random update

in case there is still anyone out there looking at this blog, here are a few pictures of how we spent halloween. cheree and paul are sporting their literally last minute "runner" costumes. cheree is wearing tags from many half marathons she's run. paul ended up as a somewhat 70's or 80's runner. we're at cheree's school halloween carnival fund raiser. we volunteered and were in charge of a couple of attractions during the day. there's also a picture of the pumpkins we carved (again, last minute) and well, chili eating a bat.

a half is still a lot

Cheree completed her fourth half marathon of 2007 last weekend. She ran the Nike self guided half. We mapped out a course that started by my old place in La Jolla, went down to PB, around Sea World and back to PB, finally ending at our old favorite breakfast place in PB. It was just me on a bike escorting Cheree through the 13.1 miles. She later uploaded her race from her Nike chip up to the Nike website. Proceeds from this half marathon went to fight leukemia.

If you look closely in the picture, you'll see Cheree keeping pace behind me on Crown Point Drive in PB. After these 4 half marathons Cheree is ready to take a break from half marathons. She'll still go running, she's just gonna keep it to 6 or 7 miles max (which is still a heck of a lot in my book).

ring of fire

We've got fires going south of us, to the east of us and north of us...but we're ok. The fires have affected close friends of ours. Some have been evacuated, some have lost homes. We're hoping for the best, prepping for the worst (though we're about 20 miles from any evacuation areas and it's not expected to get anywhere near us -- however, we keep hearing the different fires are 0% contained)

Check out the trip gallery!

No annoying login or account signup or anything like that. Just click and view.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sandiegoreds/ExploringThePacificNorthWestElliottAndElliott?authkey=m5GbS0l6q6g

trippin'

The tour of the Pacific Northwest was great. We had a great time at our cousin's house in Portland, a nice train ride to Seattle and a great time in Seattle visiting with my Aunt and taking in a Mariners game. I'll be publishing a web album soon with photos, but here is one of us with Aunt Armie in the new family wine bar.

a turn of events

well...got good news today. The unlikely has happened...It turns out that the CT scan showed things look much better than they did in the x-ray. No OR for me, just another x-ray in 3 months to check on things. Hooray screws!

un-screwed

Saw the Neurosurgeon yesterday. After I reviewed my x-ray from last week I thought yesterday's Doctor visit was just a formality where he'd say "It looks pretty much like it did a month ago, let's keep things the same and check on it again in a month or so."

However, the Doctor came into the room with a scowl on his face. Knowing that wasn't a good sign (I'm pretty intuitive) my heart quickly increased it's pitter patter in my chest. He took me into his office and showed me on the x-ray where the top screw looks "looser" and the middle and bottom screws look like they have "void areas" around them, possibly indicating that they've been doing some moving of their own. He wants a better image of everything that's going on, so he filled out a slip to get me a CT Scan ASAP next week. Once he's able to look over the CT Scan he'll be able to give me his recommendation. The way I understand it, our options will be:

1. Go back in and put in a bigger screw on top
2. Go back in and take out the whole plate and screws. I'm not sure if this involves replacing it with a whole new set or not.
3. Leave things as they are, because it's not as bad as the x-rays looked (not likely)

The GOOD news he had for me was that since I'm not experiencing neck pain it's a good sign that I'm healing properly.

So, in summary, the saga continues and it's looking like once again I'll be "Back...to the OR". That would make 4 trips this year. Yikes. I should have gotten one of those frequent customer cards where they could punch out a hole each time I get cut open and I get a free MRI or something after 5 surgeries.

I don't know if this involves going back into a neck brace. I really don't want to be back in one, so I'll do what I can to avoid that. The recovery from the plate operation was a PAIN last time. I couldn't eat, sleep or swallow for like 3 or 4 days.

Well, after work today we are off to explore the Pacific NorthWest. I figure it should be a lot like the "Oregon Trail" game lots of us played back in elementary school. Oregon Ho!

hey dad....wanna have a catch?

Remember that scene from Field of Dreams where everyone gets all misty eyed watch Kevin Costner "have a catch" with his dad? Well, I had my own emotional catch moment today, but maybe no so "hollywood-ized" as the one that took place in the cornfield.

Today I played catch for the first time since my surgeries. The last time I played catch was when warming up with friend and teammate Scott Anderson. I was getting quite concerned as I couldn't even hold onto the ball in my glove since my nerves were so whacked out and I had lost so much feeling in my left hand.

Thankfully, when I played catch today (again with Scott) I was able to catch and throw without any problems. I didn't even drop a one (which I normally might do even before I had the nerve problems). I didn't do long toss or anything, but it was nice to get out there and play ball (in a way) again. I still won't be able to play baseball until next year but I'm well aware of how things come in baby steps after surgeries. (Note: That is not the father from Field of Dreams in the image above. It's shoeless Joe. I couldn't find a picture of Kevin and his father having that catch. Bonus points for you if you realized this before reading this footnote).

an odd hall of fame streak.

My flight back to San Diego yesterday reminded me of the last time I flew back to San Diego. Back in March when I was flying back after a ski trip, we saw Tony Gwynn (San Diego Padres Hall of Famer) in the airport, and then on our flight back home. Tony and the whole SDSU baseball team were on that flight. (Side note: Tony Gwynn deserves credit for being one of the nicest people on the planet. Not only did he sign pictures for everyone who asked, he even got out of his seat and took a picture next to a woman who didn't want to leave her spot in the "B line" for the flight).

