I mean, I'm still in my old brace. We drove the 55 miles one way to the orthotics place (just one the perks when you live out in the middle of nowhere and have that fantastic scenery to drive through!) and got there and "Tom" told me that the brace had not arrived in the mail. Bummer!
But such a nice man. I told him my problems with the Aspen Collar, how it doesn't support me occipitally, and he went in the back room, I could hear grinding and sewing machine and he came back, he'd put a rounded firm foam pad under the foam rubber pad in the back at just the right place, it's attached by Velcro in case I end up not liking it, and he also replaced the worn out velcro tab that keeps the thing on.
I LOVE it. On the way home, I was able to fall asleep but not painfully. As I've written before, in the car or in a chair, my head now naturally rotates backward putting the weight of the skull even more on the occipital area and that puts me into a deep, painful sleep.
But with the customized brace, I slept on the way home in a normal sleep. It was wonderful and seemed so unusual after so many months...in fact, a year, of having it the other way.
I'll need to go back next week or something to get the new Marlin collar. I've really come to be more accepting of the brace now that I know I won't be having the fusion, at least for quite awhile. I wear it much more now.
I saw a purple crocus about to open yesterday in the front flower bed. I wish I could get down there and get out the dead stalks and leaves from last year's plants. I am thinking of getting my rolling desk chair out there and then using long handled "loppers" to cut those things loose, then use my "reacher grabber" tool to pick them up and put them into a light bucket to take to the compost heap. If I could do it normally, it'd only be a 15 minute job!
blessings abound
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Trips to town...
Look something like this!
Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood, Stonehenge at Maryhill (built in 1929 as a memorial to WWI soldiers).
New brace, slow walk, good dog
Tomorrow I go for my new Marlin neck brace. I'm psyched! Since the fusion is off for awhile, I have to accept that the brace is going to be the norm for me and be happy with that. Today, I wore my old one a lot here at home ( I've been wearing it always in the truck and only occasionally at home). I've been feeling really puny for several days and today was no exception. But the collar did seem to help.
I feel in a catch-22...when I sit down, my legs and back hurt and buzz and are more than uncomfortable. The right occipital area on the back of my head starts into stabbing pain. If I'm up, walking or doing stuff, it's all hurting some, but is also contributing to more pain when I do sit down again. And I feel so painfully weak. Thankfully, though, the meds help with some things.
I just got back from a SLOOOOWWWW walk, my normal pace. I mean, I walk SLOW! But I also notice that walking deliberately (boy, did I have a hard, hard time spelling that word! Finally had to use spell checker and me an editor once! diberately, dilbatrly, deberately....geesh!), it is a work out to some extent. You don't have any forward momentum to push you along, so every step is like starting anew, every step up is like starting from a standstill.
I learned the results of my thyroid ultrasound were very normal today. YAY!
Today I really noticed the smell of the pines and the wet earth while I was out with the Good Dog Quincy. The snow is mostly gone. I realized that snow doesn't really have a smell. Pinecones and sap and needles and little green grass and wet earth do. That's when I know Spring is definitely coming. The weatherman yesterday said we have seen our last snow of the year. I hope he's right. My little deer path is becoming more and more user-friendly, for I roll little rocks and branches from the path with my feet every once in awhile. It's the perfect length of walk for me and a place I know I'll be using a lot. What a gift! I know, I know, I've said that before!
Hundreds of crocuses are coming up! We bought this place end of March last year and every few weeks showed evidence of all the bulbs that the previous owner had planted. Irises, lilies, hyacinth, daffodils, tulips, gladiolas, on and on...blossoming blessings all spring, summer, fall. The owner had told us when we moved in on April 1st (we were greeted by profuse daffodils!) that we had just missed the crocuses. I figured she meant a few...I had no idea there would be so many, but the little green, spikey leaves poking their way up through the wet, cold ground tells me that this is going to be quite a show!
Today was about 60 degrees. My mother sent me a box of things that she'd put together for Christmas and never got around to sending it, then thought she'd send it for my birthday and that passed, so I got it today. What a delight! And one thing was a shirt that belonged to my late stepfather, it's a large, comfy cotton shirt, long sleeves, button up, with lots of hunting dogs on it. I love it! Perfect weight for this time of year. For hiking slowly through the woods with a little black-mutt-dog by my side.
I feel in a catch-22...when I sit down, my legs and back hurt and buzz and are more than uncomfortable. The right occipital area on the back of my head starts into stabbing pain. If I'm up, walking or doing stuff, it's all hurting some, but is also contributing to more pain when I do sit down again. And I feel so painfully weak. Thankfully, though, the meds help with some things.
