Hello everybody.  Sandy and I have been tied up lately with some church activities and services but also with things relating to our health and going to doctor appointments.  My typing has slowed down considerably, maybe to 30 words per minute, so I am not as apt to sit down and type a message as I once was.  I purchased this mac over 4 years ago with the idea in mind of using the voice recognition  built in program.  So it is time to start spending more time with it than straight typing.

First, about Sandy.

She has, as of August 30th,  been going every day to an infectious disease clinic for daily I V antibiotics.  She has a PICC, pronounced as pick, which they use as they do for dialysis and cancer patients.  The daily procedure will last until the end of September or till mid October.  Her finger, as many of you know, got infected with a cyst which was removed but never healed.  She will be going every day, 7 days a week, for four to six weeks.  It takes about 30 minutes for the antibiotics to be injected through the PICC.  The PICC, since it is always there, makes it easier to plug the I V in for the antibiotics to flow.  Please pray this works.  Otherwise, it will require surgery and the scraping of the bone and if nothing else works, the removal of her finger tip.

Now about me.

I know it has gotten old over the years for you to hear about my back and spinal surgeries but once again, the pain forced me into the doctor’s office for x-rays and another MRI to see what was wrong with my lower back.  Yes, it was just last October I had my second neck surgery on my spine.

Wednesday of this week, September 5, we went to a spinal surgeon to discuss my options.  I have not been able to walk normally, as you probably recall, for about 5 years and I have used a walking cane for that long whenever I was outdoors or going to church.  Now I am using a walker.  I hate having people from church helping put the walker in and out of the car whenever going to church but I have no choice now.  My walking is much better balanced with the walker so that is a good thing.  No one minds helping, of course, and even our pastor comes and gets us a couple of times a week.  He is very cautious with both of us when it comes to getting in and out of the car.  Those in similar circumstances know how fear plays a big part in a possible fall and further spinal injury so that just adds to the anxiety.  My lower back has worsened considerably over the past 5 years.

I was saying we went to the spinal surgeon this week.  He patiently explained the x-rays and MRI readings and went over my options.  To fix everything, I would need two rods, one on either side of  my spine covering two thirds of my spine, several nerves put back into place, multiple vertebras fused up most of my back, some fused front and back of the spine, and several disks rebuilt and realigned   It would be an 8 hour surgery and I’d be in the hospital a week.  I would be home for several weeks and then 6 weeks of physical therapy.  The risk of it not working much is very high, in fact, he said I would be fortunate to achieve 70 percent successful repair on my spine.  The Chances of infection are very high and frankly, the longer we talked, the more he talked about additional surgery the rest of my life with restricted movement.  I drag my left foot, called drop foot, and he said there is no guarantee that will go away with, or without, surgery.  He didn’t say it, but even I was smart enough to figure out that I might not even make it through the surgery.  Frankly, I am more frightened of the surgery than living with perpetual back pain but I fortunately have a pastor now who has lived through all these fears with his kidney implant of a year ago and somehow, that gives me comfort.  I am still afraid of going through events of pain because it is unbelievable pain when I have it, as I did for three weeks until the last couple of days.  In short, I am not having the surgery but I will try natural remedies, not to mention prayer, in dealing with the physical aspects I’ll be facing.  Your prayers, once again, will be appreciated for Sandy and I both.

To be honest, I am more upset about this whole thing than I have described.  I am concerned about Sandy’s situation as well.  Add all that up and fear can easily creep into your thoughts.

I was sitting in a church service a few weeks ago when a strange thought entered my mind.  I suddenly said to myself, “I wonder what the Lord would have to do to break me again.  If you know me personally, you are aware of many things I have faced in my life.  My last neck surgery, for example, cracked me spiritually like a hard boiled egg.  Once I recovered from that surgery, things seemed to improve but some of the things over the past two or three years that have happened, you wouldn’t believe.  Now, I am seated in church and thinking that I may be spiritually harden and that the Lord needs to deal with me in a way that gets my attention.  Well, He has it now.

Phil.




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