Recovery Journey Part 3 - Sleep and Doing Stuff

One of the most frustrating things at the moment is sleeping.  I don't know about you but I am not a back sleeper but over the last 4 weeks I have been forced to sleep on my back due to the collar which you can imagine has not helped with getting a full, restful and healing night sleep.  Add to that the fact that the bottom of the collar is pressing against one of the fractures in my neck and that laying on my back puts pressure on the fracture in the thoracic spine you can understand when I say I am reliant on pain killers to get to sleep and wake up pretty much as they were off. 

So what about side sleeping, as you can imagine I tried both voluntarily and involuntarily during the  both without success.  The broken rib on my right prevented me from sleeping on my left as it felt like being stabbed in the chest and.  As for trying to sleep on my right both the broken rib and separated shoulder then later the TMJ flare up blocked that option.  Putting me squarely back on my back..

The good news is that with the rib break and spine fractures healing, and 4 weeks of practice I can lay and sleep more comfortably, I have even worked out how to kind of side sleep to my right side by supporting the collar with a pillow.  It is a trade off as I get a little sleep with the aid of pain killers but when they wear off it aches much more.  As of last night I am able to sleep in about 2 to 3 hour blocks.  I don't mind saying I don't like going to sleep at night as I am reliant on painkiller assistance and it takes ages to get to sleep.  I seem to be able to sleep around 2 - 3 am and sleep sporadically through to 11 /12 ish the next day.  Oh and getting up is a process as everything hurts.

Here are the injuries I am having to sleep with:

Cervical hematoma in C2, C3, C4 (Cervical Spine), ligamentous C-Spine injury (That is the neck ligament injury and the reason I am in a collar), right posterior laminar fracture of C4 that proceeds into the spinous process, left transverse process fracture of T2 (Thoracic Spine), Left AC joint separation and left first rib fracture and punctured lung (medical notes: Subcutaneous emphysema in left chest and a small apical pneumothorax on the left lung)

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Baby Steps for Today

I am pleased with the amount of sleep last night, and whilst I still have a TMJ head ache it seems a little less than yesterday - fingers crossed it will continue to improve.

Oh, and I did my very first easy founder with decompression breathing as well as a standing decompression.  I held neither of then for very long but I am excited that I could raise my arms up and over my head, something I could not do a week ago. 

Getting on with life

For the first 4 weeks my mental state was all over the place as a result of the pain and medication, I went through wanting to do things, not wanting to do things, anxiety and optimism.  I felt I needed to get back to work as soon as possible and became frustrated with myself when I did not want to or could not find the motivation to get engaged.  This feeling was not just limited to work, I did not want to blog or even review or edit pictures.  I was able to get out and watch a cyclocross race but I even struggle with my cycling passion. It was and still is overwhelming.   Understanding that I need to heal was a major step as was / is accepting the need to take sort term medical leave something I have never needed and at some level seems like a failure.  Accepting that journey was an important step that was helped in a big way by my good friends Jenny and Tom.

Doing Stuff

If you don't know me I have to be doing things, movement seems to be critical to my life and finding myself in a situation where I can't think straight and do things has been frustrating.  The good news is that I have found my creative side has not been as impacted and that I am able to watch you tube DIY videos and find enthusiasm.  I feel in love with Steampunk design and after watching a few video's thought I could do that.  Well with a lot of help from Sarah (OK, all Sarah's work with me watching) we got the garage cleaned up and my work table turned into a craft table where I can sit and do a little painting.  We took a trip to value village where I picked  up a couple of old Nerf guns and over the last few days I have been able to do a little craft work each day.  The project is far from finished but here is a picture so far.

I am also excited to say that my RC car arrived and it is a blast to drive.  I can't spend much time driving it but it goes like a rocket, jumps with no fear of personal injury and the dogs love to chase it.  Looking forward to getting out and driving it more.

 

This has been my longest post today - so another mini breakthrough.