Martha and Surgery

For those of you who are interested, I will outline the situation in which my wife, Martha, now finds herself.  On Monday the 10^th of August, 2009, Martha was in surgery for 8 ½ hours. The operation was to correct some curvature of the spine, to remove some arthritis, and to correct some collapsed or deteriorated disks. She had to have some rods and screws put in. So in short it was a long and difficult operation from which she is now recovering. She remains in a great deal of pain and needs strong medications to suppress the pain. Unfortunately, the strong medications disrupt her normal thought patterns. She then becomes very vexed because she is unable to express herself with the clarity to which she is accustomed.

She will have to wear a brace and will have to have some extensive physical therapy. This will be delivered in a rehabilitation hospital, and will last at least a week or two.

Then when she comes home she will still need physical therapy which can be done at home and at an outpatient facility. In the home she will need assistance in some of her daily activities.

While this is very taxing for Martha in part at least because she is quite independent and capable of taking care of herself, it is also a strain on the family because there is more for each member to do than is ordinary and because we do not like to see her suffering.