When we last heard from our hero, he was about to snag an MRI.
It has already been determined that someone, probably a properly trained professional, is going to slice open his elbow and untangle some nerves so he can go about buttoning buttons properly.
Now, the story gets interesting.
The neurosurgeon takes a gander (not exactly a technical term) at the MRI and says something like, "Holy cow!"
In other words he is just a little concerned because he's found a narrowing in the spinal column, also known as cervical spinal stenosis [yeah, that's what they called it] at C3-C4 and C4-C5 [think neck]. So, the Doc really has his panties in a twist and I'm thinking,"first things first. Let's deal with what we came for in the first place." He sort of agrees with me but insists that I think seriously about the neck thing. Monday morning (march 31) rolls around and it's up to Mercy Hospital at 6:00am for a 7:00am surgery. We'd done all of the preliminary stuff (paperwork, x-rays, ekg, etc. on Friday). I am visited beforehand by virtually everyone who will participate in the procedure. The last one is the Doc. "Have you thought about what we talked about?" He says.
"Yeah, I'm still thinking." Says me.
"Good!" You gotta meet this guy he has such a way with words.
So everything goes well and I'm outta the O/R and recovery in time for lunch. I don't know if it's surgery or the anesthesia that make me hungry. On my left elbow is a bandage that is only slightly larger than what we put on a kid's owy. Boy! I'm not going to get much sympathy. It ends up I get none because nobody notices until June 4, when my sister, Janet says, "When did you have your elbow operated on?"
But I digress...
I suffered no ill effects from the surgery and went back to the Doc the following morning (April Fools Day) for the post-op visit. Of course he asks again and I sandbag some more. A week later, we do the same thing. I don't bother to tell that I'm fairly much in agreement that something needs to be done, because by this time I've done just a little research. I'm just not in as big a hurry as he is because I have a really full schedule on my calendar until the end of June. [that's a whole 'nother story that I could have been blogging about for the last two years.]
this looks like a pretty good place to start from next time... later
The saga continues. I hope I live long enough to read the final chapter.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't be a problem.
ReplyDeleteJust remember that a new drama starts somewhere every day.
Besides you already know the outcome.
When I get done with this little saga, I may have to tell the story of the "Old Ham Primate," "Knet the Merlinder," the "Brighton Pensioner" and how Bulletin Boards won't die.
I'm not sure that I'm up to this!
ReplyDelete