Yesterday, after my surprise trip to Oakland (update coming soon) I saw yet another Hall of Famer in the airport. This time it was none other than the handlebar mustachioed closer Rollie Fingers. Sure, it could be someone who looked just like him, but c'mon - how many people look like him!??

on to the PT

I've now reached the physical therapy stage. I've been twice now and put through the different stretches, exercises, machines, electric shocks (yep), and back massage table-machines....and I'm doing better. My neck range of motion has already increased quite a bit since my first PT session 1 week ago. I'll be there again next Wednesday. In other news, my mother will be visiting in September. It will be nice to have her down here in a much better state than I was when she visited after surgery. If you're reading this mom, leave the expensive shoes behind...Chili hasn't matured THAT much in a couple months. In one month Cheree and I will be flying to Portland to visit family and then we'll be off to Seattle via train to see the city and go to a Mariners game. Should be fun! PS...just because I can, I added a video to this entry. New blog feature!

Update: A some of you have noticed, the video doesn't work. Well, all I can tell you is it works on my computer when I preview it before uploading it. So I'm pointing the finger at the blogspot.com developer. Feel free to stop by my place to see the video. The 15 second of Chili goodness is well worth your trip...no matter how far away you are.

the trifecta

Today Chili and I went to Balboa Park to see Cheree finish the "America's Finest City" 1/2 marathon and thus complete the 2007 trifecta of 1/2 marathons in San Diego (Carlsbad, La Jolla and this one). Her time wasn't what she was hoping it would be, but that's understandable because it was HOT out there. Chili and I were sweating just standing on the sidelines. Cheree's sister met her at mile 10 and helped cool her down with fluids, Cheree's friend Morgan met her a little after that to help her run to the finish and Chili and I gave her cold water after the race was over.
Cheree ran the first part of the marathon with friend (and fellow San Diego Red) Dave Bradfield (pictured above).

In me news...I got the call for physical therapy for my neck and will start my sessions a week from this Wednesday. At the end of the month I'll be taking new x-rays to see if that pesky screw has moved more.

saw the doc again...

Today was the 2 month checkup since the last surgery. I brought with me the x-ray that was taken last night. On the way out the door I looked at it and told Cheree it looked like a screw was coming out (insert your own "he's got a screw loose" joke here).
Well, come to find out there is a screw coming loose. What is unknown is if it still coming out or if it just came out a little and stopped there. I will be taking another x-ray in a month so he can compare it to this one. If it continues to get worse, he'll have to go in and fix it. Ugh.
I will also be starting physical therapy soon. I'll have 2 sessions a week for 3 weeks.

As for as sports are concerned...he wants me to wait at least 4 more months before playing baseball. And I can forget about skiing this year, unless the snow lasts until May of '08. I can start to increase the weight I lift at the gym, but I'll talk more about that to my physical therapist.

I also asked him about the "weird sensations" I get on my right hand and forearm. It's not numbness, it's just like heightened sensitivity sometimes. He told me there are medications (that were made for seizures) that claim nerve regeneration, but they come with a list of potential side affects, and he doesn't believe that much in them anyway for my condition. He recommended getting mega-vitamins. Cheree has taken on the assignment of setting up my vitamin schedule. He believes that over time it will continue to get better (as it slowly has been).

I've noticed that my hand seems to prefer warmth. When I wash my hands in warm water it feels better for a while. One day I was holding some ice for Chili for a while. After I gave the ice to him, my hand felt cold for longer than expected.

So...I'll continue to post as events warrant. good day to you

been busy...and that's ok with me

So it's been a while. But really, no news is good news...right? Our friends Mike and Rachel came to San Diego this weekend to visit Chili. And while they were here we did things with them as well. We went out to dinner, I made a dinner for them, we went to a friend's combo-party (graduation, job, passing the bar, getting married, curing cancer....one of these might not be true), went to Dog beach in Coronado, went out to breakfast with friends, watched the moto-gp world series race (won $3, thank you casey stoner of australia) and played plenty of wii. Good times were had by all and of course...it went by all too fast.

As for me...I'm doing well. Symptoms are getting better all the time. I still have light sensitivity in my right hand and arm, but it's been so good the last week I hardly think about it most times.

good weekend

This weekend was a good one. We had lots of fun, my symptoms didn't bother me much and I got to see a friend from out of town. We took the beast to dog beach on Saturday, and then went to a Padres Braves game where we were given very nice seats by friends of ours. I put away an "RJ Slugger" hot dog. It's a mammoth hot dog that is the equivalent of 4 hot dogs, according to the concession stand guy.
That night we went out for a late dinner (after we finally got appetites back)where our entire meal was comped without us even complaining about anything. Sure they forgot to bring out our appetizer, but to be honest I had forgotten about it myself. There's no eats like free eats.
Sunday I went to see my baseball team play the last game before the playoffs. Later that night my friends Jason and Jeremy came over for some BBQ and Wii action. Jason was in town visiting Jeremy. So just think folks, if you visit me from out of town you TOO could end up with a picture on this blog! Oh, the prestige of it.

saw the doc again...

My appointment with my neurosurgeon on tuesday was uneventful. And with the year this has been, that's a great thing. He looked at the MRI and said everything looks fine. He also said that the fluid buildup I had is almost gone.
The only bad news was that I have to wait another month before starting physical therapy for my neck. He said it's a standard 2 month wait from the final surgery.

