Catching Up

So as my favorite Cajun Justin Wilson would say, how y'all are?

Several of you have asked for an update, so I decided I should keep this going. It will be a good journaling exercise as I try to write my book.

First of all, thanks from the bottom of my heart to all who have worried and prayed for me. I really appreciate it and attribute much of the success so far directly to those prayers. God is good!

So, how have I been? Glad you asked. I got home on the 15th of April. The expected five week stay in Germany turned into just two weeks. The flight home was a bit rough, but I have to say it was no more difficult than the flight over. I had less back pain coming than going. I didn't, however, have the same endurance and therefore the trip was quite taxing. I had my son with me on the first weekend home. Lucky for me Papa and GrandMaggie were there to help because I was exhausted.

I did very little that first Monday, mostly resting up from the trip and the weekend. I returned to work on Tuesday the 19th, working about 30 hours the first week. My pain and discomfort decreased daily and by the end of the week I was feeling pretty dang good. I would put my pain level the first week at about a 2 out of 10, with my average level before surgery varying between 7 and 9. So, needless to say I continued to be pleased with the results.

On Saturday the 23rd, I joined my dog fight group on the golf course and walked 9 holes, chipping and putting a little. It was nice to get out there and walk the course. It's something I haven't been able to do since becoming a member of the club. On Sunday I met my family at church for Easter. People looked at me like they were seeing an apparition! This is true for almost everyone who has seen me before and after. It is that dramatic.

I managed to work close to a full week last week and continued to feel better and better. I'd say that I get somewhere between 1% to 2% better with each new day. So, being that today is 35 days after surgery, I'd put myself at about 50% full speed. Considering I was about 25% before surgery, that is a marked improvement.

This has been my best week so far. I am basically pain free for the first time in many, many years. I include the word "basically" to say that I do still have some discomfort, but it has primarily been muscular in nature and handled with an Aleve or Ibuprofen. The biggest thing I've had to deal with so far has been my hamstrings. Man, those puppies have been on fire! They shortened tremendously while I had such poor posture. Now that I am standing and walking correctly, they have had to stretch back out. That's been a wee bit uncomfortable ... but my back doesn't hurt, so I can deal with the rest. I know the muscle and ligament issues will continue to improve as they already have. Honestly, I can't remember when I last felt this good, and I'm only half way there. Hope abounds!

I have spoken with the folks at Spinal Kinetics a time or two as they are very interested in my progress. It has been confirmed that I am the FIRST PERSON IN THE WORLD with four of their lumbar implants. Hey, you always knew I'd be the first in the world at something, right?

So, in summary, I get better every day. I've started working out a little and I am starting to get a little weight back. Walking is a breeze and life in general just seems better all the way around. I've begun to work on the book and have made contact with those I think can help me. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS! It's just too good to keep a secret.

Thanks friends for you love, care, and concern. I have needed every bit of it. I'll make a commitment to update this every Wednesday so you can keep up with my progress. If any of you have friends or loved ones dealing with some of the same things I have dealt with, don't hesitate to put them in touch with me. I'm here to help. I'll give y'all my secret phone number: 334-322-7009. Oops! Guess it's not a secret anymore huh? Take care all. Talk to you soon.




- Posted by ADP

Location:Wares Ferry Rd,Montgomery,United States

1 day and a wake up

Howdy folks. Sorry I've been a little aloof the last day or two. There hasn't been all that much exciting to talk about. We've done a little sight seeing in some of the local cities, namely Hamburg and Bremerhaven.

I'm having issues at the hotel with Internet connection. They won't let me have both my iPad and my phone logged on at the same time without paying extra. So, I can't post pictures of some of the sites I've seen. I'm scheduled to be at the hospital tomorrow afternoon, so I'll use the free wi-fi there to transfer all my pics to the iPad.

As I was saying, tomorrow I will go back to the hospital for my final check-up. I expect a GLOWING report. Here's why: I feel fantastic!! I am not 100% yet, granted, but I feel better RIGHT NOW than I have in years. Every day is a little better than the last one. I'm just a little stronger; walk a little farther a little longer and feel a little less tired afterwards.

So, tomorrow they will tell me how great everything looks, and then I will come back to the hotel to pack. Early Friday morning, we'll board a plane, hitting the ground in the ATL sometime around 6 PM. After that, we'll boogie back to Montgomery where I will SLEEP IN MY OWN BED, for the first time in three weeks. Cannot wait for that biddness.

