Saturday, January 28, 2006

Nothin' much new

Just a quick update before my husband starts harrassing me about not posting! He has another diskogram this coming Friday on the one disk that is in question. The one odd side effect from the previous one (and one that he's not complaining about but does question) is his back feels a little better. The surgeon has no clue why either.

He is Michigan right now working on a hardware update for CVS. They weren't well prepared for it so he's spending some long hours at their warehouse. He's due back Monday evening.

Dayna heads to NC this week after a trip to WA last week where she had to deal with some snow trying to get to one store. She should soon have enough FF miles to get preferred seating and some upgrades.

She's going to go see her friend, Crystal, in NM next month. Crystal is expecting her first baby (she's 32). Dayna really wants to be with her as they were very close when we all lived out there. She even lived with us for awhile so we're like second parents to her. Crystal has a special bond with Deidra that I know Dayna would love to be able to reciprocate with but, unfortunately, the distance won't allow that.

Friday, January 20, 2006

California & Texas

Health seems to be the running theme of our and my folks' lives right now. My dad had more biopsies and surgeries last Friday on six different spots. I am continually amazed that he can tolerate the general anethesia as often as he goes through this at his age.

Mom and I were in Denair when he had his surgery. We debated going but decided it was very important for Mom to go see her sister. Julie had made all the arrangements with different family members to be with Daddy while we were gone.

We almost turned around in Fresno as Daddy had an anxiety attack again. He had to go in for an EKG Thurs. morning (the day we left) to verify his heart could stand the surgery. He had driven Marie's car there as we had their car. He came out, couldn't find it and then spent a half hour looking for it. He got the security people to help but they didn't know what they were looking for so finally called Marie who promptly called her mom. Julie came right down and got to the house as Daddy was coming home. He had finally figured out which vehicle he was in but was in a total state of panic by the time he got there. He eventually calmed down with Julie there and all went well the rest of the weekend.

We had a nice visit up north though Mom and I were sick the whole time. I ended up in urgent care for a sinus infection & laryngitis - mainly to get on antibiotics to keep from infecting all the frail, elderly people there. It's so hard for me to go to CA as I usually spend my entire time taking them to doctor's appointments and I see their health deteriorating each visit. I know it's just a matter of time and that's difficult to contemplate.

Richard had an appt. w/the surgeon Wed. The surgeon wants a portion of the diskogram repeated as the results were ambiguous and inconsistent with the MRI & CT scan. His regular physician is out of town so he won't be able to schedule that until next week. The surgeon told him if the next diskogram confirms the MRI then he would be a candidate for a disk replacement or fusion. So ... more waiting.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

New Blog Heading

OK. So Dianna does not like it, but I think it's neat! What does everyone else think?

By the way, this was taken during our vacation this summer when we stopped for lunch at a rest area between Albuquerque and Cuba, NM.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Today's Dr. Visit

I know there are several of you who are following my back situation so I thought I would catch you up on today's visit. You recall I had a discogram last week. They injected dye into my disc's and then I had CT scan. Today I had the followup with the Dr. He said the CT shows an "annular tear" in the disc and has refered me to a surgeon for a surgical opinion.

Apparently the discogram was a real challenge for him. He said I was on the table for over an hour though the normal time is more like 20 minutes. He said my anatomy is such that he just could not get a needle into the bottom disc properly. He said this also rules out a possible procedure that involves inserting a wire and creating scar tissue to repair the disc. He said that it is not unusual for men to be put together this way but it is never a problem with women.

Anyway, I now have an appointment with a surgeon scheduled for next Wed. I will let you all know what happens.

Dianna left for California this morning. Both of us are feeling better from our colds, but we are not over them yet.

That's all the news that fit to print.

Sunday, January 8, 2006

California visit

I will be flying out to visit my parents this Wednesday. I have to work my visits around Dayna's traveling schedule so it's shorter than normal. She is racking up some nice frequent flyer miles!

Daddy's remaining sibling passed away last week, he is scheduled for more skin cancer surgery this coming Friday and Mom and I had planned on a trip up north on Thursday so he is having a rough time dealing with it all. Julie has planned on taking a couple of days off to be with him but if he wants Mom to stay we will.

Marie, Julie's daughter, has been trying to get into nursing school for several years. She will be taking the entrance exam at Long Beach University this coming Friday so will be cramming all week. She is living with Mom and Dad so I'm not sure what will happen if she is accepted at LB. It would be a horrible drive for her through LA's infamous traffic if she decides to stay.

I wish I knew what the future holds for Richard though I'm pretty sure it will involve some sort of surgery. Fortunately he has a nice benefit at work that will pay 100% of his salary for up to six months while he recuperates if it comes to that.

Tests, Wordpress and still sickies

Please forgive the long time in posting. I decided to upgrade Wordpress to the new release and all did not go well. Rather than back it out I did a lot of hacking in the database with SQL until I finally got it all working properly. I'm not sure why the upgrade did not work as it should have, but I've spent enough time messing with it and it works now, so on to other things.

I had the discogram & CT scan on Friday. The discogram was not nearly as bad as I was led to believe. I do remember being awakened during the proceedure but only vaguely, and there was no pain that I can recall. The Dr. had said I might be very sore for up to 3 days, but it is not any worse than my normal continual back pain. I won't know anything about the result until next Wed when I see the Dr.

And on the final front, we both have nasty colds that seem to be hanging on and on. The worst part is the coughing that has kept me awake nights, and the fact that coughing feels like a knife in my back. Sure hope we get past this soon.

Wednesday, January 4, 2006

New Year Sickies

Well, it looks like many in our family have rung in the new year in far less than perfect health. Richard is home today with a bad cold. His coughing has aggravated his back pain, even after taking some cough syrup with codeine.

He goes in Friday morning for his disk-o-gram with a CT scan to follow. The doctor said he will be in pain for two to three days following the procedure due to the pressure of the dye that will be injected.

He has been doing some research and found that the Texas Back Clinic is doing an experimental, FDA approved procedure of replacing the damaged disk instead of fusing it. It's been done in Europe for 17 years.

It looks very promising with people experiencing greater flexibility and less follow-up surgeries than the fusion method. The average age of those who have had it is 35. We're not sure if he has any osteoporosis which would automatically preclude him from having the surgery. He will discuss all his options when he goes in for a follow-up visit after Friday's procedures.

We hope and pray everyone is staying or getting healthy and will have a joyful and fulfilling new year.