Cheree and I took it easy for the 4th. We avoided going to any beach areas and instead stayed close to home. We took Chili for a 3 mile walk (with a stop at dog park) in the morning, and then we took him for a long walk at night (with a stop at coldstone for us).

Until the next update...

I Love LA

Well...I don't really love LA, but that's the song they play when the Dodgers win. We heard that song yesterday after the Dodgers blanked the Padres 5-0 up in LA. This surprise trip was a little thank you to Cheree for all she's done for me over the last couple months.
Cheree is also modeling her new Dodger jersey. She plans on wearing it again in a couple weeks when she goes to San Francisco with her sisters and mother to see the Dodgers take on the Giants at PacBell SBC At&T Park.
This game was our first trip to a ball game this year. We'll be going again on Saturday to see the Padres take on the Braves in San Diego, thanks to our friends the McCoys.
This was a good weekend. We went out to dinner with friends on Friday night, then had a bunch of friends over Saturday night where we BBQ'd and played Wii sports for hours. I hate to brag, but yours truly did win the Wii homerun derby. Then yesterday we dropped off Chili at his friends house and headed up to LA. Symptoms continue to slowly improve.
Tomorrow I meet with my Neurosurgeon to go over last week's MRI and hopefully start a plan for Physical Therapy.

out of my way...i am a motorist

Yesterday I drove for the first time in 2 months. Cheree let me user her car (Nissan Maxima) instead of my bumpy 4Runner. I gotta tell ya, that is one smooth ride with more power than I'm used to. Maybe I'll milk this for a while. For those of you that know San Diego; I drove from our house to downtown, to la jolla, to Poway and then back home. Not a bad road test. Today I'll be driving up to Vista and back.

One client told me I look fantastic yesterday and that you'd never know I had been through all this, while other clients couldn't believe how thin I was. Today's weight at the gym: 168. Target weight: 175.

Cheree and I have decided we need to go somewhere this summer. We're not sure where, but it would be nice to spend a weekend in a new city and see a new ballpark.

Well...off to Vista!

P.S. Bonus points to the person who can tell me where the Title of this post is quoted from.

recovery

Well, we took "the beast" to the ocean this past weekend. As soon as he's released from his leash he jets into the ocean and starts jumping around in the water. He's no longer that puppy that was afraid to follow me into the waves his first trip to the ocean.

Tomorrow is my LAST DAY with the brace. Thank god. Really, I've only been wearing it while in cars lately. I don't have full range of motion with my neck or anything, that will come after I start physical therapy (hopefully soon).

I went in for yet another MRI this morning. This one was for Dr. Zubay to be able to see how it's looking after a couple weeks since my final surgery. They gave me earphones to listen to the radio. As soon as that MRI machine starting knocking my chances of hearing anything on the radio were shot.

I spoke with a client today who is a veteran of a couple neck surgeries. She had the same kind of symptoms I still have (strange sensations in my hands) and told me I just need to give it a few months and it should go away. I don't expect to ever be fully back to normal, but I keep hope alive that I'll be as close to it as can be. Really the only thing left that bothers me is the odd sensations in my fingers, mostly my right hand. I also still have some strange sensations in my right forearm. The symptoms felt better this weekend, especially on Sunday. They're not as good now, but I'm hoping progress continues on it's its journey.

(dangit, 33 year's old and I STILL can't get the whole it's/its thing right! Thanks for the correction Mom)

Quick update

Not too much to report. All the glue is off of my front scar. There's a small white thread coming out from the corner of the scar. We're stumped as to what that is. Dr. told us there were no stitches. Perhaps they left a sponge in me. Dr. is off surfing now, I'll check with him when he gets back.

I've been to the gym 3 times now. I do my usual bike routine (25 minutes) though at a lower level. The leg exercises go OK. I had to use the tiny weights for upper body stuff. People must be looking at me with my stick frame and wonder why I'm trying to tone up.

I weigh myself at the gym. Last Friday I was 163. Yesterday it was 165. Normally I'm around 180. I think I'll try and stop at 175. I'd better start eating better if I want to achieve that goal.
All these big meals I've been having lately haven't exactly been loaded with veggies. More like loaded with cheese and/or meat.

I have one week left with the neck brace. Not that it's much of a nuisance now. I don't wear it to sleep, I don't wear it while working and I don't wear it while on the couch. Basically I wear it on walks, trips to stores and while in a car. Cheree is unsure as to why I'll be able to drive next Thursday when I still won't have full range of motion (I'm about half way there now). I just tell her, "who cares, let me behind that wheel".

The only problems I'm still experiencing are related mostly to my right forearm and hand. I get odd sensitivity in both areas. Almost like they're overly sensitive. Tender to the touch. I remember having this before after the last surgery, so I'm hoping it goes away like it did last time. I haven't woken up in the middle of the night with my hand feeling like it's frozen since my last surgery (it happened somewhere around 3 AM that night in the hospital). I'm still typing OK and working remotely. Eating has gotten MUCH better. The swelling in my throat has gone down considerably. The days of Oatmeal breakfasts and Top Ramen lunches are behind me. How did I live on that stuff every day in College?

saw the doc...

Today my friend Nadi (the new attorney and new husband of Jen) picked me up and took me for my appointment to see Dr. Zubay. Dr. Zubay took a look at the new front scar and said it has some clotting behind it, and that coupled with some swelling of the muscles in my neck is what's causing my odd voice and swallowing problems. Both of those problems have been getting better and will continue to do so as the days go by. He suggested I use a warm compress a couple times a day on it to help.

