Good Appointment

This morning we got up and after

doing some quick chores,

we headed south to Wichita

for a follow-up appointment

with Rod's neurosurgeon. 

Dr. Steven Ericksen is apparantly

one of the best neurosurgeons in

the state of Kansas.

He has the bedside manner of a rock.

Thankfully, we got to meet with his

associate, Ryan.

Who was personable, pleasant, and

more than willing to spend time with

us and answer any questions we had.

He even let me take pictures of the

xrays!

Here's his fancy new hardware.

They took both straight on and side views.

He was really pleased with his progress.

Checked his incision and said it

was all healed up and he was cleared

to shower and not worry.

(At least for that incision, he has 2 more

holes from the tubes that we need to

get cleared on, but he looked at one

and said it had a good scab and we

should be ok with that one too...)

It was very informative!

The surgeon just told me he put in

6 screws, 3 on each side.

So it was interesting to see the other

hardware in there as well.

And if you look closely,

he said the vertebrae were crushed

and there were broken bones pointing

into the spinal column (which is bad...)

so they removed some of the bone from

the center, built the titanium cage and

then took the bone fragments, mixed

them with other bone from the bone bank,

and created a surround that, in about  

18 months, will fuse together and

be solid bone.

(At least that's how I understood what

he told us....)

Either way, he prescribed 

NO more brace while he is sitting in

his recliner.

And NO brace while he is riding

in the car!

Only needs the brace when he is

out walking around.

And that's what he wants him to be doing.

Walking.

Every day.

He was VERY HAPPY.

We had a good drive home (without

a brace!!! yea!!!)

We stopped in Salina at our favourite

little burger joint, Braums.

Shared a cheeseburger and mint chocolate

chip shake (hand dipped) and some fries.

We were home about 6:00.

We got a delivery!

I know I keep saying it, 

but it's the little things, y'all.