Cool song from my bro in law

Hopefully this will work correctly. If it does you should be able to click on the player below to listen to a track my Brother in law Chris recorded last year (I think).

The Harry Boogie.mp3

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You may have thought that I had a couple of screws loose....

Well, it turns out you were right. Well sort of anyway. I have been having a lot more pain in my neck lately, and I was worried that I had done something to damage another part of my back by over compensating for my neck. Well that remains to be seen but in my last visit to the doc for a status check and x-ray. The x-ray showed that one of the screws that are holding the plate in my neck to my bones has backed itself out a little. The doctor said I should not worry too much (that is easy for him to say) but it may be a sign that the bones are not fusing as well as we had hoped. He did however see fit to order another M.R.I. this time of my whole spine (not just my neck, as he had done before). So for now I am just having to up the pain meds for a while until it either clears up on its own or till the doc decides to take some other action. Either way there is not much I can do other then continue the stretching and resistance exercises that I have been doing all along. Hopefully this will be the last problem I have to deal with (with my neck anyway) and I can move on.
-Peace

Can I tell the future??

I have been wondering for a while now if I, that is my physical being, have the ability to foresee the future. I have noticed over the years that I am prone to body aches and pain in my back, neck and other joints just before a major change in atmospheric pressure. However, since first having surgery in 2000 on my spine and more recently last November having another similar operation in almost the same area, this acute sense has become even more sensitive. I have heard of other people who have the same sort of experience, but they usually say it is the rain or the snow or something like that. I however, feel that it is not the rain itself that is causing my discomfort but rather any change at all in the barometric pressure. I guess I am not 100% sure as to how it works but I am trying to pay closer attention to it and it just so happens that last Friday I was in a particularly great amount of pain (more then usual anyway) and I mentioned to my wife and her parents while we were at dinner that there must be a hell of a storm headed our way. The next couple of days saw a rare and historical event here in Atlanta, tornadoes!!! There were at least 3 for sure but the news stations have said that there may have actually been more. I guess from now on I will really try to remember to pay attention to my body's internal barometer and adjust my plans accordingly.

Take a look at My Daily Thread...

I would appreciate any feedback that may come to mind if you have had a minute to go and try out my new website "My Daily Thread" we have put a lot of time and energy into it but as with any new venture there is always room for improvement. Stop in and take a look, create an account (it's free of course) post some of your own "threads" and have fun reviewing and rating other peoples items. We have also written a companion app for Facebook that synchs up to MDT. Please try it out and tell your friends to check it out too.

Thanks a lot!!
-C

Another day another......

I guess all is well in Santoroland. Tomorrow is my 34th birthday and I am happy to say nothing is going on. I guess you could say I am a bit of a pessimist, but with the roller coaster ride I have been on for most of the last 30 or so years, I have learned to enjoy the rest periods. I know, boring!! But at least nothing bad is happening. Well not to me anyway. That is not to say that life has been uninteresting. Between my surgery and recovery which is going ok (not as good as I would hope but still ok), Suzy's having been put on the insulin pump, and the rest of the clan keeping up their normal high jinks, things are still quite lively. We are hoping to get to take some time off this summer for a much needed vacation. I am not too sure exactly where or when but I think we may try to do a nice long trip to visit various family members, my bro Frank and his family, Suzy's grandparents, Suzy's aunt Linda and uncle Jack and maybe we will squeeze in a little time to ourselves along the way. I know it is still a few months away at least but I am happily looking forward to it. Peace.

Work daze.

Thank goodness I am back working in the office for a change. I have spent the last several months working form home and recovering from my neck surgery, and I was starting to go nuts. I am back in the office and getting back to the routine of daily life surrounded by other people (not just our dogs). I must say I had really enjoyed working at the house and being relaxed on the sofa most of the day, but I guess I was starting to lose touch a little bit with reality. I had started going three or four days without shaving and sometimes almost that long without a shower too. So now I am getting back into the swing of things and feeling better too.
My physical therapist (for my neck problems) has had me doing a bunch of stretching and resistance work that has me thinking more about taking better care of myself. I have been taking some vitamins for a while now (about a year) and noticed that if I miss even a day or two of taking them I really feel the difference in my body. I can honestly say I will be doing my best from now on to keep the appropriate levels of vitamins in my system. For now I am taking one One a day mens, one 1000mg C, one 1000mg B12, and two 500mg Inosotol every day and I feel a lot better for it. I highly recommend it to anyone who just wants to feel better then they do now.

On and on and on and on....

Well still in the collar and now since I have been having pain more like what I was experiencing before the surgery I asked to have my appointment with the doc on an earlier date. Unfortunately the best they could do is one week earlier, and then they said I should stay in the collar the whole time until the doctor could take a look at me and see what the cause of the pain is. So, for now I hope to have the collar off by the end of next week. We will have to see, all I can say is thank god for Loritab.

