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/