I just got back from a SLOOOOWWWW walk, my normal pace. I mean, I walk SLOW! But I also notice that walking deliberately (boy, did I have a hard, hard time spelling that word! Finally had to use spell checker and me an editor once! diberately, dilbatrly, deberately....geesh!), it is a work out to some extent. You don't have any forward momentum to push you along, so every step is like starting anew, every step up is like starting from a standstill.
I learned the results of my thyroid ultrasound were very normal today. YAY!
Today I really noticed the smell of the pines and the wet earth while I was out with the Good Dog Quincy. The snow is mostly gone. I realized that snow doesn't really have a smell. Pinecones and sap and needles and little green grass and wet earth do. That's when I know Spring is definitely coming. The weatherman yesterday said we have seen our last snow of the year. I hope he's right. My little deer path is becoming more and more user-friendly, for I roll little rocks and branches from the path with my feet every once in awhile. It's the perfect length of walk for me and a place I know I'll be using a lot. What a gift! I know, I know, I've said that before!
Hundreds of crocuses are coming up! We bought this place end of March last year and every few weeks showed evidence of all the bulbs that the previous owner had planted. Irises, lilies, hyacinth, daffodils, tulips, gladiolas, on and on...blossoming blessings all spring, summer, fall. The owner had told us when we moved in on April 1st (we were greeted by profuse daffodils!) that we had just missed the crocuses. I figured she meant a few...I had no idea there would be so many, but the little green, spikey leaves poking their way up through the wet, cold ground tells me that this is going to be quite a show!
Today was about 60 degrees. My mother sent me a box of things that she'd put together for Christmas and never got around to sending it, then thought she'd send it for my birthday and that passed, so I got it today. What a delight! And one thing was a shirt that belonged to my late stepfather, it's a large, comfy cotton shirt, long sleeves, button up, with lots of hunting dogs on it. I love it! Perfect weight for this time of year. For hiking slowly through the woods with a little black-mutt-dog by my side.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
My OR report
I received my OR report today from my cord detethering surgery last November.
My surgeon wrote my Pre-operative Diagnosis:
"Tethered cord syndrome with elongation (53.3 mm) and downward displacement of the brainstem in association with low-lying cerebellar tonsils (3 mm tonsillar herniation); post-traumatic craniocervical instability with incompletely fixed cranial settling and posterior dislocation of the occipital condyles following a C1 Jefferson fracture (2004)"
The post-operative diagnosis states, ""Same: ultrathin dura with L3-4 and L4-5 ectasias."
[I looked up "ectasia" and it means "distention, dilation or expansion."]
I can't explain it because I sure didn't know what this would feel like before this journey I'm on, but it's really a GOOD feeling knowing exactly what was found and is known after world-class experts have performed surgery on you and taken the time and care to evaluate all the imaging done. After so many years of being shined on, often by well-meaning doctors, who really didn't know the first thing about how badly I was really injured. It seemed like they just couldn't believe anyone could be injured badly if they were walking and talking! Maybe I'm an anomaly, but I don't think so.
Anyway, to have on paper, in black ink, exactly what was seen in the best imaging anywhere (much of this was discovered while under invasive cervical traction while at the same time, CT scans were being taken), that feels pretty darn good. Odd as that may seem.
My surgeon wrote my Pre-operative Diagnosis:
"Tethered cord syndrome with elongation (53.3 mm) and downward displacement of the brainstem in association with low-lying cerebellar tonsils (3 mm tonsillar herniation); post-traumatic craniocervical instability with incompletely fixed cranial settling and posterior dislocation of the occipital condyles following a C1 Jefferson fracture (2004)"
The post-operative diagnosis states, ""Same: ultrathin dura with L3-4 and L4-5 ectasias."
[I looked up "ectasia" and it means "distention, dilation or expansion."]
I can't explain it because I sure didn't know what this would feel like before this journey I'm on, but it's really a GOOD feeling knowing exactly what was found and is known after world-class experts have performed surgery on you and taken the time and care to evaluate all the imaging done. After so many years of being shined on, often by well-meaning doctors, who really didn't know the first thing about how badly I was really injured. It seemed like they just couldn't believe anyone could be injured badly if they were walking and talking! Maybe I'm an anomaly, but I don't think so.
Anyway, to have on paper, in black ink, exactly what was seen in the best imaging anywhere (much of this was discovered while under invasive cervical traction while at the same time, CT scans were being taken), that feels pretty darn good. Odd as that may seem.
