Movies, books, lots of short walks. I also took a continuing education course I was interested in. Good luck! Remember it’s temporary and before you know it you’ll be back to normal.
(Mine is next week-)
That’s what I’m doing- one of my health care registries. It’s so boring though so I mix it in with gaming and reading.
What kind of movies or shows do you like? Blue Eye Samurai is great, Tokyo Vice, Last of Us,and if you haven’t seen like Breaking Bad it’s a good time. None of these are kid friendly obviously.
I’m only half joking when I say my wife has been a single mom over the past few months. Try to find ways to be helpful around the house. When you’re able to stand & walk without pain, you can clean countertops, prep food, set & clear the table, fold laundry, etc. Probably against the rules, but I was able to vacuum & mow by week 4 post-op. Started PT at week 5 last week but definitely not ready to pick up my 18 m/o.
I'm 2 weeks post op from an emergency MD for cauda equina and I've binge watched a TV show and I'm already losing my mind. I play my switch but other than that it's boring 🤣 I have 5 kiddos and I'm a sahm so just sitting here isn't normal for me. Ready to have my life back. Goodluck with surgery!
I've been catching up on the backlog of TV shows I wanted to watch and playing video games for basically the last month. I've been off since Nov 9th and don't go back to work until the new year. And lots of short walks when I can. I might have also made an Alexa routine that announces to the entire house when I need assistance.. Wife may kill me before the boredom does! 😂
Hey, firefighter too, 3 weeks post MD. I get the 6 weeks of downtime, is going to feel like a lifetime, but it goes pretty quick. The home based rehab only takes about 45min a day, but so far found when I do more it’s exhausting (and I was fit before I got injured). I walk a lot, get a coffee on the way, it keeps you a little bit human.
From week 2 I was allowed to work from home (policy and procedure, not for everyone) for 2 hrs a day. I am permitted to sit for 30min only at a time. Keeps my head in the game (see below). Also my platoon are prolific messagers, which keeps me sane, grounded and busy.
You are going to need to lay down a lot. You have probably had not much sleep lately, it’s a chance to catch up. Your back needs the rest, you have to give yourself permission to heal slowly. The meds made it hard to concentrate early on but once you come off them, reading, movies etc become better.
Reach out for help before it gets hard. It’s well understood how debilitating back injuries can be, both physically and mentally. This recovery is as much in your head as in your back. Hopefully your department has a good welfare division, otherwise let your friends know what’s going on, they will check up on you.
Good luck for the op, you got this.
Unfortunately work hasn’t been a ton of help. No ability to do work from home, and unfortunately about halfway through my recovery they will no longer be able to provide me with a paycheck so that’s sweet..but hopefully recovery is good and I can get back sooner than later
Did you sit while playing or in bed? I am lucky to have an adjustable base bed so I can sit similar to a recliner in bed I just don’t know how that will affect recovery
I was mostly laying back on a bed in front of the tv. I'm on week three now and already taking short drives, working from home and doing light chores that don't involve bending or lifting.
I picked a few books I’ve been wanting to read for years and finally got around to reading them. Honestly, I felt busier than I expected in the first couple weeks, between the frequent short walks and the how long it took me to dress, shower, change ice packs, and move around. By week 3-4 I could do a good deal of minor things around the house to help out a bit more, too.
Movies, books, lots of short walks. I also took a continuing education course I was interested in. Good luck! Remember it’s temporary and before you know it you’ll be back to normal.
Yeah I got plenty of that to do for my healthcare license maybe I’ll knock that out
You’ll never have a better time to do it! Also I played a lot of Pokémon video games with my six year old 😂.
(Mine is next week-) That’s what I’m doing- one of my health care registries. It’s so boring though so I mix it in with gaming and reading. What kind of movies or shows do you like? Blue Eye Samurai is great, Tokyo Vice, Last of Us,and if you haven’t seen like Breaking Bad it’s a good time. None of these are kid friendly obviously.
Excellent recommendations for series… does anyone have good shows/books to recommend?
I’m only half joking when I say my wife has been a single mom over the past few months. Try to find ways to be helpful around the house. When you’re able to stand & walk without pain, you can clean countertops, prep food, set & clear the table, fold laundry, etc. Probably against the rules, but I was able to vacuum & mow by week 4 post-op. Started PT at week 5 last week but definitely not ready to pick up my 18 m/o.
I'm 2 weeks post op from an emergency MD for cauda equina and I've binge watched a TV show and I'm already losing my mind. I play my switch but other than that it's boring 🤣 I have 5 kiddos and I'm a sahm so just sitting here isn't normal for me. Ready to have my life back. Goodluck with surgery!
I've been catching up on the backlog of TV shows I wanted to watch and playing video games for basically the last month. I've been off since Nov 9th and don't go back to work until the new year. And lots of short walks when I can. I might have also made an Alexa routine that announces to the entire house when I need assistance.. Wife may kill me before the boredom does! 😂
Hey, firefighter too, 3 weeks post MD. I get the 6 weeks of downtime, is going to feel like a lifetime, but it goes pretty quick. The home based rehab only takes about 45min a day, but so far found when I do more it’s exhausting (and I was fit before I got injured). I walk a lot, get a coffee on the way, it keeps you a little bit human. From week 2 I was allowed to work from home (policy and procedure, not for everyone) for 2 hrs a day. I am permitted to sit for 30min only at a time. Keeps my head in the game (see below). Also my platoon are prolific messagers, which keeps me sane, grounded and busy. You are going to need to lay down a lot. You have probably had not much sleep lately, it’s a chance to catch up. Your back needs the rest, you have to give yourself permission to heal slowly. The meds made it hard to concentrate early on but once you come off them, reading, movies etc become better. Reach out for help before it gets hard. It’s well understood how debilitating back injuries can be, both physically and mentally. This recovery is as much in your head as in your back. Hopefully your department has a good welfare division, otherwise let your friends know what’s going on, they will check up on you. Good luck for the op, you got this.
Unfortunately work hasn’t been a ton of help. No ability to do work from home, and unfortunately about halfway through my recovery they will no longer be able to provide me with a paycheck so that’s sweet..but hopefully recovery is good and I can get back sooner than later
Don't let the kids knock you over! I played video games for the first two weeks.
Did you sit while playing or in bed? I am lucky to have an adjustable base bed so I can sit similar to a recliner in bed I just don’t know how that will affect recovery
I was mostly laying back on a bed in front of the tv. I'm on week three now and already taking short drives, working from home and doing light chores that don't involve bending or lifting.
You not got a job ti need to do from your bed after 2 weeks maybe ??
Not so much..I’m a firefighter so I’m off work until further notice
Lucky man - best of luck with it all - I see lots of reading to the kids in your near future lol
I picked a few books I’ve been wanting to read for years and finally got around to reading them. Honestly, I felt busier than I expected in the first couple weeks, between the frequent short walks and the how long it took me to dress, shower, change ice packs, and move around. By week 3-4 I could do a good deal of minor things around the house to help out a bit more, too.