I learned a new word today - kyphoplasty

I finally got an appointment with the kyphoplasty guy. (Why I was first referred to a different neurosurgeon, which got cancelled, and then had to wait for this appointment to the guy is anyone’s guess.) He’s scheduled the procedure for next week. Good news, although it took almost two months to get there. The messages from the health system keep referring to my “care journey”. Blast all meaningless euphemisms!

The not-so-good news? He thinks I really need the L2/L3 surgery that I was leery of getting a couple of years ago. Just between you and me, I think he wants me to do it because my spine is such a mess that he says he’ll need several months to figure out how to get it done, making it a fascinating hobby for his off hours. The worser news is that he’s afraid the old hardware inside me is so old that they may have to replace it, and redo the whole spine. I’m putting off even thinking of that possibility until it’s inevitable.

Nevertheless, I’m feeling so good that I’m hoping to go out to an actual restaurant with my wife for our 53rd anniversary on Saturday. I’ll probably ache afterward but it won’t be for long.

Sounds like the kind of accident that might have happened to Harpo Marx.

Seriously, best wishes for a complete and painless recovery.

Thanks. So much can go wrong that I will be pleasantly surprised if all that happens is my day-long pain level gets reduced. As I heard in a Passover Seder I attended, It Would Have Been Enough…

Wishing you all the best – a path forward that brings relief, improvement, mobility, and increased options, and takes nothing in return.