I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone - I'm back from DC! With a head cold! Which is NOT good news. I'm a little concerned and am praying that it gets better with each hour and not worse - because if that happens, the surgery will most likely have to be rescheduled!! I haven't been sick - even once - this winter and NOW I get sick! Maybe traveling wasn't the best idea right before surgery. Too late now, woulda, coulda, shoulda, right? I bought a Neti pot yesterday on my way home and I am going to try it in a little bit. For all of you that don't know, a Neti pot is a way to do a "nasal wash". Actually the first time that I ever heard of a Neti pot was when I had gone to the emergency room when I was ultimately diagnosed and later hospitalized with Mono, remember that? Well, when I had gone to the ER in the early morning hours, the doctor actually said to me, "Do you know what a Neti pot is?" and I said, "No" and he said, "I really think you would benefit from a nasal washing" and he went on to explain how I could still do it without a traditional pot. I was so sick, I just ignored him and also because I had no intention of putting any water up my nostrils!! Gross! Anyway, in the passing years as I have become more interested in more "natural" healing methods, I have often read of the Neti pot and know several people who use one regularly. In fact, in the past few months, I have actually picked up one in the store, but always put it back on the shelf, figuring why bother spending the money. So last night, when Erica picked me up from the airport, we stopped at Whole Foods in Cranston and I finally bought a Neti pot!!

I have a guy here today cleaning my carpets, so I will give it a try right after he leaves. I opened the box up a little earlier and was ready to give it a try, in desperation to "clean" out my nasal passages of this insidious little infection that is trying to spread through my body, but decided that I should try it out AFTER the carpet cleaner leaves! I suddenly thought that if he walked in and saw me with this little pot (that resembles a mini watering can!) with my head tilted, putting water up my nose, he may think I am a little crazy!! So in order to preserve my reputation as being a relatively sane person, I'll refrain from doing the Neti pot until he carpet man leaves!!

I slept well last night, albeit with the help of a couple of Tylenol PM's! I slept very well while I was away and am thankful for that. My leg (mostly my left one) has been still giving me issues with sporadic spasms, which mostly appear at night when I lay down. Unfortunately, the sensation has reared its ugly head during the day a few times. I don't like that. Some nights (like last night) it is very mild and I am able to almost ignore it and go to sleep. Other nights it is very bothersome and I am awake for hours, thrashing around. I have found that a Percocet helps a bit, not 100%, but enough so that I can go to sleep eventually. That is a double-edged sword though, because as I've mentioned before, narcotics generally cause me insomnia. So unfortunately, there are nights that I have to choose between leg spasms or insomnia. Great choice, huh?

I was finally able to speak with Dr. Glazer last Saturday. He called when I was in a workshop at the conference and left a voicemail with his personal cell phone number, telling me to feel free to call him back so that we didn't continue to play phone tag. I reached him later that afternoon. As I started to ask him questions, I could hear his small children in the background, "Daddy" and him saying "Shhh...” - I thought that was sweet. It was a reminder that although he is this world-renowned spine surgeon, he is first just a man ~ a husband and a father. I know that he has three young children and I'm pretty certain that the oldest isn't even 6 or 7 yet - so in the little time he probably spends at home, his children must cloister around him and they all must cherish those moments. So once again, here I am about to be sliced open with a load of questions, and yet I hesitate, picking and choosing which questions to ask so that I don't take up too much of his time away from his children. I guess that in that moment, I figured that his kids need him even more that I do.

Anyway, I asked 7 of the 9 questions that I had and we were off the phone in 4 1/2 minutes!! Ha! Ha! A true surgeon nonetheless - straightforward and to the point. You ask a question and you get an answer and then.......next question! Don't get me wrong, with Dr. Glazer you never get the feeling that he is rushing you, it is just that he is a typical surgeon - blunt. They don't have a lot of use for idle conversation. Funny group they are. So I asked if I could get my Harrington Rods back. Or any part of them, I should say. Dr. Glazer is not even sure he is taking them out completely. A lot of times, because so much time has passed from the time of implementation to revision, they can become deeply embedded in bone making it very dangerous to try to remove. More often than not, they take out parts of the rods, the parts that come out relatively easily and then actually use the parts that are embedded as an "anchor" for the new instrumentation. Regardless, I told him that I want back whatever he can give me. He said that they generally send it on to Pathology (weird huh? I forgot to ask why? Perhaps as part of a study?) so I have to fill out paperwork when I arrive on Monday morning. I also mentioned the leg pains and spasms that I am experiencing more and more and he said without doubt, he is certain that it is related to nerve impingement due to the severe lumbar stenosis that I have. He commented that he is opting to do the anterior (front of body) part of my revision for this reason alone. He said that doing anterior, along with posterior, will enable him to better "open" up this area and "really get in there" to "clean it up" and also to gain even better correction for me. I also inquired about anesthesia and mentioned that I do indeed have slight apprehension of being intubated regularly again, especially along with knowing that it will occur two days in a row and especially on the second day, for many, many hours. He said that although he understands my apprehension, he thinks it may be unwarranted because the paralyzed vocal cord did heal as expected. He said that they may decide to do it "fiber optically" versus an endotracheal tube, as is most often used. He said "we" will discuss it with the anesthesiologists the morning of the first surgery. I then proceeded to ask several other questions that will no doubt just bore you all to tears so I won't bother to explain, but then the call was over. Another "check" off the list of things to do!

So today, I am doing laundry (which there is MASSIVE amounts to be done!) and completing some paper work and then of course, I am going to clean about my nasal passages with my Neti pot! And I am also going to lay low and nap. Because if these surgeries end up having to be rescheduled, you all might end up having to visit me in a psychiatric hospital!! And I'm not kidding!!! Seriously.