I *think* thinks are going reasonably well. I am able to have bowel movements each morning.
I have been able to walk, and was up to about 2 miles yesterday.
I still can’t lay on the surgical side, it is extremely painful and anything that requires the muscles of the left side is also very painful.
The worst pain I have, and my chief complaint right now is actually in the crease between the underside of my belly and top of thigh. I think that’s the psoas muscle?
I can’t describe it as anything other than an occasional VERY sharp pain, seems to come on mostly when sitting upright on my bed, and worsens with movement or a deep breath. It is relieved by standing up or rolling to my non surgical side, but worsens as I am getting to those positions. When I had discitis and I had an abscess in my psoas, it felt similar to this, but was more permanent then. I am really hoping this is just psoas irritation and nothing more serious.
I also have the expected numbness in front of thigh, slight thigh/psoas weakness. No big deal here.
While I am having regular BM’s, it is still extremely painful to push, or use my abdominal muscles to aid in that activity.
I still have 2 seromas at both the back and side incisions.
The actual reason for the surgery, right sided back pain with some radiation, is gone (yay!)
As I am sitting here having anxiety about psoas / abdominal muscle damage, I’m curious why any surgeon would ever do an XLIF instead of an OLIF at L3-4. OLIF seems to have none of the muscle/bowel involvement. I realize I’m asking this question about 8 days too late, but Dr. Corenman, why would OLIF not be the default for this type of surgery?
All in all, 7 days in (6 days post op) – I’m told all of this is normal.
