Going home! (Lisa....you have to log in to read this one)

The hospital blog, Or, "Daddy, why does your leg move differently?"

The surgery
As I have blogged about before, the actual name for my surgery was called a "Resection of a lumbar Schwannoma". Sounds awesome, right? When I was backstage (in pre-op), the procedural name, on the surgery list, was listed as a myelinectomy. The big and small of it all is that there was a tumor that was located on (what was then thought) the L4 (Lumbar) nerve root. From the Pre-op scans, it was thought that this was a singular, non vascular tumor that could be resected in 2-4 hours, because everyone knows that a Schwannoma is an o overgrowth of the myelin sheathing covering the nerves (made up of Schwann cells).

The Variation
Well, it turns out that this tumor was a wholly vascular tumor that affected the L-4 and L-5 nerve roots. The surgery took 6 hours and I ended losing about 2 liters of blood. Gross, right. That's a Coke from little Caesar's. Gross. The doctor ended up having to cut the L-5 nerve which has created a "neural deficit" in my left leg. But, praise God, they were able to get the entire tumor! So, any areas that the tumor was affecting prior (put your hand underneath your belly button, and think of all the "parts" down there!) are now unaffected. Phantom pain and numbness in that area is not going to be there, which makes me pretty happy. Fidelity folks, that means no more pillow in my chair at my desk. Woo! The bummer is that there will be pretty extensive physical therapy on my left foot to get the sensation and function back. I may just walk with a limp. On a side note, I have decided that if I have to get a cane, I will get a sweet Fedora to go along with it. I may even have a stainless steel sword built into it so I can destroy any spies I come across.

The Lesson
If there is not an ensemble cast of people around me that love me, then there are a great deal who "like me a lot". My family too. I was drenched in well wishes and thoughts and prayers from everyone. Old friends who we haven't seen in ages offered to watch our kids (thanks Christy and thanks Liz), new friends who have offered everything to make us just as comfortable as possible. It is really humbling, and I cant express to each and every one of you how important your thoughts and prayers were and are to us. I gave a very specific list of prayer requests, and they were covered and all of our needs have been met. Thank you, thank you, thank you. My "whatsapp" buddies helped me through low med time (Joel and Desiree).
I am grateful. So very grateful.

So, if you see me in the future, you likely won't see me focused on any disability that i might have - I'll probably just thank you for your help. And i mean it. The next time i write will likely be from my home. I can't wait to be there with my wife and kids and dumb dogs and cats.
Thank you for all your help. I mean it!

I don't have to change the cat potty either. :-). Doctors orders!