Other highlights from the visit:
1. 2 more weeks of the neck brace. It's been 6 weeks since my first surgery, so that'll give me 8 weeks total.
2. The front scar looks worse than it really is. The glue on it makes it look worse. In a few days I'll get into a practice of washing it and picking at the glue. He showed me another patient there who had the same scar as me and his looked MUCH better.
3. The X-Ray from last night showed that everything is looking fine, 3 titanium screws and titanium plate and all.
4. I can start to work out now if I'd like. Really just stuff on the bike, leg stuff and light (15 lb. max) arm stuff. Of course, this will have to be in evenings when Cheree can drive because it's a long walk down a big hill to get to that gym.
5. I'll be doing another MRI in a few weeks and meeting with him to go over it.

It's feeling good. Things are getting better and I feel like I can see the light at the end of this long tunnel. I was having problems sleeping, but after Dr. Zubay OK'd me to sleep without the neck brace on Tuesday I've gotten good night sleeps since then. There will be physical therapy to get the neck back in shape, but that's a ways a way.

i'm back (again)

NOTE: Chili felt slighted by my last post about him so he wanted to prove he could be a good boy today and sleep on his pillow while daddy watched the A's game. So here's the proof in a picture.

Well, it's another pretty scar and I'm done with another surgery. three down and zero to go. we meet with Dr. Zubay on Thursday to review an X-Ray of this latest surgery and discuss where we take it from here. I'm SO glad I didn't end up in ICU again. It was just one night in the hospital this time. Thursday after surgery I forced down about 3 bites of Orange Jello. Friday I ate about nothing. Saturday I was able to eat Oatmeal, some top Ramen, a pear, a buritto (bad idea, it was a bit dry and rough to get down) and some ice cream.
I was breaking my muscle relaxer pills in half to make them easier to swallow. Bad idea. Bits of the pill were breaking off and staying in my throat, causing me to cough and feel sharp pain. I'm just gonna toughen up and swallow the whole pill from here on out.
If you're not squeamish, here's what the newest scar looks like: http://www.sandiegoreds.com/images/shared/neckscar.jpg
Today I ate more Oatmeal (and much faster than yesterday) and ate some Pick up stix orange chicken (nice n' greasy = goes down easy) for lunch. I skipped the rice, egg roll and fortune cookie (first time ever) due to their coarse tendencies. We picked up the food at the pick up stix in Hillcrest. There was a parade of little dogs dressed up in clothes. We saw an army dog, plenty of dogs in dresses, a cat dressed as a cowboy, and random others. We should have entered Chili into this event, though he may have tripled the maximum weight limit.
After barely being able to talk much on Friday or Saturday it's getting a little better today. My throat and neck are still swollen and sore, giving me a much different voice, but hopefully that will go away soon.
Sleeping is MUCH harder after this surgery. I'm waking up about every hour needing to adjust my head. If I try to sleep on my back I constantly feel the need to swallow and that leads to non stop discomfort.

Couple observations from the hospital...as I was being wheeled in for my surgery I saw my Neurosurgeon walking by. I told him "we've gotta stop meeting like this." Nothing like pre-OR humor, I learned it from MASH...When Dr. Zubay came to see me the next day, his first observation...."are you growing your hair out?". Not the first thing I'd expect to hear, but reassuring that he wasn't freaked out about my condition...The one night in the regular hospital room was just about as noisy as the ICU. My roommate (appendectomy) had an ICU machine that was beeping about every 30 minutes, waking us both up. He also took some Ambien and had a couple of rough dreams. And to top it all off, they were cleaning the floors for about 3 hours with some industrial machines outside our room. Fun!

And then there were none

Well, Paul's 3rd and final surgery was performed on Thursday, May 31st. The surgery went well and he was sent home Friday, June 1st around 1pm. He is now in the comfort of our home but very uncomfortable. The surgery was to put 2 plates in the front of his neck to counteract the 2 missing bones in the back. These 2 plates are expected to fuse with the second and third and third and fourth bones in the front of the neck, creating one long bone in the front so that his head does not eventually lean to one side because of the missing 2 bones in the back. (was that clear???) Needless to say, there is swelling in and around the area where the 2 plates were inserted. This swelling puts pressure on the esophagus, making it very painful and difficult for him to swallow, as well as to talk. The doctor says this is normal and will eventually go away as the swelling decreases, which should be about 2 weeks.

Paul is a trooper. He is up and moving around and hasn't complained one bit. He isn't eating much because of the discomfort, so he says. Maybe he's just afraid of my cooking skills??? I offered to buy him some baby food but he said no. I think after these first few days, hunger will eventually kick in and he'll get past some of the pain in his throat, or the fear of me cooking. Either way, he's on the road to recovery.

Your thoughts, prayers and support are greatly appreciated and continue to help us make it through this grueling time of our lives. I wish you all the best in health and life.

Love,
Cheree

Chili is now a wanted man*. He took it upon himself today to show off around his house guest (Stewie) and show how he could do whatever he wants. Including eating cupcakes. Yes, Chili hit the cupcakes you see in the previous post. Not just 1 or 2, we believe he pretty much ate "Birthday" and most of "Paul" too. This is after a dinner time offense last night. Tsk tsk, he had gone so long without a food offense.

Note: as I ate one of the 2 remaining cupcakes, (how nice of him to leave us each with 1 cupcake) Chili watched with a "Lemme have some" look on his face. I ate 3 cupcakes the first night and felt a bit sick afterword, I don't know how he can put away 10 of those things.

