Back and Neck Pain Exchange

I finally had surgery on my neck after 2 years of waiting and physical therapy. My surgery was Feb 12, 2013. I'm still on leave from work. I';m glad too. I thought I'd be back to work after 1 week, I was wrong. I tried sitting in my computer chair, Yikes. it hurt just sitting in the chair. no way I could work 8 hours. So I'm on 6 weeks leave, doing physical therpay, couldn't drive for 3 weeks, fine with me!. One hard thing is still washing my hair, it's long, to the middle of my back, but I get it done wiht help from Mom. I need to color it so bad, my grey is showing like crazy. I get tired or my neck gets tired. I had c23 plate and 2 screws and c34 and 45 fused. I don't see much restriction in motion now that I'm stretching. I get spasms a LOT. Much less pain. I've slept up to 5 hours wiothout tossing and turning, that's amazing for me. I wake up rested instead of exhausted. I'm stiff on waking, in my neck, but it loosens up with time. still wearing the neck collar for 3 more weeks. I hope the pain level stays so low as it is now, or completely disappears. I wonder if I'll be able to work after 3 mores weeks, my neck tires so easily and sitting at a computer for 8 hours is rough on the neck and back. I still can't cook much at all so I got chicken already cooked from walmart and hot dogs cuz they only get boiled or grilled. Cant do laundry yet, mom helping there too. dishwasher is a no go too for now. hve to stoop to fill it. but the pain is much better so I hope the rest comes with time. Hmm, what else can I share, oh, cleaning the house is a disaster. I can dust a little but the vacuum and sweeping are out for now, what a drag. Oh and when i got home, mom filled frig with food, later I go to eat and its all WARM. the frig wasn't working. I call around and was told to defrost it, since I wasn't home for 2 weeks ( stayed wiht mom), it got over frosted. I had to empty freezer, no tmuch in there, leave it unplugged overnight and, well this is after 3 days of trying to figure out what to do without callign repair man. Finally after plugging it back in, it was cold and works fine so keep that in mind if you go stay with someone for a while. you might just need to defrost frig, not call repairman. of ocurse all that food was wasted nd had to be thrown out. sad but learning experience. Mom has been the BEST, she ahs done so much for me, she has practically worked herself to death taking care of me. Mom is just the best. So generous and caring. I'm so lucky to have her. Ask me any questions you have and I 'll share my experience with you. Best of luck to everyone.