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