…And the best news, post surgery?

As soon as I awoke in the recovery room I realized the pain in my left leg and my left arm was GONE!! Since then there have been a few occasional twinges, but nothing significant.

The doctor warned me that it might be a “false honeymoon” what with the steroids and all the meds injected into the area – that the pain may return as the spinal cord is healing. But so far so good. Baruch Hashem! To me it’s miraculous. To be able to walk well, to use all four limbs equally well – what a bracha, what a gift!

My recovery has been a lot slower than we expected, but I am trying to give myself as much time as I need to heal without rushing things.

I am looking forward to a New Year – full of possibilities and hope.

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My Rosh Hashanah Message

My Surgical Experience – Part Three

As soon as I got up to my room, the nurse came to help me freshen up a little. She was wearing a tichel – headscarf – and was just a doll. Of course we played Jewish Geography, as one does, and it turns out she went to a summer camp with my half-brother many moons ago. She was so sweet and gentle. She also showed me how to work my pain pump. It felt good to be in charge of my own pain relief. It was about the only thing I had control over for a while.

I had a room-mate who was an older lady who had had back surgery up in Albany – and it had not gone well at all, so she came to Columbia to get it fixed. Poor soul – she was in so much pain.

About the time I was getting settled KoD was eating his dinner that had been delivered by Sir Chants-a-lot. At this point in time they were not allowing me to eat anything, but within two hours two kosher meals had been sent up, at different times, from the cafeteria. I could hardly swallow at this point – they had to move my esophagus out of the way to get to my spine during the surgery, so it was very sore and tender – so I just took the applesauce and the juice.

Within an hour my room was filled with friends who came to see me, one of whom I had actually NEVER met in person before! I was drugged up to the max and I hope I wasn’t too loopy. It was just so great to hang out with some of my favourite people. I didn’t want the boys coming to the hospital and had farmed them all out to friends.

By 10 pm everyone had gone home and it was time to turn in for the night. Except I got no sleep. I was in pain, the pain pump was only working so much, the nurses kept coming in to check up on me and my room-mate. I get that. I know it was necessary to check on us, but I so needed to sleep. I had special cuffs on my legs that inflated and deflated noisily every 15 or so minutes, to prevent blood clots or something. So I would fall asleep and jerk awake every time they inflated. Around 4 am I begged the nurse to take them off. Then there was the antibiotics that they needed to give me at 12 am and at 4 am plus the steroids that I had to take at regular intervals too.

At one point I was seriously considering calling the KoD and begging him to come back to the hospital…I was in tears. I just needed to sleep. I needed the KoD too. It was a long night.

At 6 am the student doctors (I call them baby doctors because they are so young!!) came in all bright eyed and bushy tailed. One of them leaned over, I thought, to examine the dressing. He ripped it off!! Without telling me he was going to do it!! Holy heckers it hurt!! My incision was now only covered with heavy duty steri strips. And lots of gunk from the bigger dressing.

A little while later Dr McC came in, we had a long talk about my recovery and what to expect. A little while after that nurse practitioner Mary came in to make sure I had the right instructions, and knew how to reach her if I needed to.

The KoD arrived around 10 am and was told that I would be discharged soon after. At this point they had unplugged and unstuck me – bye bye pain pump, hello Percocet! I honestly couldn’t wait to get home, but was worried they were getting rid of me too quickly. A Physical Therapist came to see me, to get me up and walking and to make sure I didn’t do any BLT – bending, lifting or twisting – during the recovery period.

I got dressed with help, and the porter came to wheel me down to the car. The valet brought the car around and helped me in. KoD drove us home, and by 1 pm I was tucked into bed.

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The community has been fabulous. My awesome friend / neighbor has arranged meals for us from the local ladies – a hot meal delivered to the door every night, Shabbat food, and this week, they have all taken care of feeding us for Rosh Hashanah. Their generosity and kindness has been so touching. I am so new to this community yet I feel so enveloped in their warmth and love.

