Travelling After Surgery

I decided I would write an extra post this week separate to my usual Sunday post as there was something I really wanted to write about. Last weeks post was all about my recent trip to China but I realised that I forgot to mention anything about my back in that post and as this blog in largely about my scoliosis and surgery I thought I’d write another post all about what it was like travelling not too long after surgery.

If I’m honest my back didn’t really effect me too much whilst in China which was amazing. There were obviously a few differences to travelling before surgery but nothing too major. One thing which I had to adjust to was carrying a backpack. I haven’t been allowed to carry my bag all year since surgery and I was only allowed just before leaving to China. I had to carry a small backpack everyday on my trip. It wasn’t very heavy so it didn’t hurt my back, it was just something that I had to get used to after not carrying anything for so long.

One thing that did effect me a tiny bit was the plane ride. On the ways there my back was fine and I was surprised that it didn’t really hurt at all. However, on the way home my back was a little sore. I did expect that it would hurt on the plane as I would be stuck in a small place where I can’t move around for a very long amount of time. I don’t usually sleep on planes anyway but while everyone was sleeping around me it was very difficult to get comfortable and relax because of my back. Luckily this was only on the way home though and the day after the plane ride I was fine so it didn’t effect my trip at all.

One other thing that was a small issue was my fitness. Most of the time my back was fine but because I haven’t been allowed to do any physical activity for the last 7 months I am really unfit. I’ve had no way of keeping my fitness up so I lost it all during recovery. This did make climbing the Great Wall a massive challenge for me. I was exhausted climbing about sooo many steps and I was honestly really struggling to make it up. I made it up though and it just meant that I had to move a bit slower than the other students which was fine! Once I finally made it up onto the wall we had a bit of time to look around and take photos which is where I took the opportunity to catch my breath as I took in the view (as you can see in the photos I was still very red and exhausted.) After a bit of time there we all moved on to climb a bit further up. My teacher suggested that we go to the second furthest watch tower which I knew I’d be fine with if I just paced myself. Once we got there my teacher asked if I was ok to keep going to the furthest point. I could have easily admitted that I was too tired (I was definitely very exhausted) but I knew that if I pushed myself I’d get more out of it so that’s exactly what I did and I made it all the way! I did have to crawl up part of the way (mainly because my legs were too short for the steep steps) but I eventually got there.

My back wasn’t too much of an issue but with the problems I did have I learnt how to deal with them. Some things I had to do a bit differently to other students as I might not have been able to do exactly what they were doing (e.g. bending down in tai chi) and this is what I’m going to have to keep doing in the future. It doesn’t mean I can’t get involved in things, I just have to alter things in a way that makes it possible for me.