It's more than a month since I posted here. I've continued to heal from my spinal fusion so that now the pain from walking is much, much less. I still feel stiff most mornings as well as after sitting for a long period of time. 

Yesterday I saw my surgeon who is delighted with my latest X-rays. (It's his handiwork, after all.) Although I'm now cleared to BLT (bend, lift, and twist), he wants me to avoid any strenuous exercise for another three months. (I can feel my muscles atrophying but I'll just have to work hard to get them up to snuff again.) No kayaking until six months post-surgery, which means Sabbathday Lake in Maine in June. 

He granted the possibility that my chronic insomnia may be the result of anesthesia and opioid use. Still struggling with that. He had nothing to say about my persistent shortness of breath (not his organ). I'll find out more about that when I see a pulmonologist on April 26.

So I'm pretty much out of the woods. Thanks for accompanying me on this long, bumpy journey!