Saw the Neurosurgeon & he showed us the CT and Gallium scan results, all very pretty until it sinks in the truly lit up areas are where the problems lie. Lots and lots of problems.. the risks of this op are tripled due to all the stomach issues I have had, if they can get through the stomach then he will proceed to cage L3 which is disintegrated and L4, remove a screw embedded in the vertebrae and protruding into the disc space, attempt to get the old 1994 embedded one out and apparently the S1L5 fusion has failed. I had to have extra X-rays yesterday of the sacrum region, something wrong there as well. In general he is amazed my spine has held up as well as it has given all that's going wrong, he expressed surprise I can walk reasonably well on some days and even more so I can manage to work.

He truly outlined the seriousness of the operation detailing what can go wrong. Seeing as many of the what can go wrong has happened to me in previous operations DB was all ears and paid closer attention to the scans and paid far more attention than he has in previous years gone by.
We called into my office on the way home so he could get my laptop and carry it in and out of the house so I can work from home today after I've taken mum for her new hearing aid tests. The young admin girl enquired how the consult went, he met her the day the ambulance was called. DB bluntly said it's bad, it's big, dangerous but we've no option it has to be done. To leave it will result in the 2 problematic screws reaching the spinal cord. They have to come out.

Anyway the good news works electrician has picked up my printer and tray from the office and will install it this afternoon so I can get far more work done from home and will only need to attend the office to actually file paper away or attend office meetings.

The head of HR is coming to WA the day after I get back from Broome, I will still be on annual leave but she has said she hopes to catch up for coffee. Depending on how I feel maybe. My colleague and I still feel our jobs are not secure and last week we officially have been bought back under the HR umbrella again. I might cut my annual leave short from the 5 days to 3 seeing as I will need all the hours I can get post surgery. If I run out of sick pay and holiday pay my superannuation salary continuance will kick in so we will still have money coming in. Hopefully my really high medical and medication bills will be significantly reduced after this coming procedure. I've paid out over $5000 in the last week just in X-ray, ultrasound and imaging. I will get a fair amount of that back from my insurance once I claim it, I'm waiting on getting all the receipts back so I can put the claims in. They were supposed to email them but nope not arrived, I will have to ring them today and enquire where they have gone to. If they come by post the wet weather is really heavy atm and the letterbox fills with water and snails. Mail box has to be checked twice daily and with us going away on Saturday I am not confident I can rely on the girl house/pet sitting to clear the mail box. She's a good girl, but like most her age a letterbox is something antique and unattended.

And finally I should have added before, because of the seriousness of this operation and the amount of surgeons and staff required to assist, the gap between what my insurer Medibank will cover will be significant - even though I have top cover, he emphasised twice significant!. He suggested I get the nevro reps to contact the general surgeon to discuss the diothermy to be used in the procedure, apparently only one kind can be used on account of the SCS unit, the other kind will cause significant problems.

So much to do and in not much time but I am glad both DB and I have the chance to have a holiday break before the serious stuff starts. This Saturday will have been far to soon, not to mention Sunday will be 6 years since dad passed away. So no, mid September is looking better for me all round.