Thanks for the update Peter.
Well wishes for the future.

Glad to hear it's been a positive recovery! Wishing more of the same.

Good to hear it, Peter.  
 
I have a fused vertebrae as well.  Walk as much as you can and as is allowed by the doctor.  Staying mobile really helped my recovery.  
 
Good luck and listen to your body... when it needs a break, take one.

Good to know it went well!. Sending my best vibrations for a speedy and healthy recovery!

Good to hear from you Peter!  I agree with Toby; walking and listening.

Glad to hear the good news, Peter. Hope it's a speedy and complete recovery for you.

Love the drip !
   
I had abdominal surgery several years ago, and afterward I'm back in the room for a few days.  They'd put the CALL NURSE button on a cord next to my shoulder, as well as an 'on demand' button for a Demerol IV right next to it, in case I started hurting.  
 
Well . . . . I thought I was pressing the Nurse button.  KEPT pressing it, 'where the hell is she?'.  Actually, I'd gotten them reversed and I kept pressing the Demerol.  
 
She just happened to walk in a few minutes later and I saw FOUR of her, two of her on the ceiling.
 
I babbled something that sorta sounded like so bibn't shoe weir ne krawling juze??? and she figured it out, and clipped the call button to my gown, and put the button for Big D in the night table drawer.  . . .  
 
Glad you're doing better !
 
J o e y

BTW:  The one-armed Winchester roll off the wagon and shoot the bad guy scene is 'Eldorado'.
 
J o e y

Glad to hear you're on the mend, but be careful with that self-administered IV drip.
 
Several years ago I worked in a prison and one of the inmates, a former doctor (not named Robert...), told me why he was there.
 
Seems that he and two of his friends liked to go to his cabin for weekend getaways where the featured activity was sitting in recliners watching TV while hooked up to IV drips filled with various narcotic cocktails custom-mixed by the doc.
 
Of course a good time was had by all...right up until the day that one of the three failed to wake up.
 
Goodbye medical practice, hello correctional institution.

WHOAW! crazy and sad story...damn, so many times that recreational drug use can go wrong, but professional drug users getting it wrong and ruining their lives and killing others) that is terrible...Tony

WHOAW! crazy and sad story...damn, so many times that recreational drug use can go wrong, but professional drug users getting it wrong and ruining their lives (and killing others) that is terrible...Tony

Yeah, I loved the drip - but while I could click all I wanted, it would only dose every 6 minutes (beep-beep-beep Damn! beep-beep-beep Damn! Beep AAHHHH! beep-beeep-beep Damn!)  Last surgery the drip was morphine; Bah, humbug! And Demerol, while nice, ain't in the same league.  Without having tried the latter, I am still confident asserting that dilaudid is the next-best thing to heroin* - and if heroin actually is better, keep that stuff the f*** AWAY from me, or I'll go all Keef in no time flat!  It's enough to make me glad I hate needles, I tell ya.
Next hurdle - I've been eating Norco & Tramadol like M&Ms for 4 years; now off them & on to post-op Percocets - with no refills.  This ain't gonna be fun, boys & girls - but I am looking forward to having my head clear for more natural meds!  
And Friday I get to see my grandson - and can't pick him up!  Guess ol' Granddude'll have to sit and have Nona hand him over.
And recovery continues apace; still feel like someone's been punching me about the kidneys, but a couple days ago it felt like they used a 2X4. (Yes, I'm walking more each day; thanks for the tip, as the hooker told the leper)
And a friend is weighing his Sheraton & Teles so I know if I'm OK picking up mine. Weird thing about how our bodies react; yesterday I decided to see if I could get through 3 songs for the open mic, and I didn't go - my fingers just have no fluidity yet.  She says it's the Percies, but I know my body & my drugs well enough to know it's the trauma.  Who'da thunk it?
 
Peter
*When they told me what it was, I smiled; wife asks What's dilaudid?  I answer as above, she shakes head disapprovingly & disbelievingly.  A little later she's talking to our youngest who, shortly before I joined here, was on the wrong end of a bicycle/SUV collision, with fairly dire results (from which he is, I am happy to report, 99.9999% recovered) that had him clicking this stuff for 2 weeks.  She tells him what I'm on, he says Cool!  Why? she asks.  'Cause he won't hurt; that shit's the next-best thing to heroin!  No, we did not rehearse the line.

Staples & sutures out 2 days ago; can lift 10lb with each arm instead of total.  Dr. says 1) I heal amazingly fast and 2) the fusion is set enough I can't screw it up.  I still feel like someone screwed something into my spine, but all pre-op problems have been obliterated (even when i over-do it like today, going to a 4-yo's birthday party, & trimming a tree, i just feel like a sore back.
Down side?  I'm in day 2 with no narcotics after 4 years.  This sucks hard,
 
peter

YAY! Congrats!

Peter,
Your an inspiration! Congrats!  
Round 2 post meds will be but a short term challenge  
Pete