My Surgical Experience – Part Two

So where was I? Oh yes, sleeping the day away….

The KoD went to the waiting area to daven and to wait until surgery was finished. We had been told that once I had been moved to recovery the Doctor would go talk to him and he would be brought back to see me.

My lovely friend G6, who lives not too far from the hospital, recounts that morning for us – better she tell it, as she was there! I knew she was going to stop by before work to bring coffee to the KoD and make sure he was ok – none of us realized how long she would end up staying.

More or less in her words:

Ok, let’s see…..

I came around 8:30, thinking that I’d be there about half an hour. –HSM: and you wore pink, right, in my honour? Just like so many of my tweeps and FB peeps.

I figured the 90 minute surgery started at 7:30, right? So I’d be there till 9 or so and get into work just a tad behind schedule. (There are some advantages to being the boss, right 😉 ? )

The KoD and I shmoozed a bit and then another friend of ours, Sir Chants-a-lot, showed up toting breakfast for KoD. I think that was going to be the pattern for the day… Sir Chants-a-lot making sure the KoD got fed. (He brought dinner later, I think) – HSM: Yes m’dear. He brought Shwarma. Which smelled heavenly but being as I was nil by mouth I didn’t get to taste it but the KoD totally enjoyed it.

I made sure to tweet updates, but there wasn’t much happening and by 10:45, we were all trying to pretend we weren’t nervous for the other guy’s benefit 😉 – but we all WERE. –HSM: I cannot believe you guys stayed around…. Such good friends.

Sir Chants-a-lot took the KoD to get coffee and I stayed put ready to ambush the first doctor I saw.

When they returned, I told Sir Chants-a-lot to go find a pretty girl and shmooze her up and see if he could find out what was up ;). HSM says: the not knowing had to be driving you guys crazy.

I found none other than Darren – patient advocate – fresh off the farm from Kansas.  He talked “real slow like” but put our minds at ease when he was able to call into the operating suite and informed us that the surgery started late (HSM: and they couldn’t have told you that earlier?) and they were only putting the implants (you had implants??? And you’re masquerading it as spinal surgery…. tsk tsk…..) in then and that the surgery would last another hour. HSM Note: BONE and titanium implants. But haha!

We all breathed a silent sigh of relief, still trying not to show the other how nervous we were. It WAS 11 am by then, you know……

At 12 pm Darren decided to take lunch, which was just peachy because it was right around the time that we’d be starting to get antsy again. The nerve….

There we were, fighting our demons silently, with Sir Chants-a-lot trying to lighten the moments with (dumb but much needed) penguin jokes. –HSM: remember any?

Nearly ANOTHER hour passed.

At this point, none of us was doing that great a job of hiding our anxiety. Sir Chants-a-lot accosted a sour looking “little old lady” patient advocate who after some investigation finally informed us that you were out of surgery. We all smiled and virtually patted each other on the back. It was kind of a “hugs” moment, but yeah…. no….. not happening……

We stayed until the doctor emerged to talk to KoD (one last photo op for the Twitter updates) and then figured he was in good hands and would see his Queen of Hearts shortly. –HSM: he saw me alright, but I remember nothing. Sigh.

Exit – stage left……….

Thanks G6 for that recap. Thanks also for leaving out the fact that when you visited me later that evening I must have repeated everything a million times. KoD doesn’t remind me of this either. You guys must love me or something.

The KoD came to sit with me in recovery until I was ready to go up to a room. I remember nothing of the afternoon. Apparently I was very sensitive to the anesthetic so it took me a loooooong time to wake up and stay woken up afterwards. As soon as I was sufficiently awake they took me to my room.

To be continued…..

Health & Safety Warning for Yom-Tov

From my InBox:

The upcoming Jewish holiday season, which includes three 3-day periods in which stoves cannot be turned off, presents risks of deadly carbon monoxide poisoning  in homes in which the holidays are observed according to halacha, Jewish law. The holidays occur Thursday and Friday, followed by Shabbat.

