I always thought I looked better in profile.
Hopefully this will be my last messed-up-back post. Ever. With all the personality of a jaded cadaver, the neurosurgeon told me that i should consider surgery, but that I should try some anti-inflammation meds for a few weeks to see if they can reduce the swelling enough to relieve pressure on the nerve endings. Apparently if I mess up my back in the next few weeks, surgery will be my only option. But let’s not go there.
So the picture on the right is my spine. Oh, how much it’s grown since I saw it last! The white areas between the vertebrae are my discs. See the disc that’s not white? That’s the problematic bastard. Always problems with the non-whites, I tell ya. It’s all about cutting the black guy out. Conspiracies abound.
I’m told the problematic disc isn’t white because there’s no more fluid left in it (or something like that). I say give me a drill and a turkey baster and I can fix it myself in the comfort of my own home.
Anyway, it’s kind of neat seeing my insides. Even better that they don’t have to take them out in order to photograph them. I can’t find my lightbox for some reason, so to photograph these I had to tape them on my window. I’ve left some of the films up so they can cast a cheery glow on my work environment. It’s all I can do to protest the fact that there aren’t any spines in the usual sun-catcher catalog.
Two other pics in the extended entry.
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7 responses
Comment posted at 10:41 on Saturday, May 24, 2003
Sounds as if you got the medical attention just in time to possibly dodge knife work. I truly hope for you, that surgery can be forestalled. My sister had a neck-upper back fusion operation because of a pinched nerve in one arm that was threatening permanent nerve damage. It was disc degeneration. That was years ago. She’s quite okay now, all went well, but they usually do use cadaver bone tissue for the graft. Ask Selenium about the current worries about infected transplant tissue. I understand it is something to ask about these days, if you consider surgery. I believe they can use your own bone tissue, but that’s then a two site procedure. And two site healing. Finally, if your neurosurgeon is named Dr. Benway, look out.
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Comment posted at 10:52 on Saturday, May 24, 2003
Yeah, hopefully the knife (and fork and spoon, as the case may be) can be avoided. I’ve been very careful since my last visit to Dr. Kevorkian.
I mean Dr. No. I mean Dr. Jekyll. I mean…Dr. Who?
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selenium
Comment posted at 16:23 on Saturday, May 24, 2003
nice kidneys!
howdy from Galena….the boat’s not in the water :(
I’ll say hi to unkle S….. for you
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Comment posted at 08:40 on Sunday, May 25, 2003
Doctor Feelgood.
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The other mom
Comment posted at 09:37 on Sunday, May 25, 2003
Yikes!!!! You are too young to be having all these back problems. Hope you can avoid surgery.
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hotdamn
Comment posted at 10:25 on Sunday, May 25, 2003
looks like you should chew next time you eat a king snake.
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rick
Comment posted at 09:40 on Friday, June 06, 2003
with me it seems to be gall bladder season, hoping that the current back outage is only short-term. keep on lifting!
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