My neck problems are leading to waistline problems for Chili. Too few dog park trips and too many cupcakes are leading to an expanding belly for the pup. I'd better get well soon and get him back out there.

In other news, surgery has been moved up to 12:00 tomorrow. Should be over by 2:30. And I SHOULD be home on Friday.

*note: cash award not valid until 2080

big weekend

All kinds of activity (well...compared to recent days) for us this weekend. Friday night we went out to dinner with friends to celebrate Ink passing the bar exam (first try!) and the sudden announcement that Ink and Jen were runnin' off to Vegas to get hitched. They left yesterday. We are in charge of the well-being of Stewie, their chihuahua/yorkie(?) mix. He and Chili played some good tug of war battles yesterday.

Saturday we went to Costco and spent way too much. We got a Queen sized AeroBed, so those of you who felt our twin bed wasn't big enough to stay on, we've ditched it and replaced it with the AeroBed so come on down.

Sunday we went to Macy's at Horton Plaza (thanks for the gift certificate mom and dad) and I picked up a new dress shirt and new jacket. Monday we had a BBQ lunch with our friends Jeff and Sarah.

We also celebrated my birthday this weekend. (The picture above is me with some soon to be eaten cupcakes that Cheree made). Cheree gave me a Wii, so come on over for some Wii Tennis, Bowling, Baseball, etc.

Today and tomorrow it's back to work. Then Thursday it's time for the last surgery.

2 down...1 to go (hopefully)

My third (and had better be last) surgery is scheduled for Thursday next week. Dr. says I should be going home on Friday. It'll be hard to swallow for a while, so who knows how low my weight will get this time. Cheree says I'm starting to look more back to normal now.
Last night we went to Cheree's Master Teacher's house and were treated to a ribs dinner. This is our second ribs dinner since my surgery (the other was at Cheree's sister Terri's house). If I would have know neck surgery lead to delicious rib dinners I would have had it done years ago!
If you want to say hey (or offer up your home for a future rib dinner) please post to the blog.

This weekend was supposed to be New York weekend for us. We were going to catch a Yankee game and see the sites. Guess this will have to wait until next year. (After that Yankee stadium is gone so we have no choice but to go next year).

Paul

"Watch Ball!"

Today Cheree and I took a trip to see my baseball team, the San Diego Reds (http://www.sandiegoreds.com) in action. We got there 1/2 hour before the start of the game. We were able to say hey to the fellas and then sit down for our bag lunch as we watched the Reds build a lead. Cheree got cold after an hour and a half so we took off, with the Reds holding a lead that I'm pretty certain they did not give up.

Watching the team really made me miss being out there and playing. It will be a while before I'm running onto any ball field though.

As for me, I'm doing well. My left hand is close to being back to normal and my right hand still has some numbness and other weird sensations, but it's slowly getting better. The numbness I used to have on my back and chest is gone. The tightness I used to have in my abdomen is gone. I can type just as fast as I used to before the symptoms started hitting me. (Before the surgery I had to use my index fingers and look at the keyboard as I slowly punched out e-mails). Thus far I'm very happy (and relieved) with the progress.

Today we also put together a new office chair for the home office. This one has better padding and has a head rest that will support me better. I'll be back working from home again this week. Last week I worked Tuesday through Friday, each day doing more and working longer. It feels great to have that normalcy back. I didn't like waking up before and realizing I had absolutely nothing I had to do that day.

Onward and upward!

after the meeting

Cheree and I met with Dr. Zubay (my Neurosurgeon) today. He took out the stiches, so now I won't have to change the dressings every time I shower. He went over the MRI and said it showed that there's still some fluid in there that he wants to give a couple weeks to drain before doing the next (and final) surgery. I don't have to have this final surgery, but he recommends it since I'm young and active. He said if I were 60 he wouldn't do it. He said if I sat at a computer eating donuts all day he probably wouldn't do it. The reason for doing it is to prevent my neck from twisting over time to the point where I'd be all contorted. The surgery will involve putting in a plate to stabilize my neck (it's missing 2 joints right now). He said this surgery is nothing compared to what I've been through. Then it will be 8 more weeks with the neck brace. Ugh. I was thinking I'd be rid of it in 6 weeks from now, but now it's looking like 10 weeks from now. This will be one wild and crazy summer!

i'm back

Well here I am, writing my first post since surgery. I'm doing much better since I stopped taking Vicodin last Wednesday. I've been up and alert, going for short walks, eating much more and staying up later.

Perhaps I should explain the picture above. Well, today was Mom's last day in San Diego. I had been worried about how Chili would be around her (and her things). He was good for the most part, occasionally wanting her to play too much, but he wasn't jumping up on her or mouthing on her. Then this morning she jinxed it. She told him how he had been such a good boy. So while she petted him from the couch he must have been concocting his devious plan. When she fell asleep he went right for her shoes and tore one of them apart. That's what you see in the picture. Bad dog.

That was his first shoe-misdemeanor in a long, long time. I still can't figure him out.

So mom and I went out for errands: a trip to a shoe store for replacement shoes (that was her only pair she brought), a trip for her first taste of In-N-Out, and a trip to the hospital for my MRI. Then Cheree drove us to the airport to drop her off. It was great having her here for a week. It's not often after turning 30 that you really get to spend enough quality time with your parents. We got to have a lot of conversations, and I got to have a week of my favorite home cooked meals.

