WellPhil,
God mustn't be through with you yet--or ready to take you home, or
whatever else you may call it. I'm just grateful you are still with us. My
wife and I have been praying for you and your family since we first heard
about this infirmity, for lack of a better word.
May the Lord continue to heal and strengthen you, and continually how to
live in His presence.
Vinny
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 6:41 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/
>
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