Melissa Gilbert is thankful for all that she has. The 56-year-old former Little House on the Prairie star reflected on her blessings a week after undergoing her fourth spinal surgery.
“Though I am only one week out, it is clear that this surgery for me has been a life-altering experience,” Gilbert wrote, accompanying a video of the procedure, which took place on November 19.
“On this Thanksgiving day though I am isolated from all of my loved ones, I am so filled with gratitude. I know that this isolation is only temporary and that next Thanksgiving, not only will we all be together again, I will be able to cook, play and enjoy this holiday free from pain and limits,” she added. “Be well and safe everyone. I send you all oceans of love.”
Gilbert flew to New York from California, where she had surgery, and relayed the news that she was getting tested for the novel coronavirus the next day.
“I flew from California four days ago had a negative test three days before that. If this test is negative I can actually be in a room with my husband!” she wrote. “Still maintaining distance because of the potential 14 day incubation period. But I’m one step closer and very hopeful!”
The good news for Gilbert is that they came back negative.
“Yeeeeeehaw!!! The upstate apartment is available to me. After being careful and vigilant over the next 10 days, she said on Saturday, “we’ll finally be free to relax and enjoy ourselves.” Those words, “Can’t wait to hug my hubby!”
After a third spinal fusion in 2016 failed, Gilbert had to have yet another operation, and she recently said that the first sign that something was awry was “numbness and tingling in the three middle fingers on my right hand.”
“I always had this sort of constant hum of, I can’t describe it other than the sort of low hum of ache,” she explained. “There was just an ache. Every once in a while, my whole neck would just lock up. It would tense up or flare-up, and I would be unable to turn my head right or left or lift my head up.”
However, Gilbert claimed that she has been “feeling great” ever since the operation.
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“Now, it’s all going to be about staying still and not pushing, because I feel so good,” she added. “I don’t want to mess anything up. So I have to be very, very careful.”
After suffering damage to her neck and spine in 2012, Gilbert has struggled ever since. She first fell on Dancing with the Stars, giving her whiplash and a concussion; then, a few months later, the balcony of the Studio City, California, house she was renting collapsed on top of her.
I tend to have mishaps. That much is clear,” the actress said. But I have decided that I will not let fear control my life. Gilbert is “very excited” at the prospect of future pain-free interaction with her soon-to-arrive granddaughter.
“I’m very excited to be able to freely travel to where they are and just snuggle that little grandbaby, and hug and kiss them, too,” she said. “I’m a young grandma. I get to wrestle and play. So, I would like to be able to do that to my full ability.”
“Well, that was a fun night in the ER (she said with dripping sarcasm). Two days ago a flying insect (not bee or wasp) bit my arm. By last night my arm was incredibly swollen, red, and hot. Called my dr @skincarelab he suggested we hightail it to the ER,” she wrote in the caption. “I was gonna wait but @timbusfield said ‘absolutely not. We are going!’ After many tests, I was diagnosed with an abscess and cellulitis. Got an IV of clindamycin, Benedryl, and acetaminophen. It immediately started to get better. Still kept me up all night. Starting antibiotics, Benedryl, and ibuprofen orally today.”
