The Real Deal

The surgeon's office called yesterday and gave us some times and dates so now we feel like it's official and that the surgery really will happen. It is scheduled to start on the 14^th at 7:30 AM and we have to be at the hospital at 5:30. Back in the old days…you would have been there overnight, having checked in on the previous day. We have to be at Enloe Pre Admission this Thursday at 10 AM for some additional lab work. Then we have an appointment to see the doctor, my surgeon, on the 9^th for a final consultation. His office will also be sending us additional information via the post office. It's been a long time coming!

An odd thing I noticed; as the date for surgery draws closer, I find myself picking out old racing souvenir t-shirts to wear. Yesterday I was wearing the shirt from the Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon in Phoenix that I completed in 2007? I think I'm being positive…I will be racewalking again!

Getting Closer

Life goes on. I've had my morning fun with Boo the Cat and made sure that I didn't bend too fast or anything foolish like that. Which I did yesterday and turned it into a very bad day! Apparently the best way to start the morning is to make no sudden moves. No bending. No stooping. Move slowly; like an old man. OK, it's not fun but it does save on the early morning pain. No wonder the old guys like it! But what is disturbing to me is the fact that no matter which way I move or how slowly, I can feel the pain just waiting for me to make a mistake. It's just a dull ache right now; a sort of tension in my right hip and leg. I know, absolutely, that if I make the wrong move, the pain will descend on me like an angry bear! So I sit…carefully.

And I wait. It's just 3 weeks till the day of my surgery. A surgery I'm so looking forward to! I'm even entertaining thoughts of racing again. OK, maybe not, but I can dream. I still subscribe to a couple of running magazines just because they are so uplifting to read. Although, I have never been a runner; I've always been a racewalker, but there aren't any good racewalking magazines so I make do with the next best thing. It's all about the race anyway. Not a race with others, but a race with yourself. That's what I've always loved about the marathons and half marathons; you're all alone in that crowd. It's all about your mind and your body. That's your competition…and the running magazines capture that feeling quite well.

Progress

How very nice! I'm having one of those 'It's a Miracle' mornings and the pain ranges from non-existent to minor. I have no idea as to why this happens every few weeks, but I do know that it's an illusion. I'm certainly not calling the doctor and cancelling the surgery. A year ago I might have considered it, but I've had these rare days come and go so often that I'm pretty much immune to the dreams of a real miracle. This is just a break in the action and I'm going to enjoy it for what it is.

On a secondary subject; my recent PVP surgery – after calling the doctor yesterday, I've been cut free of my second catheter now and all is well. My wounds are healing and I'm looking forward to my next surgery in less than a month. Yes, looking forward to it! It's been 18 months, more or less, of failed therapies and broken dreams to get to this point.

I will be donating my first of two units of blood next Monday and then again on the following Monday. That would be the 29th and just a little over two weeks from my surgery date…

The Good News

The good news is…the surgery is now scheduled for the 14^th of July. I have a real date that I can put on my calendar and count down the days.

Am I nervous? Yes, a little bit, but I do have the advantage of past medical training and I do know exactly what will be happening during this particular surgery. I even have prior experience with the same surgery, a laminectomy/foraminotomy/spinal fusion. As a Navy Hospital Corpsman on an orthopedic ward, I worked for a neurosurgeon and I took care of fusion patients. But that was close to 50 years ago and the procedure is much better today than it was back then. 50 years ago, some doctors would not even attempt a fusion like this. They only had wire to work with, plus some bone fragments from the patient's own hip. Now they have titanium rods and screws and polyaryletheretherketone cages to hold the biological bone growth material in place. High tech indeed!

Also, I have been educating myself as much as I can about the procedures. The current wisdom says that a well informed patient is less fearful and will have better results from the surgery. So I read and then I read some more. I have also looked at some of the videos that are available on-line. Those are hard to take at first viewing; after all, you are looking at a very large incision in the patients back and abdomen, with exposed bone, blood and lots of stainless steel hardware being used in some 'innovative' ways. The video I was watching was of a laminectomy being done in New Zealand and it was very graphic. But, I will view them again, just to be certain I know what will be happening.

As for the results, those will be up to me. Again, current wisdom says that the patient must take an active role in their own recovery and that means walking, walking and more walking. Starting the day after surgery, you have to be on your feet and moving. Pain must be secondary and must not interfere with your progress. Pain meds will be prescribed and only the stupid would refuse them for the lame reason that they don't want to appear to be weak in some way.

OK, it's easy to write this stuff today; what will I be saying the day before the surgery and the weeks after? Time will tell.

 

Plans

My, how my life has changed over the past 5 years. The 'golden' years of my retirement. I really don't think this current 'life' is what I had in mind when I decided to retire. In fact, I'm sure it isn't. I had this idyllic vision of care-free days at home; and plenty of racing or race training. At least one marathon a year and two of them if I had time. I had a list of marathons that I was going to enter. There would be lots of exciting weekend travel for us during the racing season. I had joined the local racing club and had met some local racers. I was going to be fit forever…or until the day I died. None of my plans were about 'winning'. They were only about 'doing'. And I was going to enjoy each day with plenty of mind expanding reading and conversation. I was going to hang out at local coffee houses after my morning workouts and read the newspapers. I had visions of meeting others with the same lifestyle and interesting conversations would ensue. I was going to expand my own version of creativity with all sorts of art classes and even more exposure to art and artists. That was the plan.

OK, this post is not supposed to be about 'poor little me', it's only about change. I fully intend to do something different if I can't return to racewalking after the surgery. I will not be sitting around and moaning about my bad luck. That is
the plan!