Only one if it has been 8 weeks. Last Saturday, I changed light bulbs around the house in what was truly a landmark event. I finally did something to contribute to the household. I have done a little dish cleaning, picking things up around the house, etc . . . , but this was finally some real dad work. I might change a few more this weekend

I’ve also been walking and since it is Winter, I go to Auchan which is one of our huge Super-Wal-Mart-like stores. If I just walk the hallway in front of cash registers, I estimate that it is more than 1/4 of a mile and less than a 1/2 of a mile one way. I took almost 3 laps yesterday so that is probably around 1 1/2 miles or so. WOW!! That place is huge.

I thought I needed to celebrate the 6 week mark since my surgery. It is hard to believe that it has been that long. One of the things that I’m excited about is I was able to take all of the metal out of my brace and it is much more comfortable to wear. I’m getting pretty tired of that thing, but only 3 more weeks to go.

My recovery is still up and down. I’m mostly functional, but it seems that I still need to rest or the pain starts to build up. I took most of the day Monday to just rest and that helped a ton. Since I was with the kids all weekend, I didn’t rest as much as I needed to. We had a great weekend together, though.

Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement that have helped us make it this far. If I can just stay patient, then I’ll be back to 100% before I know it.

1) Getting up way too early (6:15am) – haven’t done that much in the last month
2) Getting myself and my family out the door for school
3) Trying to jump start my car to no avail in the 20 degree temps
4) Carrying my backpack into the office

UPDATE: I just finished my first 2 hour meeting and I made it through. It is good to be back working again.

I seem to go between “do everything” to “do nothing” as I try to figure out my limits. I’ve been feeling much better over the past few days and I’ve been mostly out of pain. One of the things that they told me would be best for my recovery is to walk. I haven’t been able to do much walking because it is so snowy and icy here. If I were to walk in the neighborhood, I risk blowing my whole back out with a fall. Yesterday, Valerie suggested we take a trip to the mall so that I could walk some. I was feeling good, so that sounded great. We took the boys, ate at the food court and then I was off to walk. I walked to the Post Office at the other end of the mall and realized that I didn’t have enough money. So, I walked back to the other end of the mall where Valerie & the boys were in a toy store. After this lap, I realized that I was still in recovery. Some pain in the legs and some pain in my incision, but overall okay. I then made a second lap back to the post office and after that I was pretty worn out. I was tired and I was starting to have more and more incision pain. My stupid brace just rubs that incision like crazy.

After finishing a few errands and picking up Kirby Ann at pre-school I was pretty much wiped out and in pain. It was officially an “over-do-it” outing.

Today, I’m taking it easy. Valerie took the kids downtown to the Christmas Market for our annual kid’s shopping trip. They will all buy each other presents. I’m sad to miss it, but I know I couldn’t handle it. Tonight we have a Christmas party so I need to rest up.

Last night was Kendall’s School Christmas Concert and I was determined to go. It was snowing/raining/sleeting/etc . . . but I went anyway. It turned out that it stayed above freezing so it was just really wet and messy. I did okay through the hour and a half concert, but I was really tired afterwards. It didn’t hurt terribly, but I think I was just managing pain and discomfort the whole time. I was glad to get out and do something normal.

Today is a day with all the kids home, but I find myself up in the bed. I have to wear my brace anytime I’m out of bed and I can only stand the thing for so long. It puts pressure on my incision so I run out of gas after about an hour or so. Hopefully, I’ll have enough energy to hang out with the kids some today. I’m getting tired of being in the bed.

We’ll see how it goes!

As I read through the first few chapters of Genesis, they talk about how everyone lived to be 800 to 900 years old. This is always amazing to me and I’m not sure it is something I would want. It seems like you would get pretty bored after a few hundred years.

The thing that hit me this time is that their backs held up for that long. If I needed a new disc at 37, how did they all make it to 950? I’m sure they were harder on their back than I have been. I mean they slept on the ground. Can you imagine sleeping on the ground for 900 years. Ouch!! That makes my back hurt.