Friday, February 22, 2008
American Beauty
Here she is, the lovely doe who was visiting our backyard a couple of days ago, accompanied by her entourage of last year's twins. What a beauty she is!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Ultra sound today
I had my thyroid ultrasound today and it went well. The technician was much better than the one who had done the US before. She just had me lie flat on the table and didn't hyperextend my neck at all. The man who had done the US 18 months ago in CA had my shoulders up on pillows and extended my head downward and back and even crushed my windpipe enough to shut off my air. This didn't happen at all.
She asked me today what had happened to me so I told her the story briefly of having a 4 place fracture of the C1 and my skull having dislocated from my Cspine. She said that recently they have had two patients in that little hospital (and it's small, really small!) with the dislocated skull. One was a man who fell from a ladder and one was a woman who had been beaten. She remarked how amazing that was since that injury is so rare.
Recently, I talked with a waitress in town whose 32 year old son's head was run over by a tractor, fracturing his skull base. He is home with her now, wearing an Aspen Collar like I was wearing when she approached me in the restaurant. I told her to watch for brain injury and brought a book I have on it to her to borrow and read.
Awesome weather today. We aren't getting to see much of the eclipse due to clouds. This town is known as one of the optimum places to view lunar eclipses in North America.
I have the photos now of the deer and will post one here soon, I promise.
God bless, y'all.
She asked me today what had happened to me so I told her the story briefly of having a 4 place fracture of the C1 and my skull having dislocated from my Cspine. She said that recently they have had two patients in that little hospital (and it's small, really small!) with the dislocated skull. One was a man who fell from a ladder and one was a woman who had been beaten. She remarked how amazing that was since that injury is so rare.
Recently, I talked with a waitress in town whose 32 year old son's head was run over by a tractor, fracturing his skull base. He is home with her now, wearing an Aspen Collar like I was wearing when she approached me in the restaurant. I told her to watch for brain injury and brought a book I have on it to her to borrow and read.
Awesome weather today. We aren't getting to see much of the eclipse due to clouds. This town is known as one of the optimum places to view lunar eclipses in North America.
I have the photos now of the deer and will post one here soon, I promise.
God bless, y'all.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Deer caught in sunlight
Right now, there is a small band of deer grazing on fallen acorns on the bank right above our house, about 40 feet away. I got out the camera with the long lens and took some photos. When they come back, I'll post a few here. It's a gloriously sunny day here and I intend to make myself a latte and go sit on the Adirondack chairs (sitting on one, feet up on the other) in the sun on the patch of bare ground on the front lawn and read some of my book. It's an interesting saga of Oregon Trail pioneers called All Together in One Place. It moves as slow as the wheels of the ox-pulled wagons, but the writer is surprisingly gifted in how she has put herself into the place of the main character, Mazy, who has been ripped from her beloved farm in Wisconsin to follow her adventure-seeking husband, Jeremy.
I'm in very bad shape today. Must be the walking and all of it has accumulated. I had no wrenching experiences or falls. I haven't really been lifting or even going overboard on housework. All of my tethered cord symptoms are back in full flare. A strong feeling of "neuro" in my feet, legs extremely weak, brain not working well and pain in my lower back. I've upped the pain meds slightly. And taking it easy on the front lawn with a blanket to keep me warm sounds like a good plan. Besides, the Vitamin D from the sun is so good for the bones.
I know I'm feeling bad when my husband offers to help me build a small set of shelves for the bathroom and I decline!
Today, I am 56 years young. My mother tells me I was born during a raging New Hampshire blizzard. I also made my entrance into this beautiful world on my half-brother's 9th birthday.
I feel no need for celebrations or cake or presents. My husband already purchased three items for my birthday which I picked out last week. My mother has called, a few friends have emailed their birthday greetings...I'm good!
Now, I'm going to warm up that espresso machine and go watch that little band of deer. What birthday gifts I have!
I'm in very bad shape today. Must be the walking and all of it has accumulated. I had no wrenching experiences or falls. I haven't really been lifting or even going overboard on housework. All of my tethered cord symptoms are back in full flare. A strong feeling of "neuro" in my feet, legs extremely weak, brain not working well and pain in my lower back. I've upped the pain meds slightly. And taking it easy on the front lawn with a blanket to keep me warm sounds like a good plan. Besides, the Vitamin D from the sun is so good for the bones.
I know I'm feeling bad when my husband offers to help me build a small set of shelves for the bathroom and I decline!
Today, I am 56 years young. My mother tells me I was born during a raging New Hampshire blizzard. I also made my entrance into this beautiful world on my half-brother's 9th birthday.
I feel no need for celebrations or cake or presents. My husband already purchased three items for my birthday which I picked out last week. My mother has called, a few friends have emailed their birthday greetings...I'm good!
Now, I'm going to warm up that espresso machine and go watch that little band of deer. What birthday gifts I have!
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