(NOTE: View a larger picture by clicking on the photo(s) above.)
As you remember from last month’s news, we were changing location. All the way back to Tennessee. But before we left, we had a nice dinner out at a local restaurant (Fatz) with the other Hosts at the Park. It so happened that all four of us hosting couples were leaving the Park the same weekend. A whole new batch of people were coming in, and as I understand, none of them had ever hosted before. Good luck to them.
The meal was nice and we enjoyed getting to know the other people better. We were all from different parts of the country. Somehow the conversation got around to who got up early and who started the day later. One host said he arose every morning at 5:04. That seemed like an odd and specific time to me, so I said, “Why 5:04 and not 5:00 or 5:05?”
He pulled out his Blackberry, or iPhone, or whatever it was, punched the face of it a couple times, then turned the screen around to face me. In the upper left hand corner was the reading “5:04.” “That is my alarm,” he says, “and I have never figured out how to change it.” I hope he doesn’t change phones and gets one set at 2:06. Talk about programmed!
We left Georgia on May 30, and arrived here at Shady Acres RV Park in Lebanon in the early afternoon. We found us a suitable place between the shade trees, paid our month in advance, and pulled in. A picture of our site is above. We found our neighbors on either side of us to be here for an extended time as well. Both were fellows by themselves. One is from Michigan and here with a new job before bringing his family down. The other is from Alabama and is an Insurance Adjustor working the area with people who have had tornado damage. He has been here since February and doesn’t know how much longer he will be here. The Park seems to have a lot of people here for extended periods.
We are here in Tennessee for medical reasons, so that is what is taking up our time. The Monday after we arrived I had an appointment with a second Neurologist to have an EMG (Electromyography) which involves testing the electrical activity of the muscles. The Surgeon needed to know the extent of damage to the muscles in my right leg which has suffered atrophy because of the years of abuse by pinched nerves. We needed to see if the damage is permanent or will heal in time. That done, the surgery was scheduled for June 19th.
While I was waiting for the surgery to happen, we checked on other medical things for both me and Carolyn. I got a hearing aid repaired and tested and fitted for new ones of a different type. Carolyn went to see an Orthopedic Surgeon about her right knee which has been giving here trouble for years. The medical opinion is that she needs a new right knee. So, after I am well from my back surgery she is going to get a knee replacement. The projected date for this is in September.
June 19th arrived and it was time for my surgery. We were to be at the hospital at 5:30 A.M., the surgery scheduled for 7:00 A.M. You know the routine, answer a thousand questions, sign this, sign that, have blood tests, EKG, chest x-ray, and insert an IV. I was put in a room and told to change into that famous “backless” hospital gown. I was wheeled into the preparation/recovery area, asked more questions, signed more things. When the time came to go to the OR, I saw a nurse inject into my IV and we began wheeling through the hallway. I never saw the OR, the doctors, or anything else until I woke up back where I started in the preparation/recovery room. The time elapsed, about thirty minutes.
The surgery seemed like a non-event to me, but here is what happened. I had repairs done to two discs. It took about ten minutes per discs. A spacer, called an X-Stop, was placed between Lumbar discs 3-4 and 4-5. You see a picture of one, taken from a brochure, in photo number two above. The third photo shows where the spacers are placed. They are put between the spinous process, which is the bone protruding from the discs which forms what we generally know as the backbone. The only part of the spine that we can feel from the outside. These spacers spread the spine apart to allow freedom for the nerves going through the area.
The incision I have is only about one and one-half inches long. There are no stitches to be removed. As a matter of fact, there are no stitches at all. I was simply glued back together with Dermabond. The incision is held together, by hand or instrument, and an applicator, much like a glue stick, is passed over the area. They wait about 20 seconds and make another pass. That’s it. All done.
At 11:30 that morning, I was on my way back to the RV Park with a little soreness and a bottle of Percocet for pain. The recovery process is to rest a little, walk a little, and repeat each day. I return to the doctor two weeks after surgery, that is July 2nd. If every thing looks right and I feel right, I will be good to go after that. Then, we will head back to Georgia after the 4th.
We are ready to get back to some activity. About all we have done here, outside running around for medical reasons, is read. That’s not a bad thing. But enough is enough. I am now on my eleventh book since arriving. Carolyn has read seven or eight.
I have used words above that you may not have known. There appears to be a name for everything. Sometimes we just don’t know what that name is. Have you ever wondered what the little vertical indentation in your upper lip just below your nose is called? No? Well, anyway it is called a “philtrum.” And how about caterpillar poop? That’s the little wooly worm I’m talking about, not the farm machine. You haven’t heard of it? Now, that is called “frass.” Actually, the debris or excrement of any insect is called “frass.”
You never know in what strange places you may learn something. Now go wow your friends with this great knowledge. I’ll bet they don’t know what they are called. More fun stuff next time.
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