On Wednesday January 11, 2016 Don had surgery on his back. Below is his report and email address if you wish to send him a note.
7/23/17
Well, despite Bev's attempt to upstage me, my surgery on
the 19th came off as scheduled. Successful as far as I can tell at this point,
although I am pretty sore at the incision. I'll find out more at my followup
next Friday.
Bev's attempted upstaging came about from a fall in the bedroom Monday morning
that resulted in a broken femur of her left leg. She had surgery on Monday
afternoon, and has since been transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation
facility nearby. Don't know how long she will be there, but it will be awhile
because she can't put any weight whatsoever on the leg for at least 6-8 weeks.
She will become real good friends with a wheelchair for a while. So, these
next few weeks will have some challenges for the two of us, but we'll get
through then, and this too shall pass. Frankly, I think that this togetherness
thing can be carried a little too far. Don
5/20/17
Not terrible, not great. Back feels fine, but the right leg still having
residual weakness. I'm able to do pretty much whatever I want - except for golf
- as long as I'm somewhat careful.
I had another MRI about a month ago, and got an epidural injection two weeks
ago. The MRI showed that I've developed some moderate to severe stenosis at the
L2 vertebrae, which is the next one above where he did the fusion. He said this
sometimes occurs with the type of surgery that I had. The epidural didn't make
any improvement, so today we decided to go ahead with another surgery to clean
out that area. He will perform a laminectomy, and it's scheduled for July 6. He
said it should be an outpatient procedure, although it could be an overnight
stay. Just so you know, we tentatively plan to try to make the September
reunion, and if so we will attend the dinner at Luigi's. I'll just have to
confirm for sure later, but based on what the surgeon is telling me I don't
anticipate it being a problem. I'd really like to see everyone. Thanks
again for your continued interest. Will keep you updated following the surgery,
and hope to see you in September. Don
4/10/17
The surgeon was pleased with my progress and the X-rays showed that the back is
healing properly. The leg is still giving me problems. It's better than it was,
but is still considerably weaker than the other. The surgeon reminded me that
it can take from 6-12 months to completely recover from this type surgery. I
told him at my age I could probably spare six months, but a year was really
stretching it. Anyway, some things can be rushed, and other things can't,
and I'm just going to have to get my head - and body - around that.
That's about it in a nutshell. Don
3/5/17
Golf? I haven't even asked the question, but I plan to at my next
appointment on April 4. I've had three weeks of physical therapy to get some
additional strength back in my right quadricep. I won't be able to play
until I can be sure that it won't give way on me in my backswing. It's coming
along, but much slower than I'd hoped for. Everything else is good; no
back pain, etc.
1/30/17
The 24th visit went well. The doc was very pleased with my progress, and said to
just keep doing what I'm doing, which is walking. I try to get out at least
twice a day, and I'm walking a mile on one jaunt, and about half that on the
other. I plan to try to gradually increase my distance. The right leg is still
weak in the front thigh area, but seems to be getting better.
I can drive as long as I'm not taking any narcotics for pain, which I haven't
for almost two weeks. I'm having very little discomfort. I see him again on
February 28. Don
1/15/17
I'm doing pretty well. My surgery was Wednesday, and the doc was very pleased
with how everything went. I wound up with two grafts, two rods, four screws, and
he cleaned out some stenosis and arthritis, as well as removed some spurs. I
came home yesterday and am fairly mobile. My pain level is fairly low, so I'm
able to be pretty comfortable. I see the surgeon again on the 24th.