Milestones

I have not had any relief from the numbness and tingling in my arms since surgery. With that being said, my physical therapist has encouraged me to celebrate every milestone. 

Last Friday, I finally drove farther than the minute it takes me to get to physical therapy. I drove to my sister's for dinner. I felt more comfortable with moving my head from left to right. I still have discomfort while driving, which I had before surgery. 

I planned on going into work for a few hours on Tuesday. Unfortunately, after showering, doing my hair and makeup, I was exhausted and decided to work from home. I got up this morning and showered, did my hair and makeup, and felt good about going into work for a few hours. I spent a lot of time catching up with everyone. Talking became uncomfortable and my throat got sore since I am still healing.  I had to review some documents so I tried to hold them up at eye level instead of looking down. The short amount of time I did look down, it definitely caused neck pain and increased the numbness and tingling in my arms. I was trying to convince myself I was not as physically exhausted as I was but I knew I needed to leave and come home. I left at lunchtime, came home, took some medicine, and got the heating pad out. 

I will celebrate that I am able to drive and I went into work today. Another milestone is that I am able to lay down a bit more when sleeping. I don't have the pillows piled up as high so that I am sleeping in a sitting position. I had physical therapy on Monday and it was time to do a re-evaluation. My strength has improved in my arms since surgery.

The physical therapist also explained to me that nerves regenerate 1mm per day (roughly the same as your fingernails). He said I know you won't want to hear this, but it could be 12 months before I know how effective the surgery was. I told him, I am fine with that. I said, if you told me I had zero chance of improvement, then I would be upset. 

I found this illustration online. It perfectly depicts where I experience the numbness and tingling in my arms.

I'm not sure I'll go into work tomorrow. I will see how I feel when I wake up. If I don't go into work, I am OK with that. I made it today. It's the little steps.