Anyway, this has not been one of my more exciting posts ... Sorry. Honestly, all I can think about right now is getting home. I am ready Freddy. Stay tuned to future updates though. I'm just kinda getting started with all this. I'm pretty sure there is a book in the future. People need to know about this, as well as other areas of German medicine. In some ways, they are just light years ahead of us. It's really shocking, particularly when you see it WITH YOUR OWN EYES.

By the way, while there have been a few folks before me who have had four artificial discs at the lumbar level (like a handful), I think it is true that I may be the first person ever to have it done with the new generation disc. At the very least, I am most likely the first one with this particular disc. I'm waiting to hear back from the manufacturer on the final word for that information.

So, that's about it tonight. If I can get the pics transferred tomorrow, I'll show you a little bit of what I have seen.

Later gator


- Posted by ADP

Location:Bürgerpark,Bremen,Germany

These here folks ain't Amuricun's

Happy Sunday! This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Is this somehow significant? I find it interesting that I had both life changing back surgery, and quit a 25 year habit of dipping snuff, all on April Fool's Day. Hmmm. This means something but I'm not sure what.

So, I went down to the whirlpool yesterday and was enjoying myself a good bit, when in walked another couple who seemed to want to get in with me. We exchanged smiles and then ... they proceeded to get butt naked and hop in the whirlpool with me. Now, a boy from Alabama is not used to seeing such as this and it's safe to say I was quite a bit uncomfortable. So me and my bathing suit hopped up on out of there and decided that maybe whirlpools in Germany weren't for us. Wow, that was weird.

Had a nice Bratwurst and Kraut dish last night at a place called the Ratskeller. It looks like this


Those are very large and very old wine vats along the right wall, some of them 700 years old I believe I was told. We are in the basement of a building that now houses city hall, which is above us. I think before that it was somebody's house.

Headed back into town this afternoon. Planning to buy a rail pass and tour Hamburg, Bremerhaven, and Berlin Monday through Wednesday. Thursday it's back to the hospital and Friday fly home.

5 days and a wake up. Partner, I am ready.

Bye for now ...

- Posted by ADP

Location:Bürgerpark,Bremen,Germany

Five Stars

Howdy from The Park Hotel. That's this place ...



It's pretty swanky let me tell you. Want a coke? Sure thing. 5 euros please. That's $7.10 or so in US dollars. Needless to say Dad and I journeyed to the market to grab a few basics.

We toured the town a little yesterday and ate at an Italian restaurant last night that was pretty decent. The Original Willie Nelson Fan will appreciate this; There was an acoustic act set up to play and he started about halfway through dinner. What was the first song? Glad you asked ... "Always On My Mind"

I bet I probably walked 5 miles or so yesterday, and adding the dinner out, I was pretty tired by the time we got back to the hotel. So, today I'm just kind of taking it easy. My legs are not used to walking correctly, so seldom used muscles are now in revolt over being asked to do things they haven't done in a while. My right calf is just on FIRE. But, you can bet your bippy I'm willing to go through a little muscle soreness.

Okay, so ... There you have it. I'm off to the whirl pool now. Life is rough.

A New Season

This morning I opened my eyes and knew immediately that something was very different. I lied there a minute or two trying to clear my head and figure out what it was. I sat up on the edge of the bed and looked around the room. Everything looked normal. Nothing was out of place, but something was different. I got up and went to the bathroom, wondering what it was. I came out and grabbed the hot cup of coffee that the nurse had just brought in and eased back the curtains, sipping my coffee and surveying the morning. As I stood there studying the the shapes and shadows of the garden outside my window, the shock was so severe I almost dropped my cup. I suddenly knew what was different ... I HAD NO PAIN. Nothing hurt. No stiffness. No aching. No burning. Nothing. I was standing there looking out of the window drinking coffee and enjoying it - like a normal person. It was a little surreal. I stood there trying to remember the last time I had done that, or the last time I had waked up and not immediately reached for the ibuprofen, or aleve, or something stronger. I could not.

It was a good day.


- Posted by ADP

Location:Im Bürgerpark,Bremen,Germany

I'm #3

Turns out I'm the third guy to have a four level ADR.

In other news ... Today was my best day yet. I spent most of the day either sitting or walking around. I walked about a mile and a half and dad was having just a little trouble (not too much) keeping up. Of course he had already walked about 20 miles so far today. Around here you either walk or ride a bike. Anyway, today was definitely my best day so far.

I met with Dr. Ritter-Lang this afternoon and even he was a little stunned. I think he is definitely proud of his work on this case. I don't blame him one bit. I'd be proud of it too.

