Free

Sunday all packed up ready to go and waiting on a blood test. Hope I can leave. Comms with Fi not working my home phone has shat itself it’s VoIP and the phone part is old so it’s not surprising Fi has no mobile which makes it hard.

My numbness is going though my left hand still doesn’t work as well as I would like. Lots of practice required but both hands are steadily improving.

Trying to type on a real keyboard is a bit of a challenge. I say that cause I am home. Yay. A big thanks to Tina for the lift.

A bigger thanks to the nursing staff at 7SW and ICU for the superb care.

Created: 05/Feb/2012

Stuck in

Well I thought I was going to be leaving hospital today, but I have to stay till Sunday as my wound has misbehaved

Care at the Royal Melbourne is superb can’t speak highly enough.

The gory bits Awake Intubation. 7 hour surgery 30 centimeter wound

Created: 04/Feb/2012

Bring on tomorrow

It is the night before surgery. I have spent the day getting ready, visiting with people from work, rehashing what my surgery will be, listening patiently to others experiences, fielding lots of calls and well wishers. And all of this has made me feel both humble and loved, so many people in so many ways have shown they care, I am quite touched. From my friend Carol who offered to make me Gefilte fish to my friend Rob who said Hajolat ayyey which I eventually figured out was Dothraki for be strong always. Brilliant.

Thanks to everyone and all your kind thoughts.

So I am calm (well relatively) and ready again relatively.

Bring on tomorrow!

Created: 30/Jan/2012

Cervico Thoracic Osteotomy

The name of the rose

And for those like myself, who have to know all the geeky gory details I read this What I am hoping is there is video I can watch afterward. Otherwise I might miss all the fun.

Created: 29/Jan/2012

Location

Well right this second I am still not quite at hospital but I will be soon, baring sudden delays.

Location Royal Melbourne Hospital City Campus Grattan St
Vistiors Yes Please
Op Date Tuesday 31/Jan/2012

Created: 27/Jan/2012

The first panic

I went off to buy pajamas, seems I need these for hospital. So there I was standing in Myer considering some mad coloured jim jams. Why must nightwear all be in such leery colours, is it to make you close your eyes and sleep? I mean red and blue pinstrips or paisley, anyway I was settling on the paisley. And as I am standing there I was getting all anxious. Now I know I don’t normally wear jamas but really the choice between paisley and strips was causing anxiety.
Not Paisley
And then of course the penny dropped. PJs mean hospital, and that is where the operation will happen and that is why suddenly the choice between leery and horribly was making me anxious. So first panic out of the way. But there is still a week to go so what will I be like by operation day? A mess?

PS I turns out the jamas a really some sort of bastard check

Created: 24/Jan/2012

Major Surgery

Operation breakback

Well that’s not what my operation is called, it has some complicated Latin name that went in one ear and bounced around inside my skull for a little while before exiting as painlessly and leaving as little impression as when it came.
What I am having is an operation to correct a spinal deformity caused by arthritis. Basically my neck gets broken between C5 & C6 my spine realigned and rods put in my back to bold the whole thing together whist I heal up. To add extra points of interest there is a risk of spinal damage and to mitigate against this the process is to waken me part way through the operation so that I can move toes and fingers. All of this has been explained to me in some detail, but I wonder are here more questions I want to know the answer too and truth to tell I don’t know. To that end I am keeping the blog of the operation and what it might be like. It might not answer my questions but it may well answer other peoples

I am getting ready to have surgery on the 31st of January. So far that is still far enough away that I am not nervous though I expect that a time will come when I crap my pants. Hopefully only metaphorically.

After some debate I have decided not to tell my parents until afterward, as I fear that they will worry excessively and that at their age (mid 80s) this is not a good thing. So do me a favor if this blog and you and my parents intersect in an arc then just keep mum until after the day.

So far I have meet the surgeon Mr Peter Turner and been to a pre-admission clinic where a team of people each asked me the same questions and wrote down the same answers, though it seems each focusing on their specialty. Surgery nursing anesthesia etc.

So now its assembling the things I require for hospital and waiting for things to start.

Getting there

So how does one get to the decision to let someone break you neck and go yeah I could have me a piece of that. Well it was not a quick process. I have a specialist for my arthritis Dr Laurie Clemens and I see each other every six months or so. I have Ankylosing spondylitis which in my case has caused my spine to flex forward giving me a pronounced hump to my back.

The big effect from this is that I walk along looking at the pavement and peoples shoes. And in many social situations i have to either sit down to talk with people or back away so I can get an angle to look up at them.

So then how did I get to the decision cause that’s the point is it not. So about 3 years ago Dr Clemens suggested I consider an operation and I sort of went, “yeah maybe” and did noting. But the seed was planted, and I began to think what that might mean. Initially I had hoped that an operation could improve my neck mobility as my head rotation is really small. About 5 degrees each way. This is a major inconvenience as it makes it unsafe to drive and so I don’t. And not driving is a major inconvenience in this car centric world. And I hoped that the spinal correction could could improve my head uprightness. My head tilts to one side, not alarmingly so but it definitely does and really who wants a permenatly tilted head.

So at my next visit to Dr Clemens I got a reference to Mr Turner and finally after more prevarication on my part I went to see him.

My first impression was of a person I quite liked and from there trusted. He quickly explained what the operation was and could do, rather than what I had hoped it could do for me. Basically that was that my forward flexion could be improved though how much would depend on what correction could be achieved on the day of surgery. Basically what change my spinal cord could withstand/allow. As to correcting the tilt of my head, the more complex the spinal correction the more risky. So that kind of worked for me as I am a programer and therefore risk averse.

So I thought on that and visited with Mr Turner a couple of times over 8 months or so and during that time I thought through the risk reward, what I wanted and all of the variables that go into this type of decision. Obviously all this cogitation resulted in me deciding to go ahead with the op. Looking backward I can’t say exactly what tipped me into the yes column just that I have ended up here.

Created: 22/Jan/2012

Inside Glimpse

A montage of X-rays of my spine. I had some cooler CAT scan pics but I took those off to the hospital for a pre admission clinic.

Created: 22/Jan/2012