What do old marrieds do for fun?  LOL, does the phrase "Rock me gently" mean 
anything?  Grin.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "April Stahl" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 9:12 AM
Subject: Re: About Me


> Phil, that's quite a journey you've taken.  Dependence is not fun, nor is 
> back pain.  I can definitely relate to the back pain and the numbness in 
> the hands.  Sometimes I get concerned that some of mine is not from 
> diabetic neuropathy but from degenerative changes I am experiencing.  My M 
> R I's show the degenerative changes, and I have to use a wheelchair for 
> long distances and sometimes short ones.  The shortness of breath causec 
> by the severe pain is enough to panic a person.  Wow, brother, I can 
> really relate.  Dave and I will surely keep you in prayer.  I've been off 
> for over a month with severe back pain, a bladder infection, and possibly 
> a kidney problem.  My potassium reach 8.5 and one point and is now back to 
> the normal 5.0 or less.  I still fell tired and the back still hurts a 
> bunch.  I'm supposed to go back to work this Friday, but I'm afraid it 
> will run me back down again, so we'll see wht happens.  I'm only 57 and 
> the thought of retirement really bothers me.  Dave would love for me to 
> stay home, but I am strugling with giving up my job.  I have a reduced 
> schedule now but still feel like I am contributing.  Now if you want to, 
> you can please pray for me that God will give me peace about the final 
> decision.  I'm really scared to just quit.
>
> Anyway, this is supposed to be about you.  Please forgive me for rambling, 
> but I can truly identify with your strugles, and thank God you are 
> recovering.  Our little fellowship wouldn't be the same without you.
>
> April
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 8:41 PM
> Subject: About Me
>
>
>>I haven't been around lately and thought some might like to know
>> why.  If you don't wish to know, please delete now.  The day
>> before Christmas, I was shopping with my daughter and all was
>> fine.  Some of you know I have been having some tingling and
>> numbness in my hands over the past year but otherwise, I was fine
>> and my blood sugar has stayed in the normal range without
>> medications and just dieting and exercise.  The day or two after
>> Christmas, I couldn't walk without assistance and my hands were
>> about 50 percent numb.  I could not read or write Braille or feel
>> the keys on the keyboard well enough to type emails.  Needless to
>> say, I was big time freaked out.  For a year and a half, about
>> ever 3 to 4 months, just when I would be getting over a lower back
>> pain episode, it would come back.  Once it was so bad, I had to go
>> to the emergency room via ambulance because I literally could not
>> move.  I got over that in about a week or so but then came the big
>> one at Christmas.  I went to our family doctor, he sent me to the
>> emergency room, and they sent me home after telling me I need an
>> MRI, as if I didn't already guess as much, but after a week of
>> nobody getting the MRI scheduled, I entered the emergency room
>> once again.  They tried, and failed, God bless them, a lumbar
>> puncture.  It isn't as painful as it sounds, trying to shove a
>> needle into your spinal cord for drawing fluid, but the
>> psychological effect is beyond measure mentally and emotionally.
>> No, I didn't cry as they tried killing me but I didn't win the
>> patient of the month award either.  Plus, I deliberately skipped
>> giving the doctor a tip.  Anyhow, that didn't work.  Believe it or
>> not, they finally did two MRI tests and when the right neurologist
>> was called in, he figured out what was wrong.  I was so weak below
>> the waist, I couldn't walk without help and my hands, as I said,
>> were like two useless numb clubs at the end of my arms.  No pain.
>> No fooling.  I had no pain any place.  amazing.  It felt as if my
>> whole body, however, was slowly getting weaker and weaker and I
>> honestly figured I might be leaving this world for the next.  To
>> say I was scared would be an understatement.  The last week I was
>> at home, I refused going to my office where my computer and new
>> ham gear was because I honestly thought I was never going to get
>> to use any of it again.  I was admitted on January the fourteenth
>> for spinal stenosis surgery.  I received to surgeries for the
>> price of one because they had to open the front of my throat to
>> put in a scope to see what they were doing when putting a titanium
>> plate and screws to fuse two vertebra together.  No, I can't feel
>> it.  Then, once that was done, I was turned over and the back of
>> my neck was cut open to remove a disk only to be replaced with a
>> synthetic bone mass material to lessen the compression it was
>> creating on my entire spinal system.  They waited to do the
>> surgery because, they said, I was in no physical danger.  If they
>> could have only read my mind.  I acted normal, though, so no one
>> but my family new how spooked I was.  I'm not kidding.  I thought
>> I was a goner.  Not being able to tel that you are holding a
>> tissue in your hand to blow your nose is right down scary as a
>> blind person and I don't give a damn what the NFB says about it.
