Archive 6

This has been another relaxing week with a little chaos. I'm starting to wonder what I'm going to talk about here since the symptoms are either not bad or not here. It feels so good to get out and be active.

I finally got behind the wheel and drove the truck. I think Eric was getting nervous since he left Sunday morning at 1 AM for Louisiana and I had to drive the truck home. I drove a few times this weekend and I only have problems with backing up because it's not easy to turn my head to look behind me, time to use the mirrors. I should be ok driving; I don't plan on going to far anyway.

Eric and I got a lot of the Christmas shopping done; now I get to wrap everything and finish up with some little stuff. It was so fun to get out and not to worry about being too sore the next day to do anything. I usually spent Mondays on the couch recovering from the weekend, but now I don't have to worry about feeling sore. Eric and I wandered the malls and stores and even went to see Monsters Inc.; it was ok, very cute. I gave Eric plenty of hints, but he gave me little help for what to get him.

I'm getting very anxious to be home for Christmas, the only bad part is the cats. We are leaving the cats here and have a friend that will stop by every few day to check on them. I will miss them, but I know that she will take care of them for us. It's just lucky for us that she has to drive by here on her way to work. I'll worry a little about them, but that's normal when I'm away from them. Even with that I can't wait to be home again. I love Montana.

Well, one-month post-op. It's been an easy month, I expected it to be less active. I feel so good and have no regrets about the surgery. I do have a follow-up on December 7th and I only have a few questions for the doctor, but they are just little things. I was in the ER on Saturday night, but it was just for concern over a little dry blood and an icky looking sore. The doctor was very nice about my concern and explained that it was an irritation from the inside stitches or from my hair growing back in that area. It's still a little bloody, dry only, and feels gross; I'll live with it and talk to Dr. W on the 7th. If I get a fever I know where the ER is and I'll get there if I feel I need to go.

It was no fun to drop Eric off Sunday morning, but that's life married to the military. Eric really didn't want to leave since we were in the ER just before the left, but I think the doctor eased a lot of his worry. Eric did take a few shots of the sore and it looked really bad, but I think the camera made it look worse then it actually was.

I'm not too upset about Eric being gone for a month; it will make me actually have to do things for myself. It's nice to be able to drive and it's not as bad on my neck as I thought it would be. Also with Eric gone I can work on my class and then I won't be thinking about it over Christmas.

While Eric and I were shopping we tried a massage at the mall. The kiosk has been there for about six month and it looked interesting. It's a water massage machine, sounds strange; but it was so nice. This machine looks like a regular massage table, but it has a 'dome' that covers all but your head. The 'dome' has a tarp like thing at the bottom with water jets (like the car wash, but smaller) that travel from your toes to your neck. I was very cautious with my neck and only allowed the jets to come to the lower half of my shoulder blades. When I first saw these things I thought it looked like a human car wash now, I'd like to have one at home. Eric and I both have stamp cards for massages and after we have seven 15 minutes massages we get the next one free. I might have that done by the end of the year. It felt really good.

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I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. There was supposed to be a very wet and windy storm here so I had planned to stay home, I did. I talked with family on the net and with Eric.

This was another relaxing week. I like being able to drive and I miss Eric. Eric has called just about everyday. I actually went shopping on Friday, it was about 6 pm, but I still went out.

I'm just about done with the Christmas shopping, mostly little things left. I can't wait to for Christmas, I feel like a little kid again. It'll be so nice to be home with family and away from Washington.

I've been studying my terminology everyday and I'm getting better with them. It's still easy, but then again it's basic terminology. I've been looking on the net for a CPT manual (medical coding system), I'll need it in about a month for the course. I have a coupon where I can get it through the school at a discount, but I'll have to wait until after Christmas to order it. I've been looking at Barnes & Nobel, but they don't stock them. So far the one from the school is the cheapest, they are not a real cheap book and there is a new one every year.

Eric should be home no later then the 20th and I hope we will be on the road on the 21st. I'm still not sure where we will be on Christmas eve and Christmas day, my family doesn't like to make firm plans. I'm hoping that it will just work out.

Well the web update was very short and to the point. I didn’t think it would be worth putting in this journal, so I’ve decided to just do a little update here.

I’ve been feeling very good, the incision is healing nicely and has only one ‘blister’ left. I’ve only had a few headaches and none of the migraine type headaches. It’s been nice to get out and not worry about the ‘recovery’ from doing too much.

I have only a few questions for Dr. Werschkul when I see him on Friday. The big question is about the stiffness and inability to turn my neck all the way in either direction. It’s also stiff to put my chin to my chest. I’m sure that this is just a normal effect of surgery, but you never know. I do hear a little grinding, when I look right and left, at times; being without C-1 is probably the reason for the grinding. I would like to know if I can use my TENS machine on my neck now, that will be a very soothing part of travel to Montana if I can use it now.

Since surgery I have been more active, had more energy, been a lot less moody, had less pain, my symptoms mostly gone and I’ve just felt so much better. The only symptoms I have remaining is a little buzzing in my ears when I lay down, occasional neck spasm, some neck pain and a few little headaches. If these are all that remain of the symptoms that I had before then to me the surgery was a wonderful success.

I have read enough to know that doing things that could injure my neck is not a good choice. I love roller coasters and I’m sure that I’m going to want to ride one someday. If I do I know the consequences. It would be nice to say that I can do anything now that I could do before surgery, but that is not the case. Riding a roller coaster or anything else that could cause neck trauma is not worth the pain that could return.

Being able to drive has given me a freedom that I didn’t even realize I was missing. It’s been a wonderful thought to be able to leave when I want and go where I want. I’m not comfortable being behind the wheel yet, but I’m getting more comfortable everyday.

I thought that scrolling to the update was taking too long and I wanted to organize the site. I hope you all like the changes and I would live to hear any suggestions for content, changes or anything that you would like to hear about Chiari or me. I've wanted to change the site for a while.

This week was much the same as last week, I'm getting a routine down and it feels great. I've been studying every morning and evening and getting lots of housework done that was being neglected. It actually feels rewarding to get housework done, isn't that strange. Eric won't recognize the apartment when he gets home.

I've been giving Taz, our longhaired cat, Shed-X for his shedding. It's working great and is a bit of a diet for him too. Taz is 20 lbs and needs the diet, he's not happy with the taste, but is getting used to it.

I think I'm done with the Christmas shopping. It's amazing that I'm done this early; I usually am stumped on at least one person. This year everything just feel into place, I found things that I hope everyone will love. I think the best part of the holidays this year will be being home.

My first follow-up was on the 7th, all is proceeding well. I think Dr. W needs to receive an award for speedy visits. My appointment was at 2 PM, with the hassle getting on post I left early and had lunch at the PX. I checked in at 1:40 and was seen, examined and sent to schedule a follow-up MRI by 2, I think that's a record. Dr. W reviewed my report form the ER trip last month, did a short neuro check and answered my questions all in this time frame. He was not alarmed by the 'blisters' and was happy with the look of my scar now. I was referred to the MRI building to get my post-op MRI and then I needed to return to schedule an appointment to see Dr. W to review that MRI. I will have my MRI on January 4th and see Dr. W on January 22nd. It's taking almost a month longer because Eric and I are going to Montana later this month and Dr. W is going on leave just after the first of the year. Dr. W did comment that I am recovering better then he expected and that he believes that I'm going to be back to 'normal.' I'm so happy that everything is going so smoothly and I can't wait to start the New Year on such a good footing.