Thanks for all your support everyone. I enjoyed hearing the posts when Cheree read them to me in the hospital. Tomorrow we meet with the Dr. to go over my MRI and talk about the final surgery (for neck reconstructive purposes). I'll update the blog after the meeting.

Paul

A splendid Mother's day

When I first saw Paul, I was stunned to see how much weight he had lost and how sickly he looked --a real bag of bones. His color was better after the operation, but he still seemed very fragile. I could understand Cheree’s saying that she was afraid she’d break him when he was released from the hospital. At any rate, he doesn’t seem breakable now. His pain across his abdomen is gone, his feet have some feeling in them, and today he found out that he could type (slowly) again. Chili seems to know that he shouldn’t jump up on Paul or otherwise annoy him. What a good big beast he is (except when he isn’t). I can leave San Diego knowing that Cheree can easily handle Chili and Paul and teaching. In a few weeks Paul will have his final operation and in six weeks Paul will likely lose his neck brace. What a lovely Mother’s day I had with Cheree’s mother, Cheree and Paul, and the red beast. Paul was able to flip pancakes and fry eggs and bacon for our brunch. We continue to feel very grateful for everyone’s concern and support.
Love,
“Mums” Elliott

Things will be changing more slowly now. All things considered Paul is doing very well. He still has times where he feels lousy and has to lie down for a bit. Chili is at the puppy-sitter's so that he doesn't have 100 pounds of excited dog jumping up on him with full force. But even the first night home he was able to hang out with a few friends from out of town. And Paul and Cheree were treated to a quite nice, no work Cinco de Mayo party at the house with a takeout feast from PF Chang's, home-made cookies, and every single dish clean in the rack with a spotless kitchen afterwards. Thanks to all who made it happen. Much more enjoyable than lying on his back in the ICU.

Tonight Paul and Cheree will be swapping out the Kasberger family for Paul's mom. Stay tuned for more links to stories about people with bizarre neglected medical conditions from various corners of the world.

Love,
Kate

It's a homer!

As I write this Paul is now around the corner eating tortellini and salad for lunch in his own kitchen. Yes he's going, going, gone from the hospital! The scan from yesterday looked good, the drain was out this morning, and he finally got to get out of bed and walk around this morning. He passed the road test, the blood test, and the pee test and they no longer had any excuse to hold onto his handsome self. The headaches may have been from the drain so over the next few days to weeks they should improve or disappear. He's getting used to living life with a foam neck collar that doesn't allow him to move his head at all but I think he'll happily get used to nearly anything as long as he can do it back in the real world!

Love,
Kate

Down (with) the drain

Word from the doctor is that tomorrow (Friday) morning he will pull out the drain. Not surprisingly, Paul was in much better spirits today than he's been for a while. He's still getting headaches -- previously they were attributed to the Ambien, but as he's not taking that anymore so we're not sure what they're from. Sick of being stuck in bed in the hospital is a leading theory, so we'll see if changing that soon helps.

I'm now down in San Diego and got to hang out with him for a bit this afternoon. More importantly, I was able to bring him a genuine autographed wiffle ball from the Ross family. We got to see the 4 inch scar on the back of his neck for the first time, which Paul insisted that Cheree photograph with her cell phone so he could see it too. Perhaps it can be framed and hang over the fireplace someday.

Cheree has been printing out all of your comments and taking them to him for his reading pleasure. He really appreciates all of your support (and fantasy baseball updates).

Love,
Kate

Back out of the OR

Paul went back in this afternoon. The surgeon found the hole causing the leak and glued it back together without incident. He's now in the recovery room and eagerly looking forward to a shower, or at least the closest you can get without getting out of bed. He'll still be stuck in bed with the drain for the next few days. The current plan is to get the next scan on Thursday to see how things stand. The doctor expects him to go home around Saturday. We're cautiously optimistic that things are going to be looking up from now.

There, this time I got to write a post that wasn't all bad news!

For anyone in the Bay Area who would like to send cards, books about the Greek Olympics, or other legally transportable items, I'm flying to San Diego on Thursday morning and would be happy to take stuff. Call me at 510-206-5662.

Love,
Kate

Back to the OR again

Unfortunately the drain didn't turn out to do the trick by itself. Tomorrow Paul has to go back to the OR so that the neurosurgeon can find where the fluid leak is and patch it up. He'll still have the drain in as well the next few days. He's now slated to stay in intensive care for a few more days and probably be in the hospital for another 3-4 days overall. We're working on figuring out the new visiting plan for the Elliotts in light of all this. Bummer.

His spirits have been up and down -- today, as you might guess, is more of a down day. At least tonight he will be allowed to get out of bed so perhaps that will help. Hopefully once he gets out of the OR tomorrow things will start heading in the right direction again.

Love,
Kate

Quick Update

Tomorrow morning Paul is scheduled for an 8 am MRI to see if the draining tube worked. Dr. Zubay will look at the results and let us know if Paul can move to a regular hospital bed (yay!) or ???
As for how Paul is feeling, he is terribly uncomfortable. He is tired of laying on his back in a hospital bed in the ICU. One of his many neighbors moaned and groaned all last night and into the morning. He is sleep-deprived and was given Ambien and Benadryl to help him sleep tonight.
I'll let you know Paul's status by tomorrow evening. Prayers, thoughts and fingers crossed for that regular hospital bed.

Love,
Cheree

All gone, but....

