Pictures from after surgery

Here are some pictures of me after surgery. The first one is (i THINK) a day or maybe even 2 days after surgery. My face was SO swollen after surgery! The next is the xray of what my spine looks like now. And the last one is a picture of me walking at the hospital. Nice socks, huh?! :)

Update!

I just now read Travis's post from the hospital...I laughed. I cried. Thank you Travis for letting everyone know I survived. I will try to give you a few more details today. Not that I really remember much from that week when I was in the hospital, but i will try my best I was on so many medications that I could not tell you what day or time it was--but I continued asking poor Travis about every 15 minutes for 5 days straight! Haha. He loved that! So the day of surgery, I went to Critical Care after my surgery, as Travis stated. When Travis tells you I was swollen, he is being very conservative! My face looked like a beach ball that someone had taken a black sharpie and drawn two little slots for eyes, two little circles for nostrils and a small slit for a smile. Not kidding at all! (I will post pictures later). This was due to me being in an awkward, downward position for 6 hours of surgery. I don't remember much from that day/night in critical care except I kept trying to sleep but the nurse kept yelling at me to breathe. I would start to doze off again and some beeper would start going off on my machine and the nurse would yell at me to breathe. When I say yell, I'm sure it was normal tone, but to me in my foggy world I felt that she was yelling. :) I could also hear the the nurses and other critical care employees talking about their weekend plans. Not sure why that sticks out in my mind, but it does. Throughout the night nurses would come in and turn me from one side to the other. This was very painful-no matter how much pain medication you have in your body. And keep in mind that my face is still so swollen that my eyes are swollen shut and I can't see what's going on!!!!! Nice, huh? I knew my parents were there and Travis because I recognized their voices The next day, which would have been May 31, I was transferred to a regular room. The physical therapist came by and I stood by the bedside!!! I can't remember if only Travis was there or if my parents were there too, but all I remember is people saying is "Oh my gosh, you are so tall!". So I wasn't quite sure if the surgery straightened me out to 5'10" or 6'0". I was a bit freaked out. I was only allowed to have ice chips for most of the 5 days. I had a feeding tube in for (I think) 3or 4 days. I slept a lot! The physical therapist came in daily and took me for walks down the hall. She taught me how to walk up and down stairs. She taught me how to sit in a chair and how to get in and out of bed. The occupational therapist also came by daily and taught me how to put shoes and socks on with these special tools. Honestly, I didn't listen to him because it's summer and I plan on wearing sandals and flip flops. However when the fall comes and I still can't bend over, I'm really going to regret that! Haha So on Wednesday , June 5th, I was dismissed from the hospital. The doctor wanted me to stay in St. Louis for a couple of days, just to make sure I didn't have any complications and be 4 hours away. So we stayed at the Parkway Hotel, which is connected (by walkways) to the entire hospital, dr offices, everything! On June 7th, we were released to come home. Luckily my sister Chloe rode with us so she could help me when we stopped for restroom breaks. We actually were instructed to stop once every hour and get out and walk (to prevent blood clots). So we did! So the following day, June 8th, Travis and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary!! :) The next 3 weeks are very foggy and blurry to me. I was on 9 different medications. I remember eating a lot of Popsicles. You wonderful people prepared meals and brought to our house and fed me and my family. Thank you so much! And thank you Julie Beatty for organizing all of that!! I know I said a bunch of funny things. My family loves to tell me the stories! Just ask one of them and they'd be happy to tell you one! Haha The ones that I remember are: telling the nurses that Obama got me that special private room. Lol. Or the time I told them I was on my tour bus! Geez! Now that I am off of the "heavy stuff" I can function much better! I am still on pain medication, and 4 other pills a day, but my memory is back. My bossiness is back too--my kids and Travis love that! Haha I am able to walk around the house without my walker now, but I'm very slow. I "exercise" every dayby walking around my "track" at home. My daily routine consists of sitting in my recliner with ice packs all over my back. Then I walk a while. Walk up the stairs and back down. Sit some more. Walk some more. Eat lunch. Sit in chair and take a nap. Get up and walk. Sit. Walk. Sit some more. Walk some more. Eat dinner. Walk. Sit. Walk. Sit. Walk.. Go to bed. Wake up and do it all over again. We are estimating that I will be off the pain meds by August and I can start driving again by August. Thank you so much to those of you who have brought us meals. I don't know what we would do without you! Thank you for all your prayers! They worked!! :) Continue to pray for quick healing and for the pain to go away. Thanks for sharing this experience with me! Oh, and I'm now 5'10"! .