The holidays are Rosh Hashanah/Shabbat, September 29-October 1; Sukkot/Shabbat, October 13-15; and Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah/ Shabbat , October 20-22.  In each case, stoves cannot be turned off from the beginning of the holiday, on Wednesday evening, to the end of Shabbat.

The Orthodox Union’s Safe Homes, Safe Shuls, Safe Schools initiative issues warnings before holidays, such as Passover and Chanukah, when use of fire is part of the tradition.  With the three-day observances, the risks of CO poisoning are now the area of concern. As part of the initiative, the OU urges families to replace their smoke/carbon dioxide alarm batteries prior to the holidays.

Examples of these risks occurred in the heavily Orthodox community of Teaneck, NJ during the two-day holiday (Wednesday-Thursday) of Shavuot in June in which 13 people were taken to hospitals Thursday morning with symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning from stoves that had been on since Tuesday evening.  Fortunately, the injuries were not serious and most of the victims were quickly treated and released.

The Teaneck fire department noted that the risk is intensified because modern houses are better insulated with fewer air leaks than in the past, and that with the air conditioning on, windows are kept closed.

The department has noted “a spike in carbon monoxide calls in the Orthodox community,” according to a reporter for the local newspaper, the Bergen Record.

Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless and potentially deadly gas.  Because of the dangers, authorities in Teaneck met and came up with the following guidelines for carbon monoxide safety:

·All homes must have working CO detectors. We recommend the electric plug in models with a display and battery backup. A basic unit is adequate however. We recommend at least one on each level.

·NEVER HESITATE TO CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IF YOUR ALARM GOES OFF! The fire department will respond quickly to check homes with multi-gas meters and remove the CO.

Your house should have the hood above your stove vented to the outside. A hood that vents back into the kitchen will not help reduce CO.

·An alternate to the stove is an electric hot plate, UL listed, which has no flame, so does not produce CO.

·An electric crock pot, UL listed, is another alternative, which is insulated and reduces the chance of someone burning themselves.

·You should have a one foot non-combustible area around the stove and crock pot.

·NEVER use an extension cord with these devices! They require too many amps and could cause a fire. The above devices should be plugged directly into an outlet.

·If you must operate a stove, leave a window open near the stove at least one fist (approximately 4 inches), with a second window open at the opposite side of the house. This will allow some cross ventilation and a supply of fresh air.

·An electric stove with a warming drawer is another solution. This would keep food warm without generating CO.

·A future solution would be an electric stove that would turn on and off during the Sabbath and holidays as needed. The community is always looking for manufacturers who are willing to work with us.

·This is not a complete list, only recommendations.

The OU recommends that for specific questions, contact a local Orthodox rabbi.

My Surgical Experience – Part One

It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since my surgery. It seems like yesterday, it seems like months ago. But I guess I am finally ready to put pen to paper (ok, fingers to the keyboard) to recap the whole experience.

We woke up that morning at 4.45 am. The KoD had set up the coffeemaker the night before so that he could imbibe. Bless that man for not lording it over me that he got to have coffee and I didn’t. He was even a little apologetic about it! I was allowed nothing to eat or drink since midnight, except for a sip of water with which to take my painkillers. By 5.15 we were on the road, ready for surgery – or as ready as I would ever be. I wasn’t nervous – I was just looking forward to the left side of my body actually working as it should.

We had confidence in Dr McCormick – he told us he does 100 such surgeries every year. We had researched this surgery online, and our research coupled together with what we had been told by Dr McC and his nurse practitioner Mary put us very much at our ease. We knew what to expect.

We got to the hospital at 5.45 am, and made use of the valet parking. We took the elevator to the surgical check in floor and checked in, filled out paperwork, signed a whole bunch of papers, got a very nice identity bracelet, and sat down to wait to be called. My surgery was scheduled for 7.30 am and I was due to be in recovery by 9.30 am. A relatively short surgery. I was convinced that I would be awake and lucid by lunchtime. I knew friends wanted to stop by – I had given them the KoD’s digits so they could check in with him when I was up for a visit.

