He’s Home!
Hello, Everyone~
Joe got to come home from the hospital today (Tuesday), after showing the
doctors and nursing staff he was up to leaving…which he did by walking
around the halls for the past two days — sans assistance!
Here he is, filleted up front and back, having just undergone lumbar
laminectomy with fusion for his degenerative disc disease (the “360″), and
he’s ambling about quite well with just a cane for support two days after
the last surgery. Remarkable. Clearly, both operations were successful and
went without a hitch, and though in pain from the surgical incisions and
‘Inner Work’ done on him by the doctors, Joe is already saying going through
the procedures has been worth the ordeal. A huge Thank-You to the doctors
and nursing staff who took such good care of him!
Needless to say, I’m more than thrilled to have him back home safe and sound
after such major surgeries. Our kitties are happy as well as that they now
have their dad and favorite “heat sink” back for cuddling purposes!
Again, bless all of you for your wonderful support — both Joe and I really
appreciate it. I’m sure after a bit of rest and healing time, Joe will be
contributing to this blog himself with some of his latest ruminations on
various topics.
In the meantime, thank you for your kind notes (or whatever you call
comments posted on a blog — blotes?), and good wishes. I’m sure all of the
positive “energy” you have sent has helped immensely!
Warmest wishes and blessings to all,
Scooter
June 21st, 2006 at 2:02 am
I’m glad to hear Joe’s back at home! I hope he can get a little rest now and begin enjoying his new back.
Best wishes to you and Joe!
Warm regards,
Mark
June 21st, 2006 at 9:34 am
I think it is very impressive to be walking about so quickly after this kind of surgery. I was sort of able to do it, but each step was just a major challenge at first. I think it took me the better part of an hour just to get out of bed the first time.
Anyway, I’ll be curious to learn if Mr. McMoneagle viewed any part of this ordeal prior to undergoing the surgery AND if, while he was under anesthesia, he will recall any experiences. Mrs. McMoneagle, he is fortunate to have you. I am sure your support through all of this means everything to him. I am just hanging back in the shadows sending both of you the best positive vibes I can muster.
In the meantime, I hope the only remote viewing he needs to do is of the kind with the hand-held unit that comes with a hi-def plasma screen and a surround-sound system.
Ta!
June 21st, 2006 at 1:04 pm
I’m so glad to hear he is home, there is nothing like being in your own place to recoup.
That’s good news,
Linda
June 22nd, 2006 at 10:37 am
I hope this information may be helpful to Mr. McMoneagle as he starts to heal. I am just sharing something about one aspect of this I recall from my adventure with this procedure. Spasms at the incision site where the hardware was installed was a beast for me. They only lasted a minute or so but they were excruciating and they happened up to a couple of dozen a day. The worst time was when I woke up in the morning. I would start to move before thinking about the fact that I could only move certain ways and I would set off a cascade of brutal spasms. The way I found to best manage them was to kind of “ride the wave” of pain. That means to avoid getting too tense. This reduced the length of time if the spasm as well as the the residual pain that followed. Flexaril also helped to a point.
After about 10 weeks , the spasms were down to just a few a day. Now, they are rare occurences. Very hopefully, he will not have to deal with these too much. They were miserable. Sometimes I felt like I was going to split wide open.
One of the negative outcomes of this ordeal could be pain management medication. From what he has written about RV, I think medications can be problematic to the process. I know it has been for me. It is like I had to re-orient my brain to itself once I was up to meditating again. Things just seemed different on medication. Eventually , I adapted, but the effect was initially profound.
Anyway, I have rambled on quite enough and I apologize if I said too much. My intentions are good. Be well.
June 22nd, 2006 at 12:31 pm
Gambatte, Joe!
[Japanese: loosely translated as ‘Good luck - try hard and don’t give up!’]
June 22nd, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Joe and Nancy,
Congratulations on coming through it so well, Joe! I’m sure you’re happy to be back home. The old saying “there’s no place like home” takes on whole new meaning, doesn’t it?
I remember the first time they cut open my back to take care of three ruptured discs and a lot of scar tissue I’d developed, I nixed their plans for me to stay in the hospital for three days of observation and walked out of the hospital just three hours after I woke up from the surgery. I vividly remember how GOOD being back home felt to me.
My injuries are insignificant compared to yours, so I can only imagine the pain you’ve been dealing with all these years. I hope this puts an end to it for you and I hope the fusion doesn’t restrict your range-of-motion too much.
Thanks again, Nancy, for keeping us updated. With you and the four-legged children around, he’ll have the healing energy he needs.
Warmest wishes to you both,
Don
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:03 pm
Glad to hear it went well. It’s hard to rest at the hospital. Hopefully, the kitty cat menagerie will not pounce on him too violently at first. Oh and BTW, your first instinct was correct, blog comments are generally referred to as just ‘comments.’
June 24th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Yay! You did it again, Joe. Congratulations!
xxxxxxxxx
Les
June 27th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Joe:
Get well soon.
Hope your planning another book in the near future.
The Best.
Robert
June 29th, 2006 at 9:41 am
I too have just came home from the hospital on Father’s Day with back surgery number four. This time with lumbar fusion of L-4, I caught the Blog on a Google Search, If your Husband would like to Email me and compare pain, procedure or talk about Email me, Good Luck, Jimmy
June 29th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Gute Besserung Joe McMoneagle,
sendet Ihnen
Elke aus Deutschland