Good News, Bad News (again)

Got a phone call last week from Adam K. Seems he didn't forget about the conversation we had back last November.December about pressure washing and staining the Aerie this year. (I did ask his brother, sister-in-law and several nieces to remind him when they were cat sitting early in the summer.) He's been busier than a one armed paper hanger but finally had an open week where the weather looked perfect.

So Adam came out Monday with his ladders and pressure washer. While he cleaned the logs and deck, I drove over to Beaver Mountain in Deposit, NY to pick up two five gallon containers of stain. That took me the better part of the afternoon as it's about 120 miles one way. When I got back, Adam was just wrapping up the gable end of the garage.

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Tuesday Adam started in on the staining while I went south to Cabela's in Hamburg, PA with Joe. This was a long ago planned outing to pick up some fishing equipment to replace broken/lost stuff. I picked Joe up at his home outside of Jersey Shore, PA and we eventually got to Cabela's around 11 AM. (It's a l-o-n-g ride--about 180 miles one way when I stop at Joe's.) We shopped for about two hours and got nearly everything we wanted although I was disappointed in not finding the handgun I was looking for (Springfield XD Mod.2). Not too surprising as it's a new release and hasn't hit all the stores yet.

When I got back to the Aerie around 5 PM, Adam had finsished staining the south side of the house and the bedroom dormer.

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Wednesday I had a doctor's appointment over at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, PA. I was to have a CT scan of my lumbar spine and then meet with a new neurologist. (The doctor who did my surgery in January has moved on to greener(?) pastures. Dr. Reichert and her PA Tim Rogers were very thorough, friendly and informative. I'm almost sorry this may be the last time I see them as the CT scan showed the screws inserted in my lumbar spine were stable and holding their own. There's new bone growth that's typical of a fusion surgery and everything is progressing well. THe small amount of tingling I still have in my right leg is normal and all I need to do is get more exercise to strengthen the thigh muscles. I was given a clean bill of health (from them and as regards the spine) and told I wouldn't have to return.

Terry had I then went over to Horseheads, NY to visit the Verizon store. I am experiencing swift battery power loss in my iPhone 5 (from 100% to 30% overnight) and wanted some answers. (In contrast, Terry may lose 5-10% of her power in the same time despite getting many more emails.) Instead of answers, we walked out having ordered new iPhone 6ses. Mine will get here around the 25th while Terry, who opted for the new rose color scheme, will get her's on the 30th. We also got new plans that are better suited to our usage.

We then Stopped at the Field & Stream store to pick up a couple things Joe and I couldn't find at Cabela's. I had a $25 F&S cash coupon burning a hole in my pocket that I got from purchasing a Henry Golden Boy (in .22LR) last week. We burned through that $25 coupon like a gas soaked rag as I picked up two boxes of .22 ammo, two boxes of Lightfield slugs, a couple of little stuffed toys, and several packs of the rubber skirts I was looking for...although they weren't the red and white that I really wanted. Those rubber skirts go on the Johnson weedless spoons Joe and I got at Cabela's who also did not have the red and white skirts. We're looking for something that's about 50-50 red and white but all I could find was about 10-90 red and white. Maybe they discovered that just a little red worked better than more? Whatever.

When we got home after putting another 180 miles on the Tundra, Adam had finished the north side and the west side of the house. All he has left is the gable end of the garage and the north side of the garage.

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Got the checks from the closing on the Bolt Hole yesterday and were sorely disappointed on several levels:

1. They forgot to collect the $700 for the furniture we left behind despite our having reminded the attorney's office several times and being assured that there would be a note made.
2. They spelled our last name incorrectly on the check. (They used a "V" instead of a "B" in our last name. Lots of people make that mistake but considering they had our name spelled correctly on a dozen or more pieces of paper...well, that's inexcusable.)

We've made phone calls (too late to catch them in the office on Wednesday) and sent emails, but will be making more today. *sigh* Might have to make a drive up there on Friday to get the correct name on a check.
[UPDATE: Our bank accepted the check with the misspelled name, all we had to do was sign it the way it was made out and then with our "real" names. I guess it's now up to the attorney's bank to accept it.]

Adam should finish staining the house today. Then it will be time for the deck. He's leaving Friday night for a week in Peru so, should he not complete the deck, I'll probably be charged with doing that this weekend or so if the weather holds. There's no guarantee that it will be good when he returns and I've got the doctor's word that I'm healing well and in need of exercises that will strengthen my thigh muscles. Going up and down a ladder (necessary to do the rim joists and rails on the outside of the deck) should do the trick.

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Today's my birthday!

Last week I bought the Henry rifle, then it was fishing lures and line, and today I bought a new gas grill. Of course, Terry will be the one using it most as she does 99% of the cooking when she's home. She said it was like "buying me [Terry] a vacuum cleaner for my birthday."