At around 6.30 am we were called, and taken to the pre-op area to get ready for surgery. We met with the nurse. The anesthetist came by and explained the whole putting me to sleep procedure. The doctor came by, the resident doctor came by (am I old, or are the student doctors just extremely young these days??)– I was a popular girl that morning. The guy in the cubicle to the left of me was having a cyst removed from his brain, and the woman in the cubicle to the right of me was having major back surgery. I felt blessed that my surgery was relatively “minor”.

At 7.15 the OR team came to get me and I walked two minutes to the OR, saying a quick goodbye to the KoD who was going to go wait in the surgical waiting area. I was so sure I was going to see him within a couple of hours.

I lay down on the gurney in the bright OR, and was chit chatting with the nurses. I remember telling them about the boys, and their ages. They explained they were going to put an IV in, and we carried on talking. That’s all I remember until about 6 pm….

How a pain in the neck led to surgery

I woke up one Wednesday morning with a crick in my neck. Or so it felt. I popped a couple of Advil, took a hot shower, and moved on with my day hoping it would pass. By Thursday my neck was a whole mess of pain and I knew I needed to see the doctor, that it wasn’t just a “slept weirdly” kind of a deal. I had a headache too, a nasty one.

The doc examined me, gave me a prescription for muscle relaxants, naproxen (NSAIDs) and narcotics and did some bloodwork. Lyme disease was mentioned, along with meningitis and encephalitis. Charming. But, you must cover all the bases.

It didn’t get better and thankfully the blood tests were all negative for yucky stuff. When I went back to the doctor complaining of muscle weakness on my left side that was getting worse, along with the terrible neck and head pain, I got sent for an MRI of my head. The head part was fine – I did have a brain after all! The MRI showed *something* on my neck, and I went back the next day (Day #8 of this saga) for an MRI specifically of my neck. This MRI showed a massive herniation of the disk between C3 and C4. We knew this was something that needed to be taken care of ASAP.

I didn’t want just any doctor fixing me up, I wanted the best. Being close to NYC we knew that’s where we would go for expert opinions about what needed to be done. But how do you find the best doctor? It’s not like they advertise in Best Doctors R Us or something.

I have a friend on Twitter who is a doctor – a specialist in his field. He and his wife are awesome people and we have really established a connection even though we have never met in real life. I sent him my MRI report so he could read through it and explain the complicated verbiage to me in layman’s terms. I wanted his opinion as to where we should go from here. His was not the only opinion we were seeking, but we needed to come up with some kind of plan of action. He broke the news to me gently that this type of issue would probably need a surgical fix. He reassured me that this surgery is performed often.

He asked a neurosurgeon colleague of his in the state where he practices for a recommendation for a top NYC neurosurgeon. As soon as we got the information we set about making an appointment to see the recommended doc. We had to put together a file and fax it through – including a history of the symptoms, personal information and the MRI report. The doc would then read through it and decide if we need to be seen by him or not. It took a while till they called back, but we got an appointment.

We wanted to have two opinions. Surgery is no laughing matter. Many people at this point had suggested chiropractic relief – that kind of manipulation could have paralyzed me. My spinal cord was being compressed – you don’t play around with that! But I did appreciate that these suggestions were given with love.

We called a local organization who help people who need medical care for their recommendation for a neurosurgeon in the city. We made an appointment with him too – again, sending in a long detailed fax with questionnaires filled out etc. It almost seems like one has to audition for the doctors – pick me pick me, my case is perfect for you!!

It just so happened that we were able to get both appointments on the same day, enabling us to have to shlepp into the city only once for consultations.

The first appointment was the recommendation of the local organization, an agreeable personable chap, who wanted to hold off on surgery, try steroids for a week or two, but he admitted I was probably looking at surgery down the road. He did NOT examine me, just my MRI films. How can you not examine a patient?

