If you’re anything like me and you’ve experienced a great deal of pain in your neck for a long period of time, eventually you’ll try anything to alleviate that pain. I was growing more and more uncomfortable for as long ago as 15 to 20 years. I tried several different methods, such as chiropractic, physical therapy, massage, acupuncture and various epidurals and shots. All of which worked for a limited amount of time. From an earlier trauma to my neck I had developed spinal stenosis and bulging discs. Many people with this condition don’t experience any symptoms at all and live with it.  I tried and was unable to tolerate the discomfort with all of the methods I mentioned above, including pain medication. What really freaked me out was growing so weak that I could hardly move.

After several opinions from neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons, I was left with no option but to surgically correct the issue. Spinal stenosis can and does in many cases totally obstruct your spinal cord. My condition had progressed to the point of severe obstruction.

I chose a fabulous doctor. He is Dr.Frank Eismont at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

I had my surgery on November 29 and it went just as expected, and all issues were corrected by the doctor. Now the healing has to take place. Yuk!

I knew that recovery would take between eight and 12 weeks. As a polio survivor, I was aware that it was not going to be a party, since I had been there before several times during my life and did not want to go back again.

I will walk you through my procedure step by step and try to answer any questions you may have should you or someone you love face this medical condition.

First of all, let me tell you that even though I had severe pain, I would have sooner chopped off my left pinky before agreeing to surgery.  After the dust settled, I stopped lying to myself and I accepted that the issue was not going away. I had no other option but to acquiesce.

Let’s start with Sunday night November 28^th, the night before:

Fast forward five days to December 3^rd:

There is no place like home

I am so grateful that I am home, with the support of my beloved Neil, and I am slowly climbing the ladder to recovery. It’s never been in my nature to be ungrateful,  and whine about any problems that I faced along the way, but going through this trauma has made me all the more grateful. It’ amazing how many tiny things in life we take for granted, until you no longer have those tiny comforts. Let me give you an example, the cervical laminectomy and fusion that I just had of C2 through T1 will totally immobilize me from the waist up during 8 to 12 weeks of healing. A simple thing like brushing your teeth by yourself, combing your hair, looking peripherally, or up and down, raising your arms above your armpit, or seeing what the heck you’re eating for breakfast and aiming correctly to get ii into your mouth becomes a gigantic hurdle. When you clear that hurdle without tripping, you really feel like a winner. Everything is relative, but for me the only option is winning, than laughing about the struggle.