April 2009

The last time I sat down to write a blog, I was amazed at how it was already February 2009. Now, the next time I sit down, it' s April 9th. Wow, time flies. But, life goes on and we do what we can in the time we have and pick up the next day where we left off today.

In the last entry, I mentioned that I would going to see my Doc and was expecting to be referred to a Neurosurgeon to get my hand/neck/arm fixed. That is exactly what happened. I saw the Neurosurgeon. He scheduled me for three rounds of spinal injections that would put steroids/pain meds directly in the area hoping to restart the nerves. I took one shot and showed up two weeks later with no improvement at all. He told me that we could take another but, in his professional opinion, the only thing that was going to help me was surgery. He diagnosed me with "Degenerative Disc Disease." He said that 4 layers of my neck (C4-C5, C5-C6, C6-C7, and C7-T1) had collapsed on themselves to the point where my nerves weren't being fed the impulses. etc they needed to work or grow the muscles. The only thing that would fix it would be to separate the vertebrae and open back up the passageways. So, I said, "Let's not waste any more time. Let's schedule the surgery." That was Wednesday, the 25th of March. Next thing I know, my surgery is scheduled for a week from that Friday, April 3rd. They are going to fuse all four layers of my neck. I will get titanium plates screwed into my neck bones to keep them the proper distance apart and then they will place cadaver bones somewhere int here to also aid in the correct positioning.

The week goes by and the morning of my surgery comes up. Heather and I get my Mother-in-Law to come watch the girls while we go to the Hospital. Everyone says I will be in the Hospital from 1 to 3 days. Luckily with it being a Friday, maybe heather won't need to take any time off if I can come home within the 1 to 2 day mark. We are checked into the Hospital by 0650. By 0730, I'm in my room dressed for surgery, got my IV's in and I'm waiting for them to come get me. Heather and my parents are there with me. They come and roll me into the surgery area and give me my "feel good" shot. Awhile later they roll me into the operating room and get me on the table. I remember the mask going on and thinking, "This stuff isn't working." That's the last thing I remember until I wake up in recovery.

Once I wake up enough, they feed me a few ice chips and then wheel me into my original room. They go and get my family and tell them, as soon as I wake up enough and the Doc checks on me, they start my go-home paperwork. Huh??? The Doc said the operation went so well and I lost so little blood (only three tablespoons worth) he saw no reason to keep in the hospital overnight. Awesome!!! So, I went home that afternoon and I wasn't even the Hospital a full 12 hours.
I've been at home since then. I had a chest cold the day after my surgery and that hurt a whole bunch!! Every time I'd cough, it felt like I was coughing up my entire chest. But, it was slowly gotten better over the days. The only "post-op" pain I've had was my throat. Since they had to move it out of the way to work on my neck, it has been very sore and swollen from all that. Each day that goes by the pain gets a bit better. The neck itself is ok. I can't go without my neckbrace and I'm scared if I do go without it, I'll over do it, so i keep it on for safety reasons if nothing else. I have a follow-up appointment in the 28th of this month and we'll see how I'm doing by then. Doc will release me to do certain things in "baby-steps" so even if I am doing ok on the 28th, I still won't be able to pick anything up or drive. We'll see how it goes..
I've had a few visitors stop by the house. Thank you for doing that!! It was awesome to see some folks. My family, my In-Laws and especially Heather have been GREAT during all this. I appreciate each and everyone of them.

Thanks for all the emails that have been sent also.. They make my days go by quicker..
That's where we are, medically, for right now.. As soon as I get an update, I'll post it here..
I've got other stuff to talk about (kids, ultralight, etc) but I want to keep this as short as possible, so I'll more another blog or two in the coming days talking about those...