>> For my sighted friends reading this, I'll explain about that some
>> other time.  By the way, I have been blind for 44 years and I
>> still haven't adjusted to it.  I mean, I have never recommended
>> anybody go blind because it is so fun that they should try it for
>> themselves.  You know what I mean, Vern?  Anyhow, I had to have a
>> heart stress test but a chemical test since I couldn't stand to
>> walk on the treadmill.  That was an interesting experience and not
>> as bad as I thought but as I said, I already thought I had one
>> foot in the grave and the other on a banana peal in the first
>> place so the heart stress test was more than a little scary.  My
>> heart is fine, fortunately, so on to the surgery two days later.
>> The surgery was scheduled for 7 hours but it went so well, it
>> lasted 5 hours.  I had been wearing a dumb neck brace for two
>> weeks already and another week after surgery.  He had said I
>> would wear it for six more weeks but after my appointment Monday,
>> he took the neck brace off, told me to be careful, and sent me
>> home.  I am using a walker about 50 percent of the time now and
>> also having physical therapy at home a couple of times each week.
>> My hands have returned to about where they were before this all
>> began and the doctor said to be patient concerning my hands
>> because it will take awhile.  As you can see, I am typing, but
>> slower than normal but thank God I am typing.  Writing is very
>> important to me.  I sit around watching TV with an egg shaped
>> vibrator in my hand to stimulate nerve development, which drives
>> me crazy, but I am more than just a little thankful for the
>> progress made so far.  When I awakened in the recovery room, My
>> lower back pain was totally gone and I could feel the strength
>> already in my body from the waist down.  Boy, was I thankful for
>> that.  I came home after only two and a half days.  I think I'll
>> write and ask our insurance company for a partial refund since I
>> came home sooner.  I asked the doctor what I did to cause the
>> whole thing because I've never been in an accident or anything
>> that would have caused it.  He said I did nothing but rather it
>> was a degenerative type think that started showing itself a year
>> and a half ago until it suddenly popped out full blown.  Weird.  I
>> have a six inch scar incision down the back of my neck and about a
>> 2 inch incision on the front right of my neck which my
>> grandchildren think are cool.  No, they don't hurt now but did a
>> little for two days in the hospital.  The staples are all taken
>> out already, too.  No, that didn't hurt either when they removed
>> them Monday.  Did I learn anything?  Yes.  Mostly importantly I
>> learned just how dad blamed important your family is.  My
>> daughter, she is 30 years old, stayed every night with me in the
>> hospital, which was more helpful than you can imagine, and
>> especially the two different nights I couldn't sleep at all the
>> whole night.  Nurses are very helpful but it ain't like having
>> your own family with you.  Coming home was interesting.  I
>> couldn't shower by myself so my son had to help me.  I sat on a
>> chair in the shower stall and shaving was a trip, let me tell you.
>> Plus, I had a water proof neck brace I had to wear and the other
>> brace I had to wear even when sleeping.  I felt like a turtle.  I
>> probably smelled like one, too, by this stage of the game.  My son
>> put up various grab bars around the bathroom and down the four
>> stairs leading down into my office built on the side of the house.
>> My 2 year old grandson, when I use the walker, likes to hold on to
>> the front to guide me through the house.  He is a better driver
>> than I am, too.  My wife waited on me hand and foot at home at
>> first and believe me, when you cannot take care of yourself as a
>> blind person, it really does a whammy on your personal pride.  My
>> wife is blind, too, of course, and works full time from a computer
>> station at home for the same hospital I was in but she was always
>> there for me.  We just had our thirty-seventh wedding anniversary
>> a week before the surgery.  We'll have to celebrate later when I'm
>> more back to normal, whatever normal is.  I'm glad I married the
>> right woman; that's for sure.  By the way, I had to be fed for a
>> couple of three days unless the food was something I could pick up
>> but even that was difficult.  For a couple of days after the
>> surgery, my wife even had to put the pills in my mouth and the
>> glass of water in both hands because I couldn't feel when the
>> medication was in my hands.  Talk about humbling.  Did I learn
>> anything?  I now know what it feels like to think you are going to
>> die and it is no picnic and I even know where my picnic is going
>> to be, if you get my drift.  Plus, I thought I was stronger than
>> that but believe me, when you can't walk without falling, which I
>> did a couple of times, and as a blind person, you can't feel what
>> you are touching, all sorts of weird thoughts pass through your
>> thoughts and emotions.  I know some of you reading this don't know
>> me so I'm sorry for the dribble but I just thoughts some might
>> like to hear what has been happening the last month or so in my
>> life.
>>
>> There is a website my neurosurgeon recommended which has a lot of
>> textual information about this surgery but for those of you
>> receiving this who can see, it has video, too, and shows the
>> entire surgical procedure I had.  Click on the link below if
>> interested.  Otherwise, live long and prosper, as Spoc used to
>> say.  Is he still alive?
>>
>> Phil.
>>
>> http://www.spineuniverse.com/videos/spinal-stenosis/
>> 
>>
>>
>