Glad you’re feeling so much better; thank You Jesus!

> On Nov 28, 2017, at 4:08 PM, Phil Scovell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> I have not posted for awhile due to a couple of things. First, I upgraded my mac to the latest operating system, called High Sierra, and Apple fiddled with the email text editor to the point a blind person can’t use it to write and spell check and correct mistakes. They will fix it but probably not until another release comes out. So, I am using my own text editing program, coping the text to a new email message, and saving it to be sent to the various mailing lists I am still on. Also, when I first began trying to type, it was slow going. It took a couple of three weeks of therapy before my hands would work for typing. I am using 4 levels of therapy putty. I am still on the second level of strength and after fifteen minutes of needing it and pulling at the putty, or clay like substance, my hands are wore out. Typing has proved to be the best therapy so far so I try and keep my typing going. Most of you already know that, from the belt down, I have lived with leg pain and aching for about four years. I did not think it had anything to do with the spine in my neck. Four or five days after being home from my three days in the hospital, I realized my legs no longer hurt. The path of my upper spine as be altered due to the repairs on my vertebras and discs so my walking has changed. My legs are not strong but I exercises and walk to improve their strength so getting around the house is no problem. I can even go, how be it slowly, up and down the basement steps occasionally. The only problem I still have is that my lower back still aches due, they say, to arthritis in the spine. That is a separate issue and I already had surgery nearly 4 years ago on it twice. I also drag my left foot, called drop foot, but not as badly as before the surgery. As I said, due to the change in my spine, I walk differently so I am learning to walk again. I use a walking can when going to church or a doctor’s appointment. I believe I may arrive at the point I no longer will need that walking cane. That is my prayer anyway. Thanks for all your prayers. Post surgery was the most frightening time of my life. My hands were worse upon awakening. I couldn’t blow my nose or scratch an itch or feed myself so my kids did such things for me. I had to awaken people at night if I awakened in need of a bathroom which was nothing more than a plastic bottle to pee in. Sorry, but that’s how it had to be. The first week, I would being sleeping on the couch in the living room and having to pee after awakening in the middle of the night, I used a thick heavy stick to pound on the wall between our living room and our bedroom. The dogs would hear the pounding and start barking. That go Sandy awake and she would come and help me. I could stand but not walk for a few days but eventually, I used a walker getting to the bathroom. Sandy would pull the walker behind her and lead me to the bathroom door. I used grab bars to take the next four steps to the toilet. Eventually, the strength came to my legs and I could do it on my own. It was a humbling, and embarrassing experience. I was so disoriented for several days due to the Anastasia, I felt like I was in several different rooms and unable to comprehend exactly where I was even in my own living room where I knew where everything was. It was weird. I’ve said it before but this experience was worst than going blind at age twelve. My first week of visiting therapists and other specialists was very disheartening because I could not do half of what they showed me. The next week was night and day difference. I felt strength coming back and I started doing things on my own. The other problem was the brace I had to wear for about three and a half weeks. It was hard to eat, plus, I couldn’t feel well enough to use silverware on my own to feed myself. It took three people helping me from the wheelchair into the car of my daughter, Gretchen, because I could not make any of my limbs work normally. I was closer to a vegetable than I ever want to be again. Yes, I was scared spitless and my family can tell you I wasn’t a very good patient. They had to do everything for me and they lost a lot of sleep. They stayed with me all the time in the hospital, too, so I was never alone, thank God. One night, I awakened, and cried out to the Lord in my thoughts for mercy. His voice came through loud and clear, “Hundreds of people are praying for you.” I could feel the truth of that statement. I sure thank you all for your prayers. My hands are better now than they were at the beginning of the summer. Some mild numbness and tingling but improving all the time. I would say they are 75 to 80 percent of normal right now. Another miracle? I had absolutely zero pain from the surgery except for a tightness in my shoulders from the extra work they discovered I needed once in surgery. The surgery was about five hours long I am told. I could not keep track of time for almost a month. I would stop talking in the middle of a sentence because my mind would fuzz out and I’d forget what I was saying. When I say I was frightened, that’s what I mean. Well, I will say it again; thank you for praying. I have a ways to go but at least I’m back in church now and don’t need anything other than my walking cane when outside the house. Phil. 
> 	
> 			
> [log in to unmask]