We'll meet again in the morning sometime and work out my schedule for the next week. After that it's back to Sweet Home Alabama.

Don't really have anything all that exciting to talk about. Today I felt about as normal as I have in years. It's just surreal. I haven't had any pain medication whatsoever in about 8 hours, and I don't need any. What? Huh? I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all.

Thanks for praying for my new friend Margo. She felt much better after we left her last night and had a really good day as well. So, all's well that ends well.

Bedtime here. See you tomorrow.




- Posted by ADP

New Pics and Misc. Info

This is what it all looked like before the surgery. You can see that all of the vertebra below the fusion were very close together, some almost touching. Trust me, you can feel that buddy. I'm not crafty enough on this blog thingy yet to put the images side by side. Okay, wait a second ... Maybe I am that crafty ...





























Anyway, that's as good as I can do. You can see in the image on the left that my back begins to immediately start humping forward at the S-1 level (also known as your tail bone and the last vertebra). In the image on the right you can see that it is returning to the natural curve and continuing on through the original fusion. Honestly, I have no idea how he was able to manage that. Like I have said, in my mind it is a miracle.


Here is an image of the lovely porridge I was served for dinner this evening. In all honesty, this is one of the better things I have eaten at the hospital.











Dad has been working hard on his German. He can actually say a few things now.












I have no idea what she is saying, but she is right - there is no better way to fly across the big pond. Best flight I have ever been on in my life.









Well, anyway ... Today was a good day for me. I got a little stronger, walked a little farther (3/4 mile), and just felt better in general. We're still debating whether I will stay here for therapy on come on back home on 4/13 and just continue it there. I'm beginning to feel more confident about coming on back. Wow, who would have ever imagined I could travel half way around the world, have major back surgery, and be back home in less than two weeks? Not me.

Thanks as always for the prayers, emails, and comments. They keep my spirits up. Speaking of that, turn it up a notch for Margo. She came off the morphine pump and is just as miserable as she can be. I think she is going to be fine, but she's struggling. Dad and I, along with her daughter Sarah, put our hands on her and prayed over her to night. First time I have ever done that for anyone other than my little boy.

Okay, so that's all folks. Talk to you tomorrow. Somebody please record the Master's Tournament for me. I'd appreciate it a lot.

Location:Heilstättenweg,Ganderkesee,Germany

Photographic Evidence

This was right before surgery ...




This was right after - not quite so bright eyed. That's Mike from Colorado next to me. He had two ADRs.




This was just after I walked to the end of the hall and outside about 24 hours after surgery. I haven't stood that straight in a long, long time.




For those of you that actually saw my back before this, seeing the reverse lordosis or hump that I had in the lower back, here is the photographic proof that it is gone baby. Poof! If you never saw it just imagine Gollum from Lord of the Rings. It looked exactly like that. My son will think it is especially cool to see it gone.




For the curious cats, those things that look like Oreos are the artificial discs, or ADRs. In the X-Ray, the one that says "stehend" ignore the two parallel vertical lines and the horizontal one. That is metal in the post surgery brace that I wear. You can see some of the hardware from my 1997 fusion at the top of the image though. The photo below was taken from a fluoroscope during the operation.







That's about all I have for you tonight. I continue to improve and actually walked about a 1/4 mile this afternoon. I couldn't do that before I got here, so I'd say I'm off to a good start. I might try for 1/2 mile tomorrow.

If anybody can figure out how to mail a Big Mac, please do.

Oh yeah, thanks to those of you who added Margo to your prayer list. Keep it up. She was much better today. I don't think that was a coincidence.

P.S. Tomorrow I will show you the X-Rays before surgery so you can see the difference.

Location:Heilstättenweg,Ganderkesee,Germany

Walking Tall

ThIngs took a little turn for the worse after bedtime, as I fought a fever all night. I didn't feel well Sunday at all. So, I spent most of Sunday and the better part of Monday sleeping. I'm feeling a good bit better tonight and I hope that continues into tomorrow. There's a chance that I will be coming home early based on how well my body has responded to the artificial discs. I may or may not be going to the special rehab clinic for two weeks. We'll make that decision Friday.

All in all, my recuperation continues to be outstanding and the docs here continue to be pleasantly surprised. I guess they haven't operated on many South Alabama boys! :-)

I want y'all to add another person to the prayer list. Her name is Margo and she is not doing nearly as well as I am. She has terrible pain in one of her legs and may have to be operated on again. Let's all pray that she will not have to do that.

