Everything still looks good. I’m waiting to hear from my doctor to see if she sees anything that would cause the pain I’ve been having. I just called her office and we will see what she has to say.

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the x-ray pictures:

There are screws going into his vertebrae and rods are attached to the screws. All this hardware holds the vertebrae in place while they fuse and heal. The hardware will stay in there even after the spine is stabilized. We got to see photos of the surgery, but just on the little LCD on Dr. Kebaish’s camera (a Nikon D70, lucky dog!).

All is good. The surgeon did say he was concerned about me returning to work in 3 weeks. So he moved my return to work until after he sees me on April 6th. So my return to work will most likely be April 10th. I must say I am relieved that I don’t have to go back in 3 weeks. I really did not know how I could do that. I am still pretty weak. I can go out walking and do some things but man it still just hits me like a ton of bricks and then I have to lay down. I would imagine it’s from the 2 infections that I have had and not being able to do a lot the last few weeks because of that. Now we just need to figure out our finances.

The doctor was pleased with the way things are healing. He said the most important thing would be to make sure I keep my posture good for the first 3 months. He said that will be the time my body decides how it is going to hold its self. They worry is about the disc above the surgery during that time because of the muscles being used different and the pressure that would be above because of the restructure. He said the way I am walking and holding my back is really good and should heal nicely.

As far as therapy goes he said that will be on me. He does not want a physical therapist pushing and pulling on my back. He told me he wants me to start swimming do more walking and do some leg exercices. He also said I can start to bend and twist a little, just use common sense for what to do.

I am feeling much better now. My family doctor gave me meds for the UTI and followed up with a maintenance dose for six weeks so it does not return for a third time. The surgeon told me to start getting more salt to help with the dizziness. He said my hemoglobin was a little low but it’s coming back up. So that may add to some of the dizziness and feeling cold. So that said I am hoping that I will stay feeling as good as I have the last 3 days.

I am also allowed to drive now. So I drove home from the doctors yesterday but that was about all I could do so Kimberley will still be stuck driving us home from Maryland for the most part. Still it’s nice to know that I can go out to the store if I need to.

I think that about covers it. Like I said Kimberley will be updating with the X-rays later. So if you want to see all that hardware they put in me, tune back in later.

Yesterday, we were doubtful he’d even be able to make the trip. He was still nauseated and dizzy, just felt terrible. So, making it out here is a real triumph, especially with him feeling so much better, too. We think iron was the culprit when it came to Howie still feeling so queasy. Between the UTI’s, antibiotics to combat the UTI’s, oxycodone withdrawal, and this, he’s had a nasty few weeks.

Our family doctor said that iron supplements can make some people feel sick, and she advised him Monday to skip taking it Tuesday and see if he felt better. That was his intention, but because the iron tablet was in with his regular vitamins in the daily pill organizer (yeah, we’re old), he forgot and took it with the rest.

Tomorrow we’re heading into Baltimore for Howie’s follow-up appointment with Dr. Kebaish. He’ll have new x-rays taken. We’re anxious to see those and we’re going to ask for a set to take back to Ohio for his records there. We’ll be sure to post pictures of them. I hope to get a picture of Howie and Dr. Kebaish together, too. We are so grateful to Dr. Kebaish and his staff.

I felt like I had the flu last week most likely from withdrawal symptoms from getting off the pain killers. I felt better on Friday only to wake up with another UTI on Saturday followed by flu like symptoms from the UTI Saturday and Sunday. I went to my family doctor that morning and got the UTI taken care of. That night I was having chest pain which I decided was just muscle. I almost went to the ER twice this weekend but decided after talking to the doctor on call that I could wait unless it worsened he felt it was not heart related and the rest was just from the UTI. What a fun week. My surgeon called on Saturday and he thinks the reason I have been dizzy is because I am anemic. So he wanted me to go have my hemoglobin checked. So I did that today and should find out tomorrow if I am anemic. I just want to feel better.

The back seems to be doing fine if I could get the rest figured out. My family doctor took chest X-Rays because of some tightness I’ve been having. That got me my first look at the screws they put in my back. Pretty wild stuff. They go clear into the spine they look like they are about two inch’s long. Well you be the judge here is a link to a picture of someone else that has the hardware.. Anyway maybe after this week I’ll get all this crap taken care of and be able to get down to some physical therapy.

He weighs the same in both pictures: 245 pounds. The change is so dramatic! His pants fit him more loosely in the waist now, too. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Dr. Kebaish and team!

We’ve stuck to the walking regimen and I’ll update the blog soon with an entry regarding the walking shoes we bought.

No, he’s not quite ready for that just yet. *Sigh* But I got your attention, didn’t I?

I need to back up a little bit. Howie’s discharge papers from Johns Hopkins said a nurse would come to the (Dea’s) house to remove his staples. Then we were told by the home health company that the visiting physical therapist was going to remove them. We had to postpone the PT visits when Howie was on bedrest last week, and then we ended up leaving Maryland ahead of schedule. The clincher came when the home health department from the local hospital told Howie they didn’t want to open an account for him if they were only sending someone out one time before we left. So what were we supposed to do?