Paul's sister here on update duty tonight. The good news -- the CT and MRI scans showed that Dr. Zubay got out the whole stinking thing, just as he'd thought. Before the surgery he said it was kind of a long shot that he'd get it all. There was talk of maybe needing radiation afterwards to shrink the rest of it (which doesn't mean they think it's cancer, because they don't). Now that the tumor is all gone that's no longer something to worry about. However the scans also showed that there's some fluid building up in the spinal column in his neck that needs to be drained. So tomorrow Paul has to go back to ICU for Dr. Zubay to put a drain in his lower spine in hopes that it can draw off enough spinal fluid to take care of the buildup. It's by no means certain that this will work, so it's possible that the surgeon may have to open up his neck again to get rid of the fluid. Continue to send best wishes, prayers, and crossed fingers (figuratively speaking, please, not literally) that the back drain does the job so that he doesn't need another operation. He's back in intensive care so they can keep a closer eye on things for now.

In other news, the physical therapist came today to make him get out of bed and show him the moves so he can get up by himself. This is an important step towards being able to choose his own Simpsons episodes when he gets back home.

Paul, Cheree, Paul's parents and I send our appreciation for everyone's kindness and caring. We all know what a good guy he is. But seeing all the love and caring and connections on this blog make it clear just how many people have the good fortune to have him in their lives, and just how much they appreciate that. Thanks.

Kate

Exhale

Good morning! This blog brings you good news! Paul's surgery went well, so well that Dr. Zubay was done in less than the 6 hours he originally predicted. :) Dr. Zubay believes, is 99% sure, that he removed the entire tumor. We will know for sure in 24 hours after another MRI and Cat Scan are done. Paul is in ICU and doing well. However, he still has a lot of numbness and discomfort in his hands and feet. This discomfort should pass in the next few days as the swelling in his hands goes down. (This is normal after a surgery like his.) We are still praying that ALL numbness in his body will disappear soon.

Thank you, to all family and friends who have been sending your thoughts, best wishes and prayers our way. Your support during this difficult time has been such a blessing to us.

Love,
Cheree

tomorrow's the big day

We had a meeting with my neurosurgeon yesterday. We found out that the surgery has been moved up to 12:00. This means we'll be checking in at 10 AM. I'm glad it's earlier. Less time sitting around waiting, and everyone won't have to go so late into the night to get the results. We also found that yes, I'll be in a neck brace for a while, but just a regular one (not some big head rigged contraption). So much of what's going to happen during this surgery won't be known until the Dr. is in there digging around. He told us that the point in my spinal cord where the tumor is pushing it is only 1/5th the size of what it should be. There's a possibility that the numbness i have from this will never go away, which of course freaks me out. I'll be losing some neck bone during the procedure.
We just keep hoping that once the pressure is relieved from my spinal cord, that things will start returning to normal. The Dr. says that hopefully me being young will help in that. The time line is a year and a half. If it hasn't gotten better by then, things aren't looking too good. But really, I'm trying to keep positive. Keep strong.
My folks fly in tonight. We'll go out for dinner tonight, and then it's no more eating for me until the surgery, not that I'll have much of an appetite tomorrow anyway.
Thanks to all for the supportive posts, e-mails and cards. They are very much appreciated!

hooray cheree and morgan!

Today Cheree and Morgan completed the grueling La Jolla half marathon in great time. Obstacles overcome include a bum Ipod for Morgan and some steep hills. Chili and I had our own obstacles to overcome as we battled thousands of cars for the 3 or 4 available spots in downtown La Jolla. All ended well as we found a spot in a garage and busted our way to the finish line just in time to see them (yet miss the photo op of them running - whoops, my bad). Cheree's sister Terri met us with her 2 girls and we all headed to a big breakfast at the Eggery in P.B. Chili even got a new toy from the girls. That helped him forget his embarrassment of relieving himself on the La Jolla sidewalk right in the middle of a big crowd earlier.

the final countdown...

5 days until "game day". Cheree and I are just trying to enjoy the days as much as we can by going out and about all over town. Last night we went to a new restaurant/bar downtown that was....ok. My fries were cold but i was way too hungry to give it much thought. Cheree's meal was better. Then we walked around downtown a bit, picked up some gifts for Jeff's birthday (dinner tonight at Vision's downtown) and went to Ghirardelli and shared a Sundae. We didn't talk too much about the surgery. There will be plenty of time for that later.
We got caught in a downpour (by San Diego standards) when walking the 5 or so blocks back to our car. After getting home and going to bed we watched most of our latest Netflick "This film is not yet rated.". It's a documentary about the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and their bizarre methods of rating films. Who knew it was a secret society (the only movie rating association in the world where the members are kept secret) where there are no real guidelines (publicly, anyway) for how the movies are rated? Sex is bad (especially anything "abnormal", violence is fine, big companies hold all the cards. Kinda describes our society for the last say...7 years.
Well, today we're taking Chili to dog beach in Coronado, doing some errands and then hitting downtown again. Thanks for stopping by.

Cat Scan

Today was cat scan day. (Photo is from a previous head cat scan in 1999 by Dr. Frecious). Cat scan was no big deal...IV, stay still, go through the whirring machine, feel yourself get filled with IV fluid, couple more scans and then leave and eat lunch in your car after a 13 hour hunger strike. Leftover pizza never tasted so good.

That's my momma

Leave it to your mother to show you things could be worse. Here's an article my mom sent about a guy in China who let his neck tumor go unchecked a wee bit longer than me.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=41697&in_page_id=2

thanks to all...

