warrenharris.net

I knew exactly what that meant.  Back in 2003, I had neck surgery to clear out some chunks of disc material that were crushing a nerve root at C6/C7.  This was causing my middle finger to go numb.  So now we had a new problem to deal with.  Which complicates  things considerably.  What are the options now?

Behind Curtain # 1:  is a surgical team ready to fix my neck and keep me from losing the use of my right hand.  Yay!
But just a danged minit there, Speedy!  If I let my back wait while they fix my neck and I recover, I could lose the use of my left leg. Right?   It’s already got a permanent cramp in the thigh muscle and tingling going from my knee to my foot on a lot of occasions.  This is indicative of increasing pressure on the nerve causing the numbness on my left side.  Left unattended, I could lose the use of my left leg entirely.

Shit

Behind Curtain # 2: Is an even larger surgical team ready to re-align my spine with a bunch of steel rod and bolts.  Yippee!  Ow!  Yippee!  Ow!…
Not to be the fly in the Margarita or nothin’… But if I do this spinal surgery and let my neck wait, I could lose the use of the fingers on my right hand. Right?  And then how’m ah gonna pick mah nose?  Tell me that!

Shit

Neither option by itself is without it’s, now is it?

So… Behind Curtain #3: is a week of hospitalization and a surgical team reserved to do both surgeries over a span of 4 days.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!    We have a Winner!

What we decided was to do my spine – a 6 hour surgery on Monday and go back in to do my neck on Thursday, giving me a few days to start recovery after the Big Surgery.  This way we don’t even extend the hospital stay.  And if, after a couple of days past the surgery, I feel like I’ve been ridden hard and put up wet, we delay the 2nd surgery a couple of days and extend the overall hospital stay.  Not really a big deal (except maybe to my insurance carrier…)