Wow Phil, sorry to hear all this!  It certainly is traumatic for sure.  Take
care and get well soon.  88, Barb  
-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Phil Scovell
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 8:41 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
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/