u/AccomplishedAgent456

I had a seizure due to a brain tumor and I left my tretinoin/actives on too long apparently. Now I have these hard bumps on my cheeks. What can I do to clear these up, it's been ten days now?

I'm using .25% daily.

Friday night I went to bed and around 1am my 19 yo son heard me gasping. Thankfully he called 911, I apparently had a seizure and a second one once paramedics arrived. This was completely out of the blue and has been terrifying. I'm a militantly independent person whose never had a loss of dependence before. I may lose my ability to drive for a bit.

I digress; I'm unbearably depressed and need a feel good movie to get me through the night. Any suggestions? I just want some hope and happiness:)

I have a vertical incision just below my bellybutton. There's an indentation there and as I'm only 7 days post-op it's still swollen and doesn't look great.

Does this go away? How long before my abdomen looks "normal" again?

I'm on day three and still feeling pretty good. My doctor wants me up and moving at least an hour a day. I'm shooting for 1000 steps today, currently at 872! I showered for the first time and love the shower chair. I also got the seat extender for the toilet but I really don't think I need it.

I'm only taking the pain meds at night now and should be off those next week. Honestly? My outpatient breast reduction surgery was a more difficult recovery than this!

I will definitely meet my two weeks back to work goal despite the negative attacks when I said I that was my necessary time line. I hope the positive posts help any of you that need an ALIF, specifically an L5–S1 ALIF + percutaneous posterior instrumentation + left hemilaminotomy/decompression. The recovery is different for everyone but for me this has been quite do-able.

I'm 48 hours from my L5–S1 ALIF + percutaneous posterior instrumentation + left hemilaminotomy/decompression and I feel great. Not nearly as bad as anticipated. I'm already up, walking and even climbed stairs. I still have my goal of back to work in two weeks! I'm posting positive outcome due to the horror stories I heard online. I almost canceled my surgery because of that and people telling me I wouldn't be back to work within the timeline my surgeon gave me.

Anyway, so far it's nothing like I anticipated and I'm being discharged this afternoon.

My surgeon said I can go back to work in two weeks. I have enough PTO for one week and I'll get $450 for the second week for short term disability. THAT'S ALL I CAN DO. The surgeon said I can go back to work in two weeks. I asked several times, he said about two weeks. He said I'll be cleared to drive in two weeks. I CAN'T AFFORD ANYMORE TIME OFF THAN THAT. Stop telling me I need six, eight, nine weeks or MONTHS OFF. I'll end up homeless and my car will be repossessed. This SHT ISN'T HELPING. I guess the rest of you are rich and can take all that time off, I'M NOT. I have no savings and I'm paycheck to paycheck. TWO WEEKS IS WHAT I'M GETTING. PERIOD. THE END. It's that or I'm canceling tomorrow.

I'm 19 days from surgery and I'm spiraling!!!! How am I supposed to get dressed if I can't bend over to put my pants on????? I love clothes and I want to look and dress nice to go to work. How am I going to manage putting my clothes and shoes on???? How am I going to feed the stupid cat and clean my house? I don't know what to do. I don't want to suffer or look stupid wearing ugly clothes. How would I even get ugly clothes on?!?!? How long before I can dress myself???

All I see are videos of people laying around droning on about their pain and recovery and how awful it is. What the fck is the point of the surgery if my life is going to be worse afterwards???? I don't have any help and I can't take 10000 weeks off for recovery. I can suffer for free.

To hell with this shit.

I have a back issue that I need surgery for, specifically an ALIF spinal fusion. I am a single parent that is currently supporting my 19 yo college son that I raised completely alone. It has become crystal clear to me that i am not going to get any help from him after my surgery. Unless my insurance will cover home healthcare or a temp nursing home I will have to cancel the surgery. I'm in agony daily and it will only get worse without the intervention.

I pay all his bills and allow him to live at home as long as he is in school and works. I'm struggling financially with the cost of everything going up and now with the possibility of having to be out of work for two to three weeks I'm a mess.

I realized today after an incredibly painful day at work and seeing that he did not change the cat box, he put CLEAN LITTER ON TOP OF THE OLD that I am in no way going to be able to count on him for any fcking assistance after this incredibly invasive and painful surgery. He said his "feet hurt", my SPINE IS BONE TO BONE BUT YOUR FEET HURT? I just shelled out $100 to pay for your work uniform but YOUR FEET HURT????

I have been taking care of other people my entire adult life and now I'm in need there isn't a single goddamn person I am going to be able to count on.

I don't have any savings or means of hiring someone to care for me after the surgery. I am just sitting sobbing my eyes out realizing how alone I am.

I don't know what to do and I have no one to talk to. Feedback appreciated.

Can someone advise me on what you did for assistance after surgery? From what I'm reading I'm going to need help afterward. What did you do? Did insurance cover anything related to home healthcare? How often will I need someone? How long per day?

I'm having an ALIF on August 25th and I'm beginning to think I might just need to cancel. It doesn't look this is something I can manage alone.

Any advice appreciated.

Well the ALIF surgery is scheduled for Aug 27th, what will I need? What if anything should I plan on getting to make recovery easier? Anything that made you more comfortable? What did you do in bed all day? How often were you able to get up and move?

Any advice? I'm a little panicked right now. It's real now.

Deep breaths.

Between reading the posts regarding the pain, people not back to work within two weeks, people talking about needing help I guess I'm completely fcked.

I don't have any options but to live in agony.

If any of you managed to get the surgery as a single person with no help and managed to work within two to three weeks please let me know how you did it.

I do get temp disability through my job. Unfortunately surviving on $450 a week isn't going to last me long. I'm paycheck to paycheck so saving anything isn't realistic.

How did you get groceries? Drive?

I NEED REAL SOLUTIONS. I AM IN AGONY ALL THE TIME BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW THE FCK I'M GOING TO GET THIS DONE.

REAL SOLUTIONS. Don't tell me to call on friends and family because that's not an option for me.

Edited to add: I just need the S1-L5 done with the bolts on only one side. I work a desk job so I don't need to worry about lifting or twisting.

Any advice appreciated.

I'm a therapist in Location: VA. I want to preface this by saying I am not, nor have I ever been in substance use tx or had a substance abuse issue of any kind. I digress;

About five months ago I took a position with a substance abuse treatment facility after my job in crisis response lost our grant. I said I would never work in substance abuse but lo and behold I ended up loving this job and I'm actually doing quite well in my position as a counselor.

On my FIRST DAY at the on boarding at the main location (not the center I work in) I was informed we couldn't take certain medications. I explained that I do have a prescription for a anti anxiety med that I took PRN under my doctor's care and that I would have him reach out. Under DURESS this nurse I was put on the phone with made me put in writing in an email that I would never take this medication again! I was literally in tears, I don't abuse that or any other medication, I have the good sense to not take it or bring it to work, etc. Under duress and fear of losing the job I sent her the email telling her I would go against medical advice and never take the medication again.

I found out this week that I am going to have to have back surgery in the next few months. The surgeon explained that I *will need* pain medication and I'll need at least two weeks out of work. Having to reach out to this nurse again and having to ASK PERMISSION essentially to take doctor prescribed medication because they're cutting my spinal column open has me more stressed out than the surgery itself.

None of this feels legal to me. Treatment center or not they should have no authority OVER MY OWN DOCTOR or be allowed violate my medical privacy.

Can anyone shed any light on this? I need to understand just what my legal rights are regarding my personal and private healthcare.