One Week Post L5/S1 Laminectomy Microdiscectomy Surgery

Officially one week post op and overall I’m still very happy I got the surgery. I have not experienced any severe nerve pain like I had before, but I’m experiencing so many new post surgery symptoms I wasn’t mentally prepared for. In this post I’ll walk through day by day how I felt and at the end, the help I needed from others the first week.

My instructions coming home from the hospital were no bending, lifting or twisting, no picking up anything over 5lbs, rest a lot, ice a lot and walk 10 minutes, 3 times a day.

Throughout this week I took off from work and just rested at home. I could not imaging going back to work during this time. While I could lay down and work, I felt so sick from post surgery symptoms and I was very very tired all the time.

Day 1 - 2:

These were honestly the best days. I got so many gifts from friends and work during this time, so many phone calls and check ins, I really felt amazing and loved these first couple days. If you’re someone that knows someone going through an injury, don’t forget to continue to check in. While the first few days are sometimes physically tough, the longer journey is mentally tough and they’ll continue to need support (at least I do!)

I still had a good amount of drugs from the hospital still in me, I didn’t feel any nerve pain at all and only had some incision pain. The incision pain really didn’t bother me that much and I never felt the need to take any pain medication for it. Ice was really all I needed during this time. At this point I was only on a steroid medication for inflammation that I got at the hospital and my nightly Gabapentin. In addition, the hospital sent me home with some vitamin drink packets and I drank 2 of those a day as well as stool softeners (iykyk). I rested mostly, just walked around my apartment and the hallways since they were flat, and played a lot of video games to pass the time.

Day 3-5:

This was the hardest part for me. Starting day 3 I started experiencing extreme nausea, everything made me sick, I didn’t want to eat and I started to feel really dizzy and light headed. Looking back I think a lot of it was the steroid anti inflammatory and dehydration. The only thing that made me feel better was sour candy so I always had a little bag of sour worms with me when I tried to walk around to help me get through it. As I started taking less of the steroid and drinking more water, my symptoms started to get better. Throughout this time my incision pain was quite minimal and getting better day by day. I took some nausea medication and it helped a bit. I did all the above at the same time so I’m not sure which one truly helped kick the nausea or if it was a combo of all.

During this time I also started feeling a bit of nerve pain in my glute when I would go to sit for the bathroom. My doctor reassured me that this would most likely happen as there’s a lot of fluid and inflammation still in my back from surgery and the nerve is going to take time to heal. Even though I knew this, it was still very scary to experience. The pain was a 2 or 3 compared to the 10 it was before and it was very brief. More like a reminder to try and keep my back neutral as I sit, or engage my core as I go up the stairs rather than stabbing screaming pain that would take a long time to calm down.

Day 5 I also had my first poop! again if you’ve had any surgery, you’ll understand but if you haven’t, the medications from surgery really make you constipated and bloated so it will take time for you to poop regularly again. I just kept taking my stool softeners and eating lots of fiber.

Day 6:

The nausea and dizziness really went away by day 6, however when I’d do my 10 minute walks, I’d be really light headed at the end of it and need to sit down. Also if I got up too quickly (which was still a snails pace compared to a normal person), I would black out for a few seconds and need to sit down again.

I also had a friend’s going away party today. I had not left the house in almost 3 months unless it was to see a doctor and I wanted to go say good bye for at least 5 minutes. I brought my candy and water and was able to stand about 15 minutes and socialize for a bit. It felt so good to feel slightly normal again, but just those 15 minutes really wiped me out.

I was not prepared for how weak I’d feel after surgery. I had never had such a major surgery before and though I could just bounce back, but I was very wrong. While I in general feel ok, the weakness really hits me quickly if I pushed anything more than 10-15 minutes. I was never in any pain from this and just felt really light headed and tired afterwards.

Day 7:

I started to feel a bit better day by day, and a bit stronger. This was the first day I ventured outside and walked to the park that is across the street from my apartment. It’s a 3 minute walk to the park and I was able to stay out there and walk for about 10 minutes and come back. It felt really nice to go outside again, but I still didn’t feel comfortable going alone just incase anything happened.

By day 7 I was off all the steroid medication, stool softeners and vitamin drinks. I am still only taking the Gabapentin at night. My incision pain is mostly unnoticeable but I do feel slightly more nerve pain day by day. The pain isn’t intensifying but I notice it more regularly. In addition, I got more foot tingles in my bad leg as well. I tend to feel it mostly in the mornings.

Mentally, I am struggling a bit with the symptoms coming back but still happy that they are no where near what it was before. I’m able to walk, even sit for a bit to eat meals, and I don’t worry about the pain I’ll feel when I get up in the mornings.

The Help I needed:

I don’t know how I could get through this recovery alone. I’m incredibly grateful to have an amazing boyfriend, Jon, I live with that is doing 100% of everything around the house and taking care of me so I can heal. I try to help by planning meals and ordering groceries just so I feel like I can contribute something because I’m really awful at being helpless.

I bought a grabber and a sock tool to help me dress and grab things off the floor if they fall and those just help me feel a lot more independent during this time. Jon does all the cooking, helps change my bandages nightly, sometimes would help me sit early only, walk me up the stairs early on, and does all the care and walking for our dog as well. The main things that I really can’t do is fill my water bottle and get food from our fridge. We have a lot fridge and since I can’t bend, I can’t grab really anything from it except the butter from the door… This will continue over the next 6 weeks of recovery but hopefully other things I can become more confident in and need less monitoring for. If you live alone, I’d highly recommend asking a friend or family member come help you during this time. I’ve also seen some people hire nurses to come help as well.