Thursday, September 27, 2007

News about my surgery

Today, I finally found out that yes, Dr. B at TCI in NY wants me to have the detethering of my spinal cord. He looked at my urodynamics test results and still wants to proceed. So, now I know.

The day before the surgery, I'll have the ICT (invasive cervical traction) which will help the wonderful surgeons there to see how much fusion will benefit me. But the fusion will be down the road in about 4 months. I have to finish up the six months treatment of pamidronate that I'm receiving to enhance the strength of my bones (due to my osteoporosis) first. And when I have the Tethered Cord Surgery (TCS), I need to have a 1-3 month wait before going back for the fusion. I'm suspecting the fusion will be about next Feb. or March.

I'll look for some good websites describing TCS and post them in my favorite links column to the right.

I'm not writing well tonight. I'm in the dead zone, I think. After I got the news of the surgery, I decided to take the dog and go walk across the road again. I really did not go far, but lifting my weak legs up over logs and rocks in the trail, and climbing the slight hill was all it took. I wasn't huffing and puffing, but it felt like my chest was burning. I stopped to sit on a rock and rest several times. I was having a rugged time getting home and boy, my neurological stuff flared up with a vengeance. My hands are painful, my feet hurt, my neck, and I'm so painfully weak all over. I can't seem to think straight. I guess I get the point: I can't go where I went the other day very often. I'll have to give myself a lot more time between walks. And maybe I can't go that far again, I'm not sure. It wasn't far by any stretch of the imagination, but I've learned "far" is a relative term.

The view of our house coming back up the hill though was so pretty. The oaks are turning on the hill behind the house and we are so blessed to be here.

Tomorrow I go to the cancer center to get the IV infusion of pamidronate.

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