Back at it – let me snuggle all the babies!

My poor blog has been long neglected so I wanted to do a little update.    This past year has been a challenging one for my family and business.    I had been plagued with back pain for a couple of years but this past year my legs would start shaking after sessions and my right leg would ache constantly.   After a series of referrals, physical therapy, and epidural shots, surgery to fuse the trouble spot was our best option.     I have to admit that I was scared out of my mind that I would not be able to photograph “my kids” (because all of my clients become “my kids”).    I was scared to take 3 months off to recover.   I have never had surgery before and here I was starting out with a big one.    On the other hand, I was tired of living a life where I couldn’t enjoy doing things with my family any more.    I was tired of saying, “I’m sorry, my back hurts, I can’t today”.

November 7th, I had a fusion at the L5-S1 level.  The first month was a little rough but more from the incision through my abdomen than from my back.   My original back pain was pretty much gone right from the recovery room.    I have been told that recovery is like two steps forward and one step back.    I couldn’t agree with that more.   I would feel great for a couple of day and then be back on the couch for a couple of days.   Slow and steady wins the race and each week I would just try to remember that I was better than the week before.

Yesterday, my surgeon released me to start physical therapy and start back to work slowly!   Celebration time!!!    I get to snuggle all of my babies again.    I am starting back to work at a slow pace.    I have been reminded that my body has not been able to bend, lift, or twist for three months and my stomach muscles were stretched apart for surgery.   I need to make sure to strengthen my body before I jump back in to work like I did before surgery.

During my last month of leave, I spent time working on a new web design.   I hope you enjoy the new design.    I love the soft colors and feel of the new design.

As a closing – thank you!   I received cards and meals from clients and friends while I was down.   You will never know how much that meant to me!

And since a post without pictures is pointless – here are a few of my kids from our vacation this past summer.   I finally had a chance to edit a few of them this past week.  🙂