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Life Happens!
Dear Readers:
One month ago, I turned in October’s Editorial Message and headed to the hospital to have my worsening, long-term spinal stenosis corrected. The operation was to relieve the pressure on my lumbar spine and improve my walking. As you know, doctors, especially me, wait until there is no other choice before becoming the patient! Every neurosurgeon and back orthopedic surgeon who saw my MRI had the same question: Are you walking? Since walking was worsening, I felt it was time to have something done. I was told that if all went well, I would be in the hospital 2 to 3 days, then continue recovery at home until I could return to work. Apparently, the operation went well, but all did not go well.
As some of you may have heard, when I woke up from the anesthesia, I was unable to feel or move anything below the waist — essentially, I was a paraplegic. An emergency MRI showed the nerves were all intact but just not working. The operative trauma from decompressing the nerves had resulted in loss of function — well, so much for my 2 to 3 days in the hospital!
After a week on the neurosurgical unit, I was transferred to the rehabilitation hospital to learn how to function in my newfound situation. That is an unbelievable place. The staff are dedicated to providing patients with the skills necessary to live as normal as possible with their physical limitations. The physical therapists and occupational therapists who worked with me were amazing. They were as mean as snakes, never taking No for an answer or I’m exhausted as an excuse. They kept telling me there was a good chance the nerves would respond and that I would recover. They insisted that the misery they were inflicting was for my eventual good and that I would thank them later. I wasn’t so sure about that, but I am slowly coming around!
After 3 weeks in the rehabilitation hospital, I have returned home to continue rehabilitation as an outpatient. With having spent a month in hospitals, it is good to be home. I thought that I had escaped the mean therapists but was I ever wrong! It turns out the therapists gave my wife the lists of exercises I should be doing, and she is working me harder than the therapists ever thought about doing! Despite my protests, I am slowly improving. I have some minor function recovery in my legs, where I had none immediately postoperatively. More recovery is expected with time, so the work continues, and I am hoping to return to the office soon.
People have asked me how I have been handling this unexpected disaster in my life. It certainly has been a life-changing event. There are several levels that I am having to face. The first is the mental one: the why-me and woe-is-me response. I believe things happen for a reason; we may not know the reason at the time, but things can work out for the better if we will let them. Besides, there is little reason to worry about something you cannot change. Secondly, in addition to mentally managing the change, I have discovered that obtaining all the necessary equipment to manage my physical limitations is very expensive! Wheelchairs, vehicles to transport the wheelchairs, and other equipment; therapy; medications; and everything related to trying to function become costly, even if you have good insurance. Most importantly, it has become apparent to me that changes in my lifestyle and even work will have to be made to accommodate my new situation.
I am a work in progress. I thank all of you who have sent me your thoughts and prayers as we have begun this new episode in our lives, and I would appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers as we move forward. Until the start of 2019, I am not permitted to travel, so I hope to see everyone at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care Spring in San Antonio, Texas — and I hope to be walking!
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