The second neurosurgeon (thru Twitter doc) gave me a thorough exam after examining the MRI and found my reflexes to be abnormal on my left side. He made me do the walk they make drunks do – one foot in front of the other. I couldn’t manage it. He examined me and asked a ton of questions and answered all of ours. He did not like what he was seeing at all. He wanted me to start taking steroids anyway, but said surgery – Anterior Cervical Discectomy with Fusion – was unavoidable. The longer we would have left it the more risk there was of permanent damage. I was already having trouble walking and using my left arm was becoming a real challenge. To say nothing of the pain and the numbness! This neurosurgeon – Dr McCormick – also a personable guy, really told it to us straight. There were no guarantees that I wouldn’t wake up next week pain free, and no guarantees that surgery would fix the problem 100% – but we had to weigh up the possibility of permanent damage if we did nothing. He left the decision up to us.

We went to see his nurse practitioner – Mary – who I adore. Seriously. Such a professional – and so caring. She checked Dr McC’s calendar and said he could fit me in on Monday. As in 5 days from then. But she would need an answer from us by 9 am Thursday morning. If we were going to go ahead with surgery then, I would need to have pre-surgical testing done on Thursday so that they had the results before surgery. The next opening in his calendar was a couple of weeks down the road and then we would be running in to the Jewish Holidays. I wanted to sign there and then – cut me open, let’s do this.

KoD, bless him, was the voice of reason. Let’s take time, he said, to make sure this is the right decision before we just jump into it. We had two doctor’s opinions that were different – let’s just make sure. He was right, but I was thinking, it’s my neck on the line here (haha). It’s totally my decision. But surgery, especially on the mama, affects the whole family – and we did need to think it through.

We came home after our exhausting day and I went to bed to zone out. I knew what my decision was, but I knew I needed the KoD on board. I knew he needed to consult with a few medical people that he knows – and if they recommended I go ahead with surgery, I knew he would be ok with it. Dr McC has a stellar reputation which helped immensely too. He knows his stuff and has performed this surgery hundreds of times.

So the KoD made tons of phone calls. I spoke it all over with my non-medical advisors – my brothers and sister in law. We were all of the opinion that if it’s going to come to surgery anyway, waiting doesn’t make sense especially as I was getting worse each and every day. KoD came to the same conclusion.

The next day we called Mary on our way in to the city to tell her I would take the Monday spot, and that we were coming in for the testing.

We did the testing in record time and I was pronounced fit for surgery.

Mini Update on Me

My recovery is progressing. I thought I would be back at 100% right now – but my body needs more time to heal. I am taking it easy and allowing my body the time it requires to get back up to crazy energizer bunny speed.

In the next few days I will be posting an account or two of my whole hospital experience – the parts I remember, and the parts I have been told with plenty of commentary interspersed.

Mail Fear

We got a piece of mail the other day. From the hospital where I had my surgery. KoD put it to one side. “It’s a bill” he said “and I really don’t want to know how much they want us to pay right now. I’ll open it when I feel ready.”

I was nosing around his office while I was chit chatting with him later and noticed the envelope. Hold up a second, I said, it’s addressed to me. (Well, duh. I  was the patient!!)

I asked him if he minded if I opened it. I promised I wouldn’t tell him the amount owed. Right. If you know me, you know I couldn’t have kept it to myself.

I opened it, and unfolded the papers with trepidation, looking for that big ominous word – TOTAL. Then I burst out laughing. It was a survey about my hospital stay. Not a word about money owed.

We had a good laugh….. but the next piece of mail from them probably won’t tickle us as much.

Day to Disconnect

DaytoDisconnect is a worldwide movement, spearheaded by Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein of Ohr Naava, which will take place on October 2, 2011. On that day thousands of people will voluntarily unplug their gadgets for some time – an hour, two or even all day. During this time, those who chose to disconnect will take pleasure in cherished relationships with spouses, children, family, self or G-d.

Our goal is accumulate a total of 1 million hours.

Join me on October 2nd in disconnecting to connect with some of the most important people in my life.

You can register and pledge hours (it’s free, of course!) right here:

And watch the awesome new video taking the web by storm here: