January 2011

Well, so far the new year has been pretty rough for us. Our last few days in California I got a really painful feeling in my right arm and parts of it went numb. It hurt so bad that I was up at 3:00am pacing in agony waiting until a doctors office would be open. I got in to see my old physician who suspected a pinched nerve. He prescribed painkillers and steroids until I could get home for more tests. When we got home to Utah I went to a spinal surgeon and got an MRI. It turns out I had a massively ruptured disc in my neck that was compressing my spinal cord and the nerves that go to my arm. He suggested immediate surgery to prevent any more nerve damage. I went in on January 6th for surgery. My doctor made an incision in my throat and removed the ruptured disc. He then put a plastic spacer in and screwed a metal plate to the two vertebra above and below the disc so they will never move again. About two weeks after surgery, I was feeling like I was getting better, but then it got a lot worse. Only the pain was no longer in my arm, it was in my leg. Again, I was in so much pain that I couldn't even hardly think. When I called my doctors office, the staff didn't quite believe me at first because it didn't make sense that my leg would hurt after my surgery. After I insisted, they brought me in to see the doctor. Within 2 minutes of his examination of my leg ad assessing the pain, he said it was a "classic example of a ruptured disc." A little surprised, he ordered another MRI. It turns out I had another ruptured disc in my lower back that was compressing the nerves to my leg. I had an epidural cortisone injection that same night which hurt a lot, but eventually started to make it tolerable. So, 3 weeks after my first surgery, I was back in the O.R. This time my doctor removed the portions of the disc that were sticking out but did not fuse my vertebra. After surgery, he said it was one of the worst ruptures he's seen. So, that was one week ago. Healing from these surgeries has been slow and painful, but I'm making progress each day. Kim has fun watching me try to put my socks on without bending my back. I haven't been able to bend or twist and I can't hold anything over ten pounds, including Wesley. Hopefully this will be the end of back problems. Parts of my right hand, right foot and leg are numb, which may or may not return over time. I haven't worked since before Christmas, so that's made things hard too. I should get back to work on light duty after Valentine's day.

Aside from that, Wesley has been brightening our lives with all the cute things he does. He loves to lay upside-down and watch his Little Einstein DVDs. We have started feeding him rice cereal and mashed veggies. (He's not a big fan of the veggies). We have been really trying to sleep train him. It has worked out very well. It was a little rough at first, but after a few nights, Kim was able to get him to go to sleep at the same time each night, and sleep for around 12 hours. His naps are getting better too. He's learning that when he's in his bed, it's time for sleep he's such a cute boy! Kim is such a great mom. He has been laughing a lot too. I'll try to post some video of that if I can figure it out.