I definitely brought the Donna-Jean scream a couple times the other night, and yeah it was slower in my head than it was to those poor sweet girls who had to put up with me. But they were awesome, all seven of them, from pre-op to sign-out.
I'm staying with some friends for a day or two, until the really crazy stuff is overwith, but while I can string together a few lucid thoughts here's what's up;
My rockstar neurosurgeon came in yesterday morning and gave me the rundown. Same story as 5 years ago... bone spurs and all the classic symptoms of osteoarthritis/spondylitis. He just picked up where he'd left off, using a tool like kinda' a dentist drill, he cut those old discs out, cut the bone spurs off my spinal cord, replaced the discs between, and screwed everything together. When the bones finish healing up around the new discs, I'll be fused for a couple more sections. The operation he tells me, went great, and he could visualize on the monitors the electrical flow increasing to my extremities as he worked. See, they had me hooked up to a battery of sensors that trace the electrical current traveling through your nerves from the spinal cord to the hands. And as they remove the bone that is impinging on it, the flow increases. Or rather is less impeded. Ain't that some amazin' tech? It all comes down to flow of current. My hands, both of them feel really weird now, fat, puffy, and ticklish. I guess because the nerve ends are waking up and working again
So LSS, it's the best possible outcome for that part. The next battle is learning to eat again. There is a knot of scar tissue now that feels about the size and shape of a walnut, right on the side of my esophagus. Swallowing anything is a trick. Hot or cold liquid is easiest. Solid anything is a no way. Last time around I lost a scary amount of weight before it got under control, so on one hand I have the experience, on the other, well... there ain't but so much you can do short of really unpleasant medical intervention.
Anyway, I'm avoiding as much of pain meds as possible during the day. Super-sweet fruit popsicles seem to be my endorphin trigger. They're cold, and feel good on my throat too.
Thanks for the kind posts and thoughts. Catch up with y'all in a few.
~Gregory (who really appreciates nursing staff more lately...)
