Spinal Surgery!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. And what a week it has been! The weather has turned to the mild side with daily highs rising above freezing and some melting has taken place. But the big event began early Monday morning as I reported to the hospital for my long-awaited spinal surgery. A friendly doctor on the surgery team drew us a diagram and explained the procedure. 

Spinal Surgery Diagram

The dark blue circle is the spinal cord which is being impinged here by a ruptured disc, or boney material, or both. They will cut straight down from the surface of my back (carefully, he was at pains to assure me) until they encounter the bone. Then, they will retract the muscle tissue to the red lines to give them greater access. At that point, they will finally see what they're up against. However, I have not had any meetings with the surgical team to find out what they saw or what they did. Wendy changed the bandage this afternoon, and took a picture, so I know they did something! The pain from the incision is pretty much gone, but it will be months rebuilding proper strength and motion. 

Incision

The incision is about 10cm (4") long, and is now held together with steri-strips. There has been little seepage and it seems to be healing well. The main feature of the week has been, unfortunately, hiccups (I always spelled it hiccoughs, but that seems to have changed!). I was discharged from the hospital Monday evening, gingerly made my way home and went to bed. "To sleep, perhaps to dream"... yeah, no chance of that! I spent most of the night trying to find a comfortable position in which to rest, and finally at 4:22am, the hiccups arrived and have remained ever since. To be sure, many folks have sent along their advice and remedies and some of them have proved helpful. This has not been the case with my medical people, none of whom have gotten back to me. I plan to visit them on Monday! 

Otherwise, the markets remained volatile, but expanded to new all-time highs again this week as strong USA economic data for jobs, GDP and inflation encouraged investors. In the world of Basketball, KU was punished for their lack-lustre performance last week and dropped to #7. A win at home and a loss on the road this week are unlikely to encourage the voters! In the NHL, Oilers pushed their winning streak to 16 games and are solidly in a playoff position. Pens remain on the outside looking in and need to definitely go on a winning streak. Leafs remain unpredictable as they frequently appear to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But all three of them won today!

Erica writes, "It’s been a fairly ordinary week in Prince Albert. We enjoyed a reprieve from the cold temperatures. It warmed up to 0 degrees on the weekend. This weekend marks the beginning of the winter festival. We enjoyed an evening out at the Tux and Toques Gala. I wore a jacket with tails (tux) and Eric wore a toque. And that is about it! :)" 

Erin and Kristian are also enjoying the break from the deep freeze. Kristian has had to struggle to do his make up work in math while teachers are on job action. 

Travis and Joanna are starting on their way back from Punta Cana this weekend. We are expecting them on Monday evening. 

And that's about enough for this week.