Just a few more days...

...until I go into the hospital to have surgery on my lower back. Can't say I'm not apprehensive about the whole thing. But, it's either get the surgery or live in pain that prevents me from being on my feet for more than an hour at a time.

I may have explained this before but let me do so again. I've been suffering from pain in my lumbar spine for some time. Even before I had my knees replaced, the back has been a problem. Last summer I tripped while working in the woods up at the Bolt Hole and came down hard on my buttocks. The pain persisted through the month of July and August and in early September I went to see my primary care physician about it. He sent me to a neurologist who had some x-rays and an MRI done.

Long story short, my lumbar spine is rife with all sorts of stenosis, arthritis, thin discs and misplaced vertebrae. Nerves are getting pinched, squeezed and irritated on a constant basis but especially when I'm standing/sitting upright.

X-rays show vertbra L4 (or maybe it's L5) sliding forward 1.8 centimeters from where it should be. As the entire vertebra is only about 4 cm thick front to back, that's a little under half way.

The solution, according to the neurosurgeon is to go in there and scrape some of the bone spurs out, remove the (almost non-existant) discs, pull the wayward vertebra back into position, and then use some screws and pins to hold the whole mess in place until new bone can from fusing the vertebrae in place. He said he will definitely be fusing the L5, 4 and 3 vertebrae but may have to include the L2 as well depending upon what he finds when I'm on the table.

Post op, I'll be in the hospital for a couple of days. Long enough to insure there's no infection and that the surgical wound is healing well. Call it three or four days. Then it will be home where I'll be pretty much confined to the first floor for four to six weeks. No heavy lifting. No snow shoveling, No driving.

I'm sure physical therapy (aka PT, aka Pain and Torture) will become part of my routine some where along the line. But when ever, that starts, I'll still be pretty much confined to quarters through February and March.

I'm just hoping that all goes well and the result is a pain free lower spine.I might even be able to enjoy another visit to Disneyland.

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Meanwhile, Terry goes to see the podiatrist tomorrow to find out why she's having persistent pain in her feet.

Getting old is just soooooo much fun!

Weather and Health; Proposed Surgery

We're in the midst of a cold spell which should surprise no one. Last year we had minus 13 degrees on January 3rd when I got frostbite. This year it's not quite as cold with the lows only in the low single digits but still on the upper side of zero. That might change tonight or tomorrow night before the temperatures start to swing upward again. And by upward I mean towards--but not above--32 degrees. At least, we've only got occasional snow flurries/squalls that don't amount to much. Today, for instance we got an inch or less of fine powder.

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Terry's still battling the sinus infection that's been causing her to cough up a lung every couple of hours. The doctor swears it's not the flu--or pneumonia--and has prescribed an antibiotic as well as an inhaler to battle the bud and phlem.

I've still got an occasional cough from a similar infection, but I've made far more progress than Terry has.

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I did go see the surgeon about my back today. (Terry stayed home afraid that if she started coughing at the hospital they might want to keep her.) I got to the hospital over in Sayre about half an hour before my appointment. I checked in and settle down in the waiting area on 3 Blue when my name was called and I was reminded I was supposed to go to radiology on 2 Purple for some lumbar x-rays. "Shouldn't take long. Just let us know when you get back."

Well, they must have been having an after Christmas sale on x-rays as the walk-in radiology lab was swamped with folks. I had to wait for over an hour for my name to be called, but just 10 minutes later I was back upstairs at 3 Blue to see the surgeon. It was only forty-five minutes past my original appointment time. *sigh*

The Doc punched up the x-rays as well as the MRI they had done a few months ago. We reviewed the pinched nature of the spinal cord in the L3, L4, and L5 vertebrae. He pointed out how badly the L4 vertebra was out of position (1.8 cm when I was standing straight and 0.9 cm when I was bent forward. Those pictures went a long way to explaining why my back hurts so badly when I've been standing for any length of time.

As a solution, he recommended using pins and rods to realign and fuse those three vertebrae and a little scraping of the nerve channel and grinding away of bone protrusions. Depending upon what he finds when he's in there, he may have to expend the rods to L2. I'd be in the hospital for 3-4 days and then have 6-8 weeks of recovery at home with physical therapy.

We set a date of January 22 for the surgery and then he sent me off to do the usual pre-admissions stuff: EKG, blood tests, chest x-rays. (The EKG was good as was the blood pressure (140/72) and pulse rate (48).) Blood was drawn painlessly and vials filled for the lab to test. Chest x-rays were done at a different radiology lab on the 3rd floor and took all of 10 minutes.With any luck, the blood and chest x-rays will not reveal anything that might cause the physicians to put things on hold.

I finally got out of the hospital a little after 1:30 PM.