Thanks friends for all the thoughts and prayers. See you soon. Can't wait.

David

P. S. I'm trying to figure out how to get pics and videos uploaded here but I'm having issues. I may move this to another site that is more friendly.

PRAISE GOD!!!!! IT IS A MIRACLE!!!!!!

Hey everybody. GOD IS THE GREAT HEALER! JESUS CHRIST IS ALIVE! THE HOLY SPIRIT MOVES AMONG US, AND HE WAS IN THE SURGERY ROOM TODAY MAKING SURE ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS, AND MY PRAYERS, WERE ANSWERED!!!! Thank you Lord for taking care of me! Thank you for leading me to this wonderful place. Thank you Lord for guiding the hands of my doctor to perform the perfect surgery.

Many of you have seen me walking these last two years or so. I've been using a cane and just could not stand up straight no matter what I tried. The stenosis in my back had made it physically impossible to stand erect, much less arch my back. As the stenosis got worse and worse, the more hunched over I became. It was awful and I was unbelievably miserable. The only way I could get around was humped over. And then there was the pain; day and night, constant and completely agonizing.

So, yesterday a man named Dr. Karsten Ritter-Lang changed my life as I know it. YES, I CAN ALREADY TELL!! Here is what happened:

After Dr. Ritter-Lang got me opened up, he discovered that my original fusion, the one from when I broke my back in 1997, was solid as a rock so there was no need to re-fusion at that location. Additionally, he thought vertebrae L3 looked to be in pretty good shape too. So, he decided that there would be no fusion at all. Instead, he would install one more artificial disc, bringing the total to four. I was asleep when this decision was made, but I'm glad it was. I wanted to avoid any fusion of any kind anywhere. Interestingly, I may be the only man in the world with four. We are trying to find out. Needless to say, if I'm not the only one in the world, I am one of the very few.

Beyond that, the procedure itself was pretty straight ahead; take the old discs out and put the new ones in. I'll include a link to the demonstration video tomorrow maybe. It's pretty cool.

But that's not the good news ... The nurse came to my room and said it's time to stand up and walk. I was ready because I was feeling pretty good. What happened next SHOCKED me. I STOOD STRAIGHT UP. I DID NOT LEAN TO ONE SIDE. MY BACK HAD THE CORRECT ARCH IN IT!!! We walked to the end of the hall. I'm not embarrassed one little bit to say I cried like a baby and hugged every nurse I could find. For the first time in TWO YEARS I can walk like a normal person. You know, my dad cried too. It was just that awesome.

In my mind it is a miracle without a doubt. Praise God for this miracle in my life.

The Final Count Down

Well, here we go. It's 10:17 A.M. here, 3:17 A.M. back home in Montgomery. I'm here in my hospital room hanging out and talking with Darrin, who is moving on to rehab today, and to my new roommate Mike. I'm sure he and I are going to get to know each other QUITE well over the next few days.

So, Mike has the first surgery, then it's my turn. I'll mostly just be hanging around until then. I was fairly nervous about it all last night, but amazingly I'm pretty relaxed this morning.

11:00AM Mike just went back for his surgery. I guess they will come for me in about three hours. I don't really feel very chatty right now, mainly because there isn't all that much to say at this point. I will say that I have found the German people to be very friendly. I had always heard the opposite. Maybe that's true for some other part of the country, but not here.

12:05 It's time to get my gown and stuff on now. I'm signing off at this point. Wish me luck everybody, and keep praying for me. I really appreciate it!

Oh yeah, PRAY FOR THE DOCTOR TOO! :-)

P.S. I wish you could see the "panty" the nurse just told me to put on. The first thing I said was, "Hey lady, I don't wear a panty. At least call it underwear." You should see them though. They are see through gauze that gives them a kind of fish net look. Good grief! I can't wear these things! Although, I think there are certain nightclubs in Berlin where I would be quite popular. Ha ha!

All In

I was just sitting here reading the side effects of Chantix, the drug they give people trying to break a nicotine addiction. Some of them are things like irritability, sudden mood swings, murderous rampages ... I'm surprised they didn't run a study on a placebo group because I'm pretty sure those don't have anything to do with the drug. I'm pretty sure those of the symptoms of people trying to break a nicotine habit.

Anyway, it was quite a long day. We got started fairly early with routines tests; blood work and the like. I met with all of the secondary doctors and discussed their part in tomorrow's adventure. Oh, wait. I forgot to tell you. Surgery is going to happen ... sometime tomorrow around 2:00 P.M. or so here. That will be about the time you are waking up in the morning. So, throw up a quick prayer for me and Dr. Ritter-Lang.

