through everything I’ve been through unless I didn’t believe in what they can do. No they don’t work in every case, and in some cases a person’s body rejects the implant. In most cases however they work well and when that’s the case they improve quality of life.

So for the next several weeks I will continue to make small steps to a full recovery. It’s going to take time and lots of patience but I know I can do it. Some days are bound to be harder than others but I trust that God’s going to pull me through this one as well!