It is just one more way that the scriptures amaze me.

The main pain that I’m experiencing now is called “distraction pain.” It is because the doctor spread apart (distracted) my vertebrae in order to insert the disc. Even though they only spread them apart 10 milimeters or so above normal, it still has an impact on the nerves. Last night, I woke up with aching in my legs. This is classic distraction pain. Based upon things that I have read, this can last quite a while and show itself in different ways. It can be quite a distraction

It is great to be home. Nine days is a long time to be away from the kids. It was a wonderful reunion.

Now I want to tell you how awesome my wife is!! Here’s a summary of her day:
– Woke up at 6:30am, got dressed and ate breakfast. Then, she brought me breakfast in the room.
– 7:45 – off to find an ATM and get some more Euros
-8:00 – the pharmacy opened and she had to navigate the german pharmacy system to get my medications
-8:30 – returned to the hotel and packed and loaded the entire van. This killed me as I had to watch her lug the huge suitcases. I tried to just pack my own suitcase and it just about killed me.
– Paid the hotel bill, tipped the housekeepers
– found a German post office and mailed a letter
– Drove the entire way home
– Put the kids to bed (one of which has a fever and needed some extra TLC – Kirby Ann)
– Is now unpacking the van and putting things away.

This is just a little insight into what a wonderful wife I have. She has served me so well this week and I don’t think I could have made it without her. Unfortunately, days like today are going to be repeated many times over the course of the next days, weeks and months. I don’t deserve such a wonderful gift from the Lord. I love you sweetheart!!! Please keep her in your prayers as she has the harder road to recovery.

My body confirms that right now. Today we spent a couple of hours at the hosptial meeting with the doctor and our new friend Anita. Anita in an American that works for the doctor and helps International Patients through the process. She has been a big help. Then, we went downtown one last time and had some lunch. After all of that, I was dying. The big problem with being out is that the brace that I wear presses right on my incision. After wearing it for 3 or 4 hours today, my incision was killing me. I’m better now after a nap and no brace for a little while.

Tomorrow, we are headed home. I’m not sure how I will do since I need to wear the brace while riding in the car. That’s going to be 6 or 7 hours so I’m not really looking forward to it. We will take lots of stops and the doctor gave us a prescription for some good pain medication that we will get filled before we leave in the morning.

Pray for Valerie as she isn’t looking forward to the drive. Pray for me that I won’t be in too much pain.

Budapest . . . here we come!!!

After checking out, we went by Burger King and had some lunch. I only had a cheesburger and a diet coke since I hadn’t had any meat for 6 days. We then walked across the street to a drug store and picked up a few things. I wasn’t in too much pain, but in the drug store I started feeling tired and a little lightheaded. So, we headed back to the hotel for a long nap. I’m feeling good now. The pain is minimal and I’m very encouraged!!!

Two more days and we head home!!!

Click the picture to see more of the hospital.

Today has been much better. I’ve been up and around several times and the doctor said that I can leave the hospital TOMORROW!!! The physical therapist has been working with me to show me how to stand up, sit down, walk, etc . . . so that I don’t hurt my back. I have a great back-brace that I have to wear anytime that I’m up for the next 9-12 weeks. It really helps take the pressure off my back. I couldn’t be sitting here typing without it.

I still have some pain, but it is only where the incision is (just below my belly button about 6 inches). Basically my stomach hurts all the way across when I stand sit or roll-over in bed, but it isn’t too bad. I have had very little back pain which I’m very surprised about. I guess that new hardware is doing its job. Valerie has seen my post-op X-Rays with the “bionic implants” and I’m looking forward to seeing them soon. I’ll try to post an image so you can see my new hardware. They even gave me an insert for my passport in case I set off a metal detector (although they said that it should only set off the most senstive ones like in federal buildings, etc . . )

We will return to the hotel tomorrow for a couple of days and assuming everything goes well, we will drive home on Monday.

I’m so thankful for all of your encouragement and prayers through this part of the process. We still have a long way to go, but I’m thankful to have made it this far.