Well, we decided to just eat the co-pay and go to the ER at Frederick Memorial Hospital on Saturday. They got us in pretty quickly. Everyone we encountered there was friendly and it was obviously an efficient ER. It was kind of funny…When the doctor asked how many staples there were, we told him 104 and he kind of rolled his eyes a little and smiled before excusing himself to get another person to assist him. They worked on them together, removing about half of them. The rest, they said, needed 4-5 more days to heal. One of the doctors sent a disposable staple remover home with us, just in case our family doctor didn’t have one.

A few hours later, Howie was feeling chilled to the point he was shivering and his teeth chattered, even with him bundled beneath blankets and trained with a space heater’s glow. He felt hot to the touch and, sure enough, he had a fever. It was 102°, past the 101° limit his discharge papers specified. The acetaminophen he’s been taking with the oxycodone artificially lowered his temp, so he’d not had a fever when we were in the ER that morning.

I called and spoke to the attending physician at Hopkins’ ortho-spine unit, who advised us to head into a doctor’s office or ER since it sounded like Howie had a urinary tract infection (UTI). Howie’s having not one, but two Foley catheters while in the hospital raised his risk for a UTI.

So, back we went to Frederick’s that evening, co-pays be hanged! Once again, they got us in quickly. One employee, probably working a 12-hour shift, recognized us from earlier. Just rent us out a room here, folks. Sure enough, the test strip was “markedly positive”. He’s been on Cipro and taking cranberry supplements since Saturday night and feels much better now.

You already know we’re home, so that brings you up to speed on what happened between Bedrest for Bonzo and our trip home.

So, that brings us back to today, when I played doctor with Howie. He was concerned with part of his incision, so he called Dr. Kebaish’s office and left a message. I took close-up pictures of the remaining stapled areas and e-mailed them to him. When he returned our call this afternoon, he said it looked good and the staples could come out. Howie told him our family doctor was going to remove the rest on Friday, but Dr. Kebaish said they needed to come out before then. When Howie told him we had the tool and that I’d watched the removal of the others, we were given the go ahead for me to do the job.

That handy-dandy skin staple remover works great. There were a few ouchy moments, especially since some were well past due for coming out. But out they are now and everything can heal up without the irritation of foreign objects.

Howie’s still not able to sit up in a chair for long before he is in enough pain he wants to lie down. His back and hips hurt him when he sits for long. He’s tried a couple different upright upholstered chairs of ours plus the recliner, but he can’t sit in any of them for long before he has to lie back down. He did go for a brief walk today, though.

It’s kind of ironic…Before, was okay sitting, but could not walk without pain. Now he can walk without pain, but it hurts to sit. The latter’s bound to get better as he heals. Right now, Dr. Kebaish wants him to take it easy these next few weeks so his bones can heal well. He isn’t to do any PT until after his follow-up appointment on February 9.

Nancy was all smiles when she saw how tall Howie is again, just couldn’t stop smiling. Me neither! Well, I’m going to snooze — just wanted to say we made it back safe and sound. We’ll be home until mid-February, when we drive back to Maryland briefly for Howie’s follow-up appointment. We’ll be staying with Jill (another DG friend) and her husband for a few days.

Dr. Kebaish called this evening just to check on Howie and ask how he’s doing. He wants him to take it easy for the next few weeks and make sure the bones fuse and heal well. It’s sure been a blessing having a surgeon not only highly competent, but also highly compassionate. We appreciate you, Dr. Kebaish!

Our family doctor is going to remove the remaining staples on Friday afternoon. Howie won’t have any PT until after we get back to Ohio after his February 9th follow-up appointment in Baltimore.

Diet-wise, we made poor choices all day today. We’d both been wanting a cheeseburger, so we got McDonald’s for lunch on our way home from Maryland. Dinner was pizza. Tomorrow is…BACK ON PLAN. I need to go to the grocery store and get good foods!

He wants Howie to stay on his back in bed until Noon tomorrow, and then take it easy. He wants to be sure Howie doesn’t have any lightheadedness before he starts physical therapy; that will now likely be postponed until early next week. So, the great news is, Dr. Kebaish thinks the dural tear will heal up on its own.

He also said Howie could have a refill on the oxycodone. The bad news is, I have to drive to his office to pick up a paper prescription for it since they won’t phone it into a pharmacy. Is this a Maryland thing, or do all states require such nonsense as making a patient’s family member drive a nearly 3-hour commute for a prescription? Aaaargh. I can feel the brown paper bag forming around me as I anticipate another commute to and from Johns Hopkins.

But, again, the good news is Howie likely won’t need a blood patch. AND he should get his staples — all 104 of ‘em — out early next week. He’s so ready for that! I mean, look at these things! Think that’s bad? Howie asked the surgeon if he’d taken any photos during the surgery, and if he could see them. Dr. Kebaish said he did take some digitals and would show us. Now that it’s over, I wouldn’t mind seeing them, myself. Don’t think I’ll post ‘em here, though. Those staples may have already done some of you in. Need some smelling salts? LOL

Okay, in lighter news, I’ve done an update on my blog having to do with the doglets.