PAO Surgery Recovery Update- 6 Months Later

PAO Surgery Recovery Update | Outfit Details

Dress: Fancy Frills // Necklace: Made By Mary // Necklace: Kendra Scott // Earrings: Kendra Scott // Bracelet: Alex & Ani // Bracelet: Alex & Ani // Bracelet: Alex & Ani // Bracelet: Alex & Ani // Watch: Arvo Wear // Shoes: Target // Jackie's Dress: Hanna Andersson // Jackie's Shoes: Target // Purse: Sole Society

PAO Surgery Recovery Update | 6 Months Post Op

I can't believe it's been 6 months! To be honest, I am at the point that I only have a small twinge of pain every now and then along my incision. The muscle there is still recovering from the surgery and the pain I was experiencing before it. I have toned back on physical therapy, I only have one more session scheduled. I am able to pick Jackie up, carry her up and down the stairs, and even exercise.

All of my pre surgery pain is gone, which was the goal of the surgery. I don't wake up in the middle of the night in extreme pain. I don't have sleepless nights because I can't get comfortable. I have so much more energy every day because I am not in constant pain. Looking back, I would say the surgery was 100% worth it. I knew that going in but I thought that it would take much longer to recover than I have.

I still have the handicap pass on the car, and I will have it until July. I will dearly miss that thing. I do still get a little tired after carrying Jackie around for long periods of time or going grocery shopping so the handicap pass helps. I know I get the weirdest looks and people wonder why a seemly healthy young mom needs to be parking in a handicap spot. This experience has taught me to be less judgmental. You never know what someone is going through or what they have gone through. You may see them at the end of their healing process or at the beginning. But we usually don't know the entire story, so we shouldn't assume anything.

Last week was my last physical therapy session! My therapists even said I healed really fast and that I came into PT determined to push myself to heal faster. I will not miss having to go to therapy every week but I know it was what I needed in order to get to where I am now.

PAO Surgery Recovery Update | How Jackie Is Doing

It is amazing how well Jackie has done through this entire experience. When I came home from my surgery, she really didn't want much to do with me. She knew I wasn't myself and she knew that I couldn't take care of her. She went to my mom when she needed anything. Then she started walking and started getting into things. But she still likes to be held. And then one day, she figured out I could hold her. And we both became more comfortable with it. And now, she comes to me when she wants to be held or when she is tired. I am now the first person she wants. She has adjusted better than anyone else in the entire process!

I think I struggled more watching her and feeling like I missed out on things. Since I was mobile faster than anyone expected, I wanted to get up with Jackie in the night. But I couldn't lift her. So I wasn't helpful. I wanted to get on the floor and play with her and change her diapers. I wanted to help feed her and get her ready for bed. I had to be patient and only do things when I was ready. That doesn't mean I didn't try to do stuff before I was ready. I just regretted it later.

PAO Surgery Recovery Update | What I Wish I Knew Before

There are a few things that I wish I would have known before my surgery. I don't think anyone could have told me about them because everyone's experience is different. I wasn't expecting to by on the pain medication for as long as I was. The pain was intense and while I had been told that would be the case, I still wasn't ready for it. That kind of pain is something that is hard to describe and I can understand how people who have chronic pain can get addicted to pain medication.

I wish I would have known how bored I would be. As a new mom, you would think that I would enjoy some down time. But I am a mover and a doer. I need to be busy. But between not being able to move much and being on heavy pain meds that I shouldn't (& didn't) have worked while using, there wasn't much I could do. So I did a lot of laying around, watching tv. Some of you would think that sounds amazing but after about 2 weeks, it was insanely boring. I ended up doing a bit of online shopping and that wasn't the best idea. Can you image the stuff I ordered at 3 am while on Oxicodone?

I wish I would have known about the insomnia. Usually when I am sick or recovering from something, I sleep until I am better. That is just what my body does. Not even a year into our marriage, I freaked The Husband out because I slept for almost three days after catching a bug. That's just what I do though. So I was expecting to sleep a lot post surgery. That was not the case. The first month of my recovery, I think I slept about 3 hours a night. I am the kind of person that needs at least 8 hours of sleep. So this was very out of character. I would take little naps during the day but never more than an hour at a time. I got into a cycle of not being able to sleep and I couldn't get out of it. After a month, I reached out to my doctor and he allowed me to take some ZZquil. I was able to reset my body clock and start sleeping like normal again.

PAO Surgery Recovery Update | Setting Expectations

I went into this experience with low expectations of how the surgery would go. Which was the best thing I could have done. I expected to be in a massive amount of pain and for it to take 6 months to year to heal, which is what I had been told. It was painful, I won't deny that. But my surgery went better than expected and I healed faster than anyone thought I would. I think that part of why I healed so fast was because I was determined to and I set goals for myself. I didn't let myself stay in bad all day every day. Every day, I went downstairs and spent the day around people. After a week, I started getting dressed & doing my hair & makeup. I started looking like myself again so I started feeling like myself again.

I also expected that Jackie would struggle and be confused. I was worried that she would get clingy and she wouldn't go to other people. Turns out I was wrong on that one. She was thrilled when people came over to play with her and pretty much ignored me, expect for a few times a day when she would crawl over to where I sat to humor me with a game of boo.

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