An off-schedule Post

Happy Anniversary to me.
It was 1 year ago today that I had my back surgery.
It was supposed to be a simple lumbar fusion, like the one I had 25 years ago.
It turned out to be anything but simple.

I try to remember the pain I was in going into surgery, as I try to answer some simple questions.

Would I do it again?  Probably not, if I had known what the complications were going to be, but after addressing the staff infection, my new doctor thinks the bones are now going to fuse.

I don’t.  We’ll see.

After the hospitalization and 8 weeks of antibiotic infusion, I had about 3 weeks of very minor discomfort.  I was feeling good!  Then, about 8/12, right before we were leaving to go to help David and his family move into a new house, I twisted my back, putting me to bed with leg and nerve pain that exceeded any previous pain I’ve had.  It has slowly calmed down, but I’m on pins and needles about the future nerve pain.  Hint – today was a rough day.

Would I advise people to have back surgery?  Simple – avoid until you just can’t take it.  Surgery should be a last resort.

Things I learned in the last year.

1. Facebook is a game changer.  We complain about it, but so many are wired in.  Because my pain was front and center, and I was writing about it like a whiney baby, I heard from hundreds of people – people that 20 years ago would have had no idea what was going on.  I communicated often with people I haven’t seen in 40 years.  It was a joy and a delight and a needed distraction. 
2. Speaking of Facebook…you can’t get rid of adds or see all your friends by copying and pasting anything, especially if it starts off with the words “It worked!”  What is that?  A premonition?  To see your friends – interact with them, hit a “like” on their page and watch what happens.  You’ll see more.  You’ll also see other friends less.  Let the logarithms work.   And as for ads – you are going to see them.  That’s how META makes money.  But, if you don’t like the ads you’re seeing, just hit those three little dots in the upper right-hand corner of the ad and go to work.  It will knock out what you don’t want.  For example, every time I opened Facebook I would get a DirecTV ad first thing.  Same ad, so I finally went in and told them to stop giving me DirectTv ads.  So they did.  They replaced it with something else just as aggravating. 
3. Speaking of DirecTV, did you notice India landed on the moon yesterday?  That call center money must be big.  DirecTV, Caremark pharmacy, and several others I deal with use an Indian call center and I just can’t understand what they’re saying, and I don’t care how well they’ve been trained they usually can’t help me.  I immediately ask for someone in America.  I felt bad about it, but when you’re delirious and someone sounds like they are blowing your name through a pipe, I just can’t. 
4. But the Call Centers aren’t the only ones I can’t make out.  Is everybody using Closed Captioning as much as me? There were many days when I just gave up on the sound, even British programs, well especially British programs, and turned the sound down and just read it.  I don’t like to do this, because I think it lessens the impact and sometimes the print precedes the words.  To make matters worse, my bedroom TV sometimes goes out of sync by 5 seconds or so.  So, just imagine me in bed, in pain, on painkillers, watching this, trying to read the words on a scene that has already ended.    
5. Medically for just a minute, I sure learned a lot about modern medicine.  Modern Medicine is mostly what I call “conveyer belt” service.  You think you are getting personal care, but you usually aren’t.  Some are great, but some are just trying to move you along.  I’m just going to say this:  I must have researched and read 100 articles and easily watched 500 videos over the last year.  YOU MUST TAKE CHARGE AND HAVE THE RIGHT QUESTIONS.  You know how so many commercials start with “ask your doctor about?”  Well, you better.  They don’t seem to mind anymore when you refer to the internet and start a sentence, with “I googled it, and it said grapefruit would help.”  As for asking questions, like “How long before I can go cartwheeling,” don’t think they are going to tell you without asking.  My number one complaint is not what they tell you, but what they don’t.
6. It’s really hard when you go through a year like this, because you miss so much.  This was certainly not the “retirement plan.”  I certainly didn’t want to miss a jazz fest.  There were people that I would’ve normally helped but couldn’t, and some tiny little people that needed my attention.  I did it because I thought it would pay off in the future.  I sure hope so.   If you know me you probably thought “well, he’ll just watch movies,” and I did, but not nearly as many as you would’ve thought.  It’s not that much fun to be drugged and drowsy and it’s hard to concentrate, especially with that hearing problem I was talking about. 
7. Lastly, it’s really hard to go through something like this without someone who has vowed “in sickness and in health.”  I don’t like to need attention, but my wife never blinked, never left her post.  She stood on that wall because I needed her on that wall.  I couldn’t have survived this without her.  Through 3 emergency room visits, and at least 40 doctor appointments.  If you don’t have a spouse like Liz, get one.  Hard to find, but well worth it.

Still recovering in Mississippi, 

Rick