My heartfelt thanks to all well wishing posters, e-mailers and callers. Your love and support does mean a lot to me. It's great to have that feeling of support from family and friends.

So what's new? Not too much. I should have a cat-scan this week sometime. I've lost about 9 pounds during this ordeal, mostly due to stress and discomfort. Cheree is already babying me. She mowed the lawn yesterday (normally my thing) and doesn't think I'm supposed to be lifting heavy things. I told her to use me while she's got me now and save up her strength for when she really needs it. Chili's been a trooper. (Seen here in his quiet and innocent baby days) He thinks I'm in plenty good shape to wrestle, go on walks and constantly attend to his every need (Right now he's whining to go outside even though he just got a nice long walk at 8:00 - he still doesn't understand the whole "home office" concept).

Sleeping has become difficult lately. Last night I was up until about 2:00 with a million things racing through my mind. Lucky for me, reading has always made me tired, so after reading a couple chapters in a book about the ancient Greek Olympics I was on my way out.

The whole Elliott clan will be making trips down here, in stages. It looks like Dr. Kate will be here first, and then Pops and finally Mom to help when Cheree goes back to work after taking a week off.
That's it for now...back to work. Thanks for checking in!

How it came to this

I've been having neck pains since the early 2000's. At first it was very rare, and when I would get up and move they'd go away. Over time they came back more and more often and got more and more bothersome. I saw a couple doctors over a couple of years who were convinced I had a neck sprain that just needed heat and rest. I did as they said, but it didn't help. X-Rays didn't see anything (my joke to Cheree was that I needed a neck transplant). It got to the point where it started interfering with my comfort in everyday activities like work, gym, baseball and even just walking around. I went to 4 massage therapy sessions that did seem to make it feel better, but the cost of those sessions adds up quickly - and it wasn't really fixing the problem.

Late last year I started seeing a chiro-practor who took some pretty blurry X-Rays and told me it was my alignment or something that was out of whack and that a steady diet of "neck adjustments" would get me back in shape. Those bone popping experiences did give me some stories to tell, but not much relief.

In December I started noticing that my hands were feeling water temperatures differently than the rest of my body. The chiro didn't think much of it "All part of the process." I never did ask him if he had seen the Simpsons Chiro episode "Forget it Homer, it's Chiro-town."
Anyways, I stopped seeing him soon after that. In March I started noticing numbness in my hands. This freaked me out and lead to a visit to the Dr, who performed an EKG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocardiogram and blood tests which didn't find anything wrong and thus lead to a referral to an Ortho who decided I have Carpal Tunnell Syndrome. I think I'm a victim of my profession with the medical world. Anytime anyone with a medical degree hears I work on computers, my work gets blamed for what ails me.

I got fitted for a pair of Carpal Tunnel braces and a couple prescriptions and was told to check back in a month. After about a week and feeling numbness spread to my feet, stomach and back I asked for a recommendation to a neurologist. The neurologist performed an EMG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromyography which was both unpleasant and uninformative. It did rule out Carpal Tunnell, but that was the end of it's help. So that lead to yesterday's MRI's (one for the brain and one for the neck) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRI. By this time I was freaked out. I was sure I had MS (my sister the Dr. told me it's bad to plug in your symptoms online, the worst stuff always comes back) and was just waiting to hear it from the Dr. My neurologist called me in the afternoon and told me that my neck MRI showed a tumor up against my spinal cord. Yes, hearing about your spinal cord is scary, but still a relief from hearing about worse conditions. My neurologist got me an appointment this morning with his top choice for neurosurgeon. Cheree and I went in for the appointment and were told that yes, the tumor is pushing my spinal cord and it needs to come out. They're almost positive it's benign. We'll know for sure after the surgery. The surgery will be pretty intense. Ir will be about 6 hours. It will involve a blood transfusion (thank you whoever is the donator). Hopefully they'll finish everything in 1 shot. They might have to do some reconstruction for bone that has been eroded by the tumor. The way it's been explained to me, I'll feel like I got kicked in the back of the head by a mule. I'll be in Intensive Care for 3-5 days and then home in bed for a couple weeks and then we'll see how I recover. I'll be in a neck brace for a while.

I feel bad Cheree. Once again she'll have to drop me off at the hospital and spend hours worrying about me. She'll have to help me after I get home for a while. She'll have to put up with Angry Paul when I'm hurting and no matter what Simpsons episode she puts on for me, it won't be the right one.

So now I'll be on roids (new prescription) for a couple weeks until my surgery, it's a shame I won't be playing ball - I haven't knocked a dinger in a while.

The first post

"First he went in for a hernia (at 21 years old) in 1995, then he was back in 1999 for his blown out knee ACL repair, then in 2003 he had the appendectomy....now it's 2007 and it's "Back...to the OR".

So yeah, I'll be heading back in again, this time it's a neck tumor. I've suddenly realized I've got a nasty 4 year pattern of going to the Operating Room (every 4 years, just like the Olympics...except no one wants to compete in this event). I shudder to think of what 2011 has in store for me.

The purpose of this blog is to inform the general adoring public of what's going on. I'll update it until Surgery Day (tentatively scheduled for April 26th, 2007). After that, I'm hoping Cheree will pitch in and post here and brag about milestone accomplishments like getting up and walking to the fridge all by myself. Cheree hates typing, so this is a lot to ask.

So welcome all...post some comments, give a shout out, and keep coming back.