Charles posted this update: Back home and recuperating with home health care. It's been four weeks and four days since the complex surgery on my neck (front and back) that required more than nine hours.
I credit two doctors for saving my life and/or being the difference between my becoming a quadriplegic. My cardiologist, Dr. AJ Hashmi, happened by my hospital room early in my hospitalization and divined to recommend that I be given the MRI that detected the critical pressure on my spine, and subsequently Dr. Andrew Simpson of the Texas Back Institute in Dallas (also recommended by Dr. Hashmi) planned and performed the delicate, difficult and time-taking surgery that turned things around for me.
I credit two doctors for saving my life and/or being the difference between my becoming a quadriplegic. My cardiologist, Dr. AJ Hashmi, happened by my hospital room early in my hospitalization and divined to recommend that I be given the MRI that detected the critical pressure on my spine, and subsequently Dr. Andrew Simpson of the Texas Back Institute in Dallas (also recommended by Dr. Hashmi) planned and performed the delicate, difficult and time-taking surgery that turned things around for me.
I will continue to have to wear a bulky collar/brace around my brace for several more weeks, but that is a welcome irritant, given the circumstances.
A physical therapist will come by our house today (the first of two visits a week) and an "occupational" therapist will come by twice later this week, which is good. The goal is to get my legs working again so I can get up and around independently with the help of a walker, and eventually with a cane. And also to get my hands and fingers working again. The good news is my thumb, index finger and middle finger of both hands appear to be almost back to normal, which gives me encouragement that I will be able to touch type again, rather than using only the index finger of each hand.
On the other hand, my wife Barbara, is having to spend several hours a day helping to transfer me in and out of the wheelchair, into and out of bed, to and from the kitchen table, into and out of the recliner, etc. (She says that goes with the territory.)
A physical therapist will come by our house today (the first of two visits a week) and an "occupational" therapist will come by twice later this week, which is good. The goal is to get my legs working again so I can get up and around independently with the help of a walker, and eventually with a cane. And also to get my hands and fingers working again. The good news is my thumb, index finger and middle finger of both hands appear to be almost back to normal, which gives me encouragement that I will be able to touch type again, rather than using only the index finger of each hand.
On the other hand, my wife Barbara, is having to spend several hours a day helping to transfer me in and out of the wheelchair, into and out of bed, to and from the kitchen table, into and out of the recliner, etc. (She says that goes with the territory.)
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