Grand Canyon

Hey everyone!

I have 4 days until my one year post-op anniversary. I can't believe it. I'm vacationing in Arizona right now and 2 days ago I hiked 1 1/2 miles down into the Grand Canyon and 1 1/2 miles back up and my back felt GREAT! Ok, my legs hurt, but whose wouldn't. Here's a picture!

Airport

My back set off the metal detector in the airport! I brought my x-rays, but the rude TSA lady said, "Those will do you no good." Anyway, the lady wanded me up and down my back and said, "You have metal up and down her back." I laughed and said, "That is what I've been trying to tell you and show you - I have 2 18-inch metal rods holding my spine together!" LOL - she finally let me go. :)

I'm flying again tomorrow, so we'll see what that holds for me. :) I'm almost one year post-op. Believe me - I'll write again then, if not before.

It has been forever, I know

Hi everyone,
Yes, I'm still alive! A dear, supportive, scoli friend reminded me that I should not let this blog die. I haven't been purposefully neglecting it - my life has just been crazy busy. I passed all of my doctoral exams last week and now am ABD (All But Dissertation), which is really exciting. It has been very stressful with TONS of studying, plus all my other work and teaching to say the least, which is mostly why I haven't written. When I'm done studying, grading, etc. I usually just end up falling asleep. It has been a big year - between surgery and finishing my doctoral work in musicology. I'm glad I did it though. In a few days I will be 11 months post-op! Woo hoo. My tailbone is still giving me lots of problems, although I am doing quite a bit of physical therapy for it. They found a tumor (benign) in my left femur, which they are watching, and last week I ended up in the ER (2 days before my exams) with a nasty virus that mimicked the symptoms of appendicitis. Life is never boring, that is for sure.
School ends in two weeks, and my husband and I are celebrating my 1 year post-op anniversary as well as our wedding anniversary by going to the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. I'm very excited and can't wait for some respite.
I will try to be better about updating the blog.
Best wishes to all (if I have any readers left :)

It has been way too long . . .

since I last posted a blog. Bad me. I've been travelling around seeing family for the holidays and in the meantime am now 7 months post-op. :) Yes, me, travelling on planes and in cars, and walking a couple miles a day! :) I actually haven't taken any pain meds in quite a few days, maybe even a week. Granted. I still have to lay down a couple times a day and still have pain, but not enough currently to warrant pain pills. I was a little disappointed that my family (in-law side) didn't really comment on how well I was doing post-op, but then again, they never knew just how bad I was! I'll have to wait to see my mom to get the "Congratulations - you look like a human being again!"

Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the New Year. Blessings to those who will go through surgery this year and all those still recovering.