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kukla_redSo Erika, if you haven't been around these parts for a while, why are you here now? Well, I'll tell ya. I'm getting ready for a major event and I needed to write it down so I can work through all of the feels and stuff.
A week from this Monday, on July 9th (who said we could be up to July already!!?) I will be having surgery on my spine. Regular readers of this space may remember that a couple of years ago I was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, a slipped and leaking disk and some other nonsense going on in my back. What used to be mild intermittent (but frequent) back pain has grown into a severe condition that prevents me from standing or walking for more than 5 minutes at a time before extreme pain sets in. This has shrunk my world considerably. There are so many things I can't do anymore. I walk with a chair cane now, which I use to sit when the pain gets too much. I can only shop in stores that have electric carts for their patrons because I just can't handle it. Going to museums, craft fairs, farmers' markets, or just walking around is impossible.
So surgery it is. The surgeon will remove the arthritic material from my lower 3 vertebrae, remove the many bone spurs that my spine has so helpfully grown, remove the random nodules that have grown in places along my spine, and then decide if I need a spinal fusion or if he can use a cage to hold my lower back together. He won't know that until he's in there. If I need the fusion, I will stay overnight at the hospital. If not, I'll go home the same day. Seriously, back surgery as an out patient procedure? Crazy stuff.
I am having this done at the Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC. That's where David Wright of the Mets had his procedure done. His is cervical (neck/upper back) and mine is lumbar (lower back), but we are siblings in this. I like my surgeon a lot. I picked him off the HSS web site because he had the kindest face and great credentials. He is part of the team that invented some of the equipment he will be using. You can't get much better than that.
I've been through all the extensive pre-surgical testing and everything came out OK. I think a small part of me was secretly hoping that something would pop up that would prevent the surgery, but I'm good to go.
I confess that I am a bit scared. Perhaps more than a bit. I know that back surgery has come a very long way since the days when my father needed it and was too terrified to have it, but I'm still very nervous. Time seems to be swooping along at break neck speed and I feel like it will be here in an instant.
The recovery period worries me a little too. I'm on a spinal stenosis support group on Facebook and it has been helpful, but also a little worrisome. Lots of people have had similar procedures, some with excellent results, some not so much. Most of them said that the recovery is tough. My surgeon said that the recovery period is between 4 to 8 weeks. He said the first week I won't be able to do much. Standing and walking should be OK, but sitting will be painful. So I'm taking a week of PTO for that week. After that, I should be able to work from home using a laptop in bed. The surgeon doesn't want me sitting for long periods for a couple of weeks.
I'll have plenty of help. David works from home full time, Aaron is still living with us and is always very helpful, and Sarah will speed to my side if I so much as crook a finger. And of course, the cats will do their utmost to make sure I am comfortable. They will make sure to sit on me as much as possible.
So I believe it will all be worth it. I just have to stay calm and not let my nerves get to me.
In other news, David's awful sister is back. She was living somewhere in the Middle East for the past several years teaching English as a second language and now that assignment has ended. Before she starts her new one in the fall, she decided to make a visit to the US and see her mother. Admirable, yes but she did it in her usual fashion, by announcing to David that she was coming, ruining our plans to go to Vermont together for a few days (a pre-surgery treat), and then staying at our house with her usual list of demands and mile-high attitude. She started ordering me around immediately and I just ignored her and went upstairs. I haven't seen her in several years. She doesn't look very good. She is a sun worshiper and her skin looks like fine Corinthian leather. She is 5 years younger than I am and she looks years older.
She and David are up in Rochester now, seeing their mother. They will be back on Sunday and then she will leave for her Magical Mystery tour to see various friends. The mystery is how she has any friends at all.
Aaron is in Vermont with his girlfriend, Brit. Sarah and I went up for the first 3 nights of the week I reserved for them. Brit couldn't take the whole week off. This means that I am home alone for a few days. I am never alone at home, so this is rather a treat. I think tonight I will go home, eat something for dinner and then go to bed really early. I know, I live on the edge.
