My Husbands Surgery

Today is Wednesday, and this coming up Monday is when my husband Ray gets surgery on his back. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. He has been in pain for almost a year now, trying to deal with the pain and still play with our 3 kids is hard for him. He has days when he does good and he doesn't hurt so much, but he always pays for them. If he has a good day where he can play with the kids or ride a four-wheeler, the next day is always miserable for him.

Ray has a protruding disc, and spinal stenosis in his lower back (lumbar area). His surgery Monday is called a spinal fusion; this is where they are going to go in from the front (abdomen), move everything on the inside over, and remove his discs to replace them with screws and let the bones fuse together on their own. They are also going to go in from the back to make sure both of the discs are gone. The doctor said people who get this surgery done and are smokers have a harder time getting their bones to fuse together over time. And of course, my husband smokes, so he is going to have to wear a type of belt that sends some type of vibration that stimulates bone growth to help stimulate the fusing process.

Guess after surgery is a perfect time for him to quit smoking. He'll be in the hospital for 3-4 days depending on how he does afterwards, so he definitely won't be able to get up out of bed to go outside to smoke. I just hope with him being on morphine and not being able to smoke, he won't be short tempered with me and not want me around. I want to be there for him through this whole process. His mom is watching our 9 month old for a couple days while he's in the hospital, and my step-childrens' mother will have them, so I will be kid free and able to stay the night with him so he's not alone in the hospital room.

Doctor said the worst thing that could happen after the surgery is Ray will come out with the same pain he has now. So there are 3 outcomes of this: come out with the same pain, come out with less pain but still a little, or come out pain free...that is after the 8 week recovery period. There is also a 1-2% chance he could go sterile and we couldn't have anymore kids. He has two kids from a previous marriage, but he only has one with me, and everyday he works my step-kids go to their moms house and my son is home with me by himself and he doesn't have anyone to play with. So lets hope that if we decide to have another baby Ray isn't part of that 1-2%.

Lets pray all goes well and he comes out and has a great recovery with no pain afterwards. I can't wait to see him play with our children and not be in pain, to see him get up out of bed every morning without hurting, and be able to do all of the active things a young parent should be doing.