Why no posts?

In case you've been wondering why there haven't been any recent bog posts from me - it's mostly because I was on vacation with Gus for a week!! I will be "celebrating" my 50th birthday this year, and my wonderful husband asked me if I would like a trip or a party. Really, was there any need to ask? Of course, I chose the trip - and we went to Navarre Beach, Florida.

We've been vacationing in the Destin area for about 13 years now, but we had never stayed in Navarre Beach (which is about halfway between Pensacola & Destin). The weather was absolutely perfect, the condo (and view) was amazing, and we had the best time ever. I took about 500 pictures, and once I edit those down to a manageable amount, I'll post some here.

The other reason I've been missing in action is more back problems. If you remember, I had surgery on a disc in my neck back in May. That surgery was completely successful, and all of my symptoms had disappeared. However, I continued to have pain & weakness in my legs. The MRI of my lumbar spine showed a couple of bulging discs, but nothing too bad. I kept going to physical therapy and finally started to get some relief. Then about 3 weeks ago, I started having pain in the middle of my back. Sometimes, it felt like my ribcage was in a vise - like someone was squeezing me - making it uncomfortable, painful, & difficult to breathe. I also started having increased weakness in my left leg - along with decreased reflexes (causing me to stumble at times). My neurosurgeon ordered a MRI of my thoracic spine, which showed a severely herniated disc at the T6-7 level. When the office called me to have me come in, they said it was to "discuss my options" - when I got there & saw the doctor, he said the disc was compressing my spinal cord & decreasing the blood flow - and if I didn't have surgery, I would become paralyzed from the mid-chest down. Hmmm - that doesn't sound like an option to me! LOL!

This surgery is a little riskier than the last one, and I admit I'm more than a little scared. I have absolute faith in my surgeon, but I'm still scared. He will be going in through my back, removing part of the vertebra to get to the disc, removing the disc, then inserting two rods & screws to stabilize my spine. Unfortunately, the spinal cord is right there (along with a lot of blood vessels), so he has to be very careful. He mentioned that there is a significant amount of post-op pain. Just what you want to hear, right? I'll be staying in the hospital overnight (assuming everything goes okay), and I shouldn't need to wear a brace. So those are good things.

Gus has been amazing, as usual. (Well, okay - he's pretty pesty, but his intentions are good!) He has pretty much taken over the household chores again & calls or texts me several times a day to make sure I haven't fallen down. See? Pesty, but good intentions.

Surgery is scheduled for October 31, so I'm just hanging in there until then. I can't sit up for very long, but I'm going to try to at least get my vacation posts done before I have surgery. I'm hoping that I don't have to postpone my birthday dinner at Buca di Beppo's - and I have to get back on my feet quickly because Gus has promised me a birthday shopping trip to the outlet mall!! What a guy!!