Overwhelmed & Need to Save my Dog from Shelter Surrender
Hi my fellow spine-fused redditors,
I had my fusion 12wks ago (TLIF L5-S1) and am currently unemployed after surgery. The struggle has been very real between recovery, waiting for my previous employer to place me on a project assignment again, and actively applying for jobs daily with little luck so far besides obvious scam postings.
Before surgery, I posted here about being a young adult living fully alone with my energetic medium-sized dog while my relatives all live out of state, meaning I have essentially no local support system.
Right now, my dog is in the DMV area with relatives who are now threatening to surrender her to a shelter if she is not picked up immediately due to a sudden housing/plumbing emergency that displaced them. They already have multiple pets of their own and can no longer keep her.
Before surgery, I tried very hard to find local safety-net fosters through shelters and rescues here in Florida (I also foster through my local shelter myself). Unfortunately, the programs either had long waitlists or no availability during my surgery/recovery timeline. Because of this, my relatives initially agreed to temporarily keep her, and I made the drive myself pre-op.
Now I’m desperately trying to coordinate either: Volunteer transport chains, rescue contacts, or partial ride shares from the DMV area to Florida (posted in other subs). Some kind souls have offered partial transport legs from DC toward VA or possibly NC, but that would still leave me driving very long distances to meet them.
The problem is… even at 12 weeks post-op, I still feel very limited physically.
I’m doing MUCH better than month 1 (which was brutal, especially completely alone), but I still get sciatica & nerve pain/zingers? with prolonged sitting/walking, coughing and sneezing still hurt badly, and certain sitting/laying positions trigger pain fast.
At my follow-up last week, my surgeon said my X-rays look great and lifted many restrictions: can lift more than 5–8 lbs now, modified BLT allowed carefully, no more brace requirement, can submerge in water, still no recs for PT & to just continue walking as much as tolerated.
However, when I asked about long-distance driving because I missed my furbaby, he strongly advised against it at this stage. He specifically warned that long nonstop drives could increase nerve irritation, muscle guarding/spasms, and potentially affect healing/hardware if pushed too hard, specially hard breaks for such a trip. He said only short drives with very frequent breaks would be safer.
He recommended stopping every 45–60 minutes minimum to walk around and reduce stiffness/DVT risk.
Even driving locally still hurts. Yesterday, I accidentally got in my car without my brace and immediately felt the difference and pain.
But I truly don’t know what else to do. My dog is my emotional support, my rock, and honestly one of the biggest things helping me get through recovery and depression right now. I cannot and will not abandon her.
So if I absolutely have to make this drive, I want to do it as safely as possible.
For those of you who had lumbar fusion:
• Did any of you do long-distance drives around 11–13 wks post-op? (I will be solo traveling)
• How bad was it?
• What helped?
• Any positioning/pillow/brace/ice/stretch recommendations?
• Would splitting the trip over 2-3days (instead of a single day of 1-way driving) make a major difference?
Really looking for guidance from anyone who has been through something similar 🙏 or advice in general that could help!
TL;DR:
12 weeks post-op from TLIF L5-S1 fusion. My dog is stuck in the DMV area with relatives who are threatening shelter surrender due to a sudden housing emergency. Surgeon strongly advised against long-distance driving, but I may have no choice but to drive 26–30+ hrs roundtrip from FL to the DMV. Looking for advice from others who traveled long distances around this stage of recovery, and tips to do it as safely as possible.