Post Op Conditions

Hello everyone,
I wanted to take a few moments while the family is out getting supplies to fill you in on my current condition.

For those of you who were unaware, I was diagnosed in October of 2006 with a bulging disk that was producing serious pressure on my spinal cord. It was causing severe pain in my neck, arms and legs. I delayed any commitment to surgery because I was nervous about givinga doctor access with a knive around my throat. Yup, in order to fix this he, the neurosureon needed to make a small incisionn, about 1/2" in length, in the front of my neck. This would allow him to separate the muscle and trachea to gain access to the front of my spine. Then by removing the bad disk and replacing it with the donated bone of someone who passed away. Following this a plate is bolted to both C5 and C6 vertebrae to hold them in place. This replaces the need for an external neck brace and stays in place forever. See the illustration below for an example:

I asked the surgeon may many questions prior to the operation, as you can tell since it took me better that a year to commit to it.

Prior to the pain that started a few years ago I was a very active person. I spent much of my time snow boarding, mountain biking, wake boarding, you name it I was trying it. By the way, I was not passively doing those things either which is one of the reasons I think I find my self here now. Many times I have awoken on my back wondering what damage I had done. My mother can attest that this started around the age of or even earlier.

This leads to my main concerns I had, which were my continuous questions to the surgeon, how would this affect my out door activity. I intend to spend a lot of time hiking with my friend Paul and his boys in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and perhaps even up in the Tetons. I as well intend to teach my children to ski and snow board along with, as you can imagine, many other things going forward. He assured me that I would notice no difference in mobility and this joint, though going from two to one, would now be the strongest joint in my neck

Dr. Lawrence Dickinson or Pacific Brain and Spine, http://www.pacbrain.com/, was the surgeon I entrusted my future to and I am now going to take a few moments to express my appreciation to him and his team.

Dr. Dickinson was extremely professional and was more available to me than any other doctor i have ever experienced. If I had a questions I had access to his direct line and even if he was in surgery during my call he always found time to return my call. He addressed my questions even though some had been asked more than once.
The smile you see on his face seems to be there perpetually and I am more that thrilled to have entrusted him with my future and, not lightly said, my life.

If you find yourself in a situation the may require special attention to your of most important endoskeleton structure feel free to call me or email me questions for references on this particular individual.

Now for the context:
So, my surgery was Friday morning at 10:15 am, on the dot as that is the time Dr. Dickinson told me it would be. They literally plugged me into the anesthesia at 10:00, and rolled me into the OR at 10:12. I was knocked out by 10:15 ( I could see the clock on the wall), and next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room around 1pm. that time I can not guarntee since i was heavily sedated. I enjoyed that part of it, hehehehe. I stayed that night in the hospital to recover a bit and lived on some pain meds and Popsicles.

So now I am sitting at home watching the Pats and San Diego battle for the Superbowl berth,end of the third Q it NE-14 and SD-12, good game, lot's of turnovers.

I am eating just about anything I want. I am still in a bit of pain so taking some pain meds but the thing that helps the best is a small dose of Valium because it relaxes the muscle that seem to ave a tennis ball embedded in them. I hate taking the meds and hold off as much as I can but they are obviously still needed and thus make me a little loopier. That is leading me to believe that I will be forced to take the whole two weeks of of work. It's easy when I am laying down but when I stand I have a tough time.

Ok, gonna go rest and finish the fourth quarter. I am really looking forward to the super cold and harsh game in Green Bay.

Drop me a mail or call!
Cheers!
Steve