A visit to Spokane for medical appointments doesn't mean there's no fun involved.
I hereby present you with
Spokane: in between appointments.
*Swimming*
All wet:
Elisabeth eyes the pool...
..
.hmmm...that looks fun...should I make a run for it?
*Goofing off*
(Pillow fights, jumping from bed to bed, etc. All activities of which I promptly put an end to
a) because I can be a stick in the mud and
b) because I didn't want to have an extra appointment at the hospital...to get a cast put on someones arm.)
*Sliding*
*Exploring*
[Jennifer says, '
hmmmm, which way to go...']
As for me....
The neurosurgeon (who happens to be Elisabeth's neurosurgeon - the same one who placed her shunt at one day old) took one look at my MRI and was like
'yikers!' Well, he didn't say that exactly (he
is a dignified brain surgeon after all)...but I can guarantee you that is what he was thinking.
We discussed my options and carefully ruled out a disc replacement and a discectomy. Which left me with one last option: an
anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) surgery.
Here's how it will all go down:
A general surgeon will enter through my stomach and carefully push everything aside to get down to my spine (I am
so glad that I will be out cold during all of this). Once reaching my spine, the neurosurgeon will take over, removing most of the damaged disc and replacing it with something that looks like this:
Then they will put me back together and I'll spend a few days enjoying some R&R at the hospital; napping frequently and hopefully reading a book or two.
I am so thrilled that there is a plan in place. Pleased as punch I tell you.
But unfortunately it might not happen right away like I had hoped. Because there are two surgeons involved we need to work around both of their schedules...and the general surgeon is booking 4-6 weeks out. They will call in a few days to give me my actual surgery date, but it seems as though it will be sometime around the beginning of October.
But it's no biggie. I've made it this long - what's another 4-6 weeks? Right?
