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Strategies & Market Trends : A.I.M Users Group Bulletin Board -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LemonHead who wrote (7493)	5/21/1999 4:34:00 PM
From: Bob Norman	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 18928

Just heard from Tom's wife who said everything went well with his surgery. She said he's as grumpy as ever. They're already talking about sending home on Sunday - two days early. They must be anxious to get rid of him already! I'll be sure to pass on everyone's kind words. Bob

To: LemonHead who wrote (7493)	5/24/1999 3:07:00 AM
From: OldAIMGuy	Read Replies (6) \| Respond to of 18928

Hi Everyone, See, there's value in being obnoxious! They kicked me out early! Surgery went as planned with no change in tactics after the first Look-See. I had a triple Diskectomy and quadruple fusion; Cervical vertebrae C4 thru C7 fused with a single bone strut and reinforced with a plate and screws; Disks at C4-5, C5-6 and C6-7 removed. Good news was that the spinal cord and thecal sack looked to be healthy. One surprise was that the spinal cord compression at C6-7 was worse than showed on the MRI Scans. Originally from the scans it looked like the two disks above that point were doing more potential damage, but C5-6 wasn't as bad as C6-7. This has something to do with the way an MRI works. They basically take pictures of "slices" through the tissue at certain intervals. In this case, the intervals show the damage at C4 through C6, but was about a quarter inch off of seeing the bad damage at C6-7. Friday started at 4AM to get to the hospital for check-in at 5:30. From then to my scheduled 7:30 surgery I was kept pleasantly busy with very competent staff. First, verify who I was and what I was to have done, get a room, and change into the fashionable hospital attire. Then I took a ride down to Pre-Op. The one gal hooked up my IV while the anesthesiologist figured out what to serve me for breakfast. He said this first stuff was a "valium" family drug that had the unusual side effect that the patient "forgets" essentially everything while the drug is working. He wasn't kidding. I know that I talked to him for about 20 minutes, but only remember about the first half. After surgery, I only remember about half of the day's conversation until about 7 PM. Quite a cocktail!! I don't know what else was used as anesthetic, but it all worked fine. Jane and her friend were waiting for me in my room when I was wheeled up at about noon. I chatted with them, the nurses and the doctor that afternoon, but don't really recall much of it. My biggest surprise came when I took my first walk at about 7PM. I've had a bit of tingling in my right foot for so long that I don't even pay attention to it. It's GONE. A peculiar feeling of not knowing whether my knee was locked when walking is also GONE. Several other very real differences in how I walk have improved dramatically. Maybe when I walk to work in the AM, people won't just assume I've stopped at all the taverns along the way! Now that I'm home, descending stairs is much easier than before. It was difficult to gauge how much "muscle" to use before. Apparently the "feedback loop" is now much more complete with the pressure relieved from my spinal cord. The other delight was that I generally felt pretty good after surgery. After all the happy juice wore off, I really didn't have much pain. Posture is a bit tiring with this cervical collar on, but I assume I'll get used to it just about the time I don't have to use it any more! I've had trouble finding a comfortable sleeping position so far. Maybe after things in my neck settle down a bit more there will emerge the "ultimate sleeping position", but for now, I sleep when I get really tired and take a pill and then fill time in between. Now that I'm home, I'll at least be reading along on the BB. However, I'm finding it a bit tiring to type. I assume that my "schedule" is going to be a bit odd for a week or so. The ride home from the hospital was a bad surprise. I'd chosen a middle seat in our van as the least bumpy for the ride. I'd also reclined the seat thinking that I'd absorb more road bumps easier that way. Well, we weren't even a block from the hospital and I was really hurting. It turned out to be the side to side motion that was most troubling. After Jane stopped the car, I grabbed a pillow that she had been kind enough to bring and pulled it down around both shoulders and around my head. Then holding two corners of the pillow tightly to my chest, I managed to cradle my head and make it "one" with the rest of my upper torso. From there to the highway was passable and the highway drive was easy by comparison. I never knew there were so many bumps in our streets!! The pains generated by that short drive before cradling my head were more intense than any I can remember. Guess I won't be asking for rides in the country for a while!! If I can't walk there, I'm not going! I go back to see the MD next week to see how things are going. Other than shaving my beard and about half my chest, I can't say I look much different. My new Frankenstein Scar is currently hidden below some tape and gause, so I don't know what it look like yet. I'm looking forward to regaining the strength in my right arm, neck and shoulder. That's going to take some work, but is postponed until some bone mass starts to grow. The MD said he wants me to sit "like a prince" at home and let everyone else wait on me. No lawn mowing, no painting, no chores. This sounds too good to be real!!! I woke up at 5AM on Sunday as pain and sleep medicine wore off. Got up, showered and dressed for the day and then just cruised the hospital with my IV tree until they finally freed me around 11:30. The staff was giving me some serious ribbing about being dressed in street clothes at 6:00AM when breakfast wasn't due for an hour! Guess they figured out that I was ready to split. I think they'd posted extra guards at the doors. I'd contemplated stealing a wheel chair and sitting outside in the rain until Jane arrived - just to get OUTSIDE! AHH! FREEDOM!!! So, with the blessings of those who watch over us and the competency of the crew who worked on me, I'm feeling pretty darned good. Hope all of you are also! Thanks for all the good vibes sent my way. Best regards, Tom