Able To Sit, Stand & Walk

September 20, 2023, The Isles Nursing & Rehab Center, Boynton Beach, Florida: GOOD NEWS: This afternoon, I had my daily physical therapy session. I was able to lift myself and sit at the edge of my bed by myself and then sit in a wheelchair. My physical therapist wheeled me to the workout room. There, I was able to stand and then walk, taking several steps twice with a walker without experiencing too much pain. This is the first time I have been able sit, stand, and walk without screaming with pain in months.

I also had my daily occupational therapy session this morning to strengthen my upper body. I required much help from this therapist.

On September 2, 2023, I had surgery to remove an infection (an abscess) in a disk in my lower spine. I also have osteomyelitis (bone infection) in the surrounding spinal bone. I have severe pain at the site of my incision in my lower back, but, of course, that pain will abate as time goes on. I still have severe pain across my lower back, but that seems to have begun dissipating.

I take opioid pain pills and nerve pain pills, but neither of them helps all that much.

My legs are very weak because prior to entering the hospital, I was not able to walk without a walker and without extreme pain for about two months. I basically remained in bed in pain. After my spinal surgery, my left leg was completely numb from my hip to my ankle. Much of the feeling has returned. My right thigh was also partially numb, but much feeling has also returned.

I continue to engage in therapy to strengthen my body: physical therapy for my lower body and occupational therapy for my upper body.

As for my osteomyelitis in my spine, I am already on a six-week-long regimen of daily intravenous antibiotic for a blood infection and possible osteomyelitis within a fracture in my right Tibia. My right Fibula is also fractured. Both right ankle fractures are from two falls in April 2023. I am more than halfway through my regimen. My current antibiotic regimen hasn't changed, but now it is also removing the infection in my spine; my infectious-disease doctor may add an extra two weeks to my regimen. (However, my infectious-disease doctor recently switched me to two bags of intravenous antibiotic daily from one bag based on daily testing of my extracted blood.)

(Note: I know this seems unrelated to this group, so I should mention that I did have quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery in March 2022, followed by two related surgeries in May 2022. I required a second surgery to remove my sternal plates due to loose screws, plus a staff infection within my chest. My chest remained open for about a week with a wound vacuum attached. My third surgery closed my chest. My surgeon reattached my chest muscle flaps to my body using seven sutures.)