All Set for Friday - I think!

[Guest guest]

Dear Cam & Group,

Well, yesterday was a busy & fruitful day for us. We went to the

final pre-op appointment at Dr. Akbarnia's office, had all our

questions answered in great detail and with great paitence. We met

another fellow who will also be in the O.R. and says I will see him

every day on rounds. His name is Dr. Varma and he will be in charge

of ordering all my routine meds, as well. He seemed very thoughtful,

thorough and a good listener. He seemed to be very much in tune with

how well I know my own body, its problems and responses to meds.

(After all, I have been living in this carcass for 62 years, and he

was just meeting me for the first time. This was a refreshing change

from the many junior fellows I have met over the years, who were born

with a God complex and poor communication skills.) The three doctors,

Akbarnia,Bess and Varma went over the surgical plan in detail and

told Don that they would be sending periodic reports to the surgery

waiting room for him, so as to not have him in the dark so many

hours. Don & I were very satisfied with that appointment.

The actual procedure(s) will take 8 to 10 hrs, maybe even 12, they

said yesterday. The plan is that first they do the XLIF, taking out

the damaged disk and inserting an interbody cage thru the left side.

They evaluate how much lordosis that gives me, then open the back, do

one or two small osteotomies at L1, L2 and evaluate to determine if

they need to do a larger one in the area of the previous fusion (L-3

to L5.), remove old hardware and replace, extending the fusion to L1-

L5. I'm really glad I get to sleep thru all this!

Then, we were off to the hospital (Scripps, La Jolla) for pre-

registration and all of that is now taken care of. We went to 4 West

and looked at the rooms and we are seriously considering asking for a

private room, as all rooms are small (the semi-privates are the same

size as the privates)and the visitor furniture designed to make

visitors feel like they don't want to stay long!( We would have to

pay the difference, but I have had some really bad experiences with

the semi-private business over the years. I find it hard to want to

risk the repeat of a roomate who is mentally deranged, srceaming and

throwing bedpans, etc. Tends to color your thinking just a bit.)

We also saw my knee surgeon and he was happy with the progress my

right knee had made. I am so glad that I had it taken care of, prior

to the back business. I also had 2 trigger finger releases done in

July, and my right hand is now strong and painfree. So, a new

backbone and I'll be set for a happy and healthy life!

Obvoiusly, I won't be posting for a while, so best wishes to all of

you on the site, whether in the decision making mode, waiting out

those long pre-op days, healing or getting on with your lives and

helping others thru this site. Eileen