Monday week ago, Mark had his back operation. It turned out that the prolapse was much worse than first anticipated and he ended up being in surgery for nearly 2 hours. But the surgeon (Greg Malham) was very pleased with how it all went and was happy with how the remainder of the disc looked.
Mark remained in hospital until Thursday when he came home in an ambulance - because he can't sit at all - he either has to lie, or stand and not for very long. Casting no aspersions on the ambo driver, he said it was like being in a washing machine!!
Mark with the 2 ambulance medics who bought him home
Recovery is going well except for a slight hiccup Monday morning. Sunday night, Mark complained of being a bit itchy on his back. To me, it looked like a bit of a rash where he'd been lying for a while, and I thought he may have needed a pressure mat or something. But come Monday morning, he was covered from head to toe in a raised itchy red rash. I have never seen any thing like it (just remembering it is making me itchy right now!!) So off to the hospital (slow trip in the car!) to get it checked out, plus taking the little girl with us because she also had a rash on her legs and body.
Turns out it is urticaria (or hives) which has resulted from a reaction to the digesic (painkillers) he was on. Hence, no more painkillers - although he was nearly finished them anyway. So now he is on big doses of antihistamines and cortisone to treat the itchy rash. Today, it is slowly going, which is good. But the itch remains. Biddy, on the other hand, simply has bug bites (mozzies) and she has made them worse by scratching at them. But we have also discovered that she is highly sensitive to the sticky on bandaids (which I used to cover up the bites) and now she has broken out in rashes from them! Sigh.
So the back is good - so far - and he is bored, so all is well on the homefront. I, on the other hand, am run ragged from running after the kids and Mark. LOL!