2 More weeks.

A holiday and the start of a new year have gone by and here I am still in the torture device. Apparently my neck didn't look good enough at my last check up and x-ray so the doctor decided to have me stay in the collar for a few more weeks. I now have 2 weeks till he says I can take it off for real. I can't say how happy I will be to be able to turn my head again, but I am still a little apprehensive. I still have pain in my neck and right shoulder every day, some days are better then others but it can be pretty bad still so I am worried that it won't improve after I take off the cervical collar. I will have to just wait and see how it goes. I know it will take time either way.

5 more days till freedom (sort of anyway)

Yea!!! I get to finally take off (well in a few days) the neck restricting torture device, by that I mean the cervical collar I have been wearing for the last 5 weeks. I know it is important to my neck's proper healing, but I am really starting to get sick of it. I am just happy I didn't have to wear it in the heat of summer (I could expand on that thought but I would rather spare you all the yucky details). Anyway I am looking forward to being pain free for the first time in months. I guess I should add that I feel much better already but the c-collar does inflict its own pain, different from the pain of the damaged vertebral disk, but it seems that that will go away when I am done wearing it. The incision is healing up nicely but is still a little tender so I am trying to not touch it if I can help it.

10 days to go!!!

I can't tell you how much wearing this cervical collar sucks.
Anyway, all is well at the Santoro household, we put up our Christmas tree last night and we are looking forward to a fun party at our good friends Brian and Kelly Pechin's house tomorrow night. My friend Dan posted a funny video today on Facebook and I am posting it here for all to see! It really made me laugh.

Three weeks out

I am happy to say I am feeling pretty good most of the time. I still have a bit of pain but I think it is mostly from the collar itself, and it's resting on my neck. Now I am just trying to stick to what the doc says and keep the collar on all the time, with the exception of showering and a break now and then to wash the pads. I am trying to keep an open mind about it all and and just hang on a few more weeks.

One week later...

Well, here I am still alive and kicking, and working my way through the recovery process. It has been a lot different then I had expected. On the day of my surgery I expected to have to stay the night in the hospital for observation, but they decided that the operation went better then they had expected and I could go ahead and go home just a few hours after the surgery. I was very happy to hear that and I felt pretty good so, home we went. The doctor recommended that I try to do some walking as exercise so I took the dogs for a short walk in the neighborhood. I could tell afterwards that I had overdone it but it was too late to worry about that now. I had a very hard time getting comfortable in bed with the collar on so I did not get much sleep that night. The next day I was really feeling the pain for the first time, I guess I was still feeling the effects of the medicine the day before which was why I wasn't hurting too much. Oh well, lesson learned. I have been much more careful since then to pace myself and pay attention to my body. I am one week into my recovery now with five weeks to go in the cervical collar. I can't wait to see how things work out. I am really looking forward to a life without the constant nagging pain and without the daily need to take medication. I will however be very diligent in trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle all around. Suzy and I have agreed to stick to a better diet, and to getting more exercise. We hope that it will make our lives more enjoyable in the long run. We have also talked more about starting a family soon so we have that to help us towards our goals. I have been blessed with a wonderful wife and family who have really helped a lot in keeping a positive attitude and providing support for us in this rough time. Thank you all for everything you have done for us, from the kind thoughts and prayers to the nice visits and helping out financially. We are very grateful. Below is a link to my PhotoBucket album with pictures from the hospital and afterwards at home, feel free to check them out at your leisure or if you prefer just go to this page http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z86/C_Santoro/Neck%20Surgery%20Pix/

-peace

Surgery photos

Photobucket Album

Twelve hours and counting...

8am tomorrow I will be counting backwards from one hundred. The way I feel tonight, I wish I was already under. As it is, I am not. I am headed out for a bite, and hopefully early to sleep (if I can sleep anyway) with a 6am wake up time. I don't feel much like writing so I am going to leave it at that. Hopefully I will have an interesting story and maybe some cool photos too, come Wednesday afternoon. Wish me luck!!

Medication.....

I was reminded recently of an old saying, it is easier to sell aspirin then it is to sell vitamins, or some variance of that. I also had a co-worker once who, referring to his wife, always finds it easier to ask for forgiveness rather then permission. I guess they are not the same but they are in the same neighborhood. There is probably lot that can be said about both of these sayings, but I am interested in the perplexing relationship I have with my own medication. I take the pills the doctor prescribes to ease my pain, but now the dosage keeps me awake at night. Staying awake means moving around, moving around means more (or worse) pain to deal with. More pain means more pills, and so on and so on.... So, here I am. Sitting on the sofa, watching whatever I can find on t.v. and trying very hard not to smoke (which in itself is quite a challenge while on the pain meds). This sucks. I am happy to be on the "taking vitamins" side of things now, or am I?? I guess I could argue it either way. As to the other saying I can't understand that one from either side. I suppose that is because I have a relatively unique outlook and experience on that side of things. I am just tired of this current crap storm. I think I am going to go for a drive to keep from going nuts.