Dr.Heinz, Dr. Ritter-Lang's assistant was a little more pessimistic about the chances for success. However, she followed that up with "He's the best and he's been doing it for 20 years. If he believes he can fix it, then I believe him" Finally, after a little down time, I was able to meet with Dr. Ritter-Lang. He's very, very confident that he can make things work for me. Truly though, his final argument, and my final argument, and Dr. Theiss's (from UAB) final argument, all are about the same. I have three options. Option one is to do nothing. I can't do that because pretty soon my vertebrae are going to start fusing themselves. I certainly don't want that. Option two is to do a total fusion from the mid-chest down. I'm 40 years old. That doesn't sound like a good idea either. This is my best option at this point. I have nothing to lose. Truly though, I think he really can do what he says he can do. I've seen some pretty amazing things around here this week.

So, I may make another post tomorrow. I may not. I'll get to the hospital around 8:00AM and I really don't know the schedule from there. I will let you know when it's surgery time though. After that, I will expect it will be a few days before you hear from me again. I am going to be feeling a little bit like a catfish filet for the next few days, so I doubt I will feel much like typing. But, I will talk to you soon. Thanks for all the love and prayers fine people! I need it!

Two things I forgot about

1) my dad snores
2) my dad snores loud

So, I guess I won't sleep anytime soon after all. I'll have to sit here and read until the agony of staying awake finally loses the battle with my eyelids.

What does it sound like? I'm glad you asked. It sounds a lot like he is trying to suck his adenoids through his tonsils and into either his esophagus or nose, I can't quite tell. Musically, I would describe it as the rhythmic stylings of Chewbaca, or maybe Chewbaca's Greatest Hits. Tomorrow I will get a sound recording app downloaded to my iPad so I can give you a sampling of this most wonderful musical experience.


While I'm writing, I'll periodically give you a little bit of the background as to why I'm here, putting it all together over time. In 1997, I had a truck accident that left me with a crushed vertebrae, L-1 specifically, which you can locate on your own body by putting your index finger on your sternum and pointing an imaginary line to your back; right in the middle in other words. The only way to repair the damage was to fuse the damaged bone to the somewhat healthy bone above and below. So, that left me with the fusion that I now have from T-12 through L-2. For several years, I had very few problems with this result. I more or less did whatever I wanted to do.

Hey, I'll stop there with the history. I'll fill you in on that a little at a time. I imagine that could get pretty boring pretty quick.

I'm looking forward to meeting the surgeon who will do the surgery tomorrow, Dr. Karsten Ritter-Lang. That is the last mental hurdle for me. I need to look him in the eye and make sure I don't see anything that alarms me. If he "feels" trustworthy, then it's a go

Day Zero ... The beginning of the beginning

So, here I am in a little place called Stenum, Germany, a small suburb of Bremen. I arrived after an 18 hour overnight flight. I was met at the airport by the cab they sent for us (my dad is with me for the first week or two). Next stop was a little hotel right next to the hospital. We went over to the hospital and took a tour guided by Melanie. We had a pretty good question and answer session which I let my dad lead, since most of it was a rehash for me. I felt a good bit more comfortable after that though. The most interesting thing so far was a visit I had with a couple of patients at the suggestion of Melanie. I entered the hospital room expecting to see two people who felt pretty dang bad. Wrong. I was shocked! They got out of bed and stood straight up. They didn't lean to one side. THEY HAD SURGERY A WEEK AGO. Now granted, their surgeries were not as significant as mine is to be. Each of them had two artificial discs implanted at L4-L5 and L5-S1. I will have a much more invasive operation to include refusion of T12-L2, and adding L3 to that, AND THEN installing three artificial discs at L3-L4, L4-L5, and L5-S1. Even still, I was impressed with the condition these guys were in a week after a fairly invasive procedure. I hope that I can reach that point after two weeks.

At that point they will ship me off to a special rehab center where I will recuperate for another two weeks. I'm hoping to make it home by April 30th, just in time for my son's birthday party. We'll see.

That's the update for tonight. I'll make my final decision sometime around noon Bremen time, after spending the morning with the doctors here. Right now, I'd say I'm about 95% sure I'm going to do it. We are six hours ahead of you here, so by the time you wake up in the morning, I should know what I'm going to do. I think I already know, but I also think it's important to go through the excercise of due diligence. Wish me luck and pray for me.

Night folks.