Among my blessings are all of YOU here who gather around anyone in need at anytime, such as for the special needs of Eva, Yellow, Saffy, Tara, Sophie, and Jenna- oh, yes there are others, but then nearly everyone would need to be named [but I pray for all whether your name appeared here or not].

The number of surgeries is just a reality in reassembling Humpty Dumpty as I was in a high speed rearender on I-70 one busy morning on the way to the airport to attend a court hearing in L.A. My car was a wrinkled mess, and I was so dazed by the concussion no officer or EMTtackled me to tell me I was riding in an ambulance. Interestingly, being thus dazed, I drove my undrivable car with the exhaust dragging on the ground and the body digging into the tires to the dealer, called my wife and asked her to come get me. The concussion was one of the worst first indicators, with the headache being nearly unbearable.

Cauda Equina.... everything below my waist stopped functinoing, period. No means to eliminate, no means to walk, I crawled to our bed. The pain made me scream constantly and spasms occurred so frequently, I could not count.

This precipitated my emergency/urgent back surgery the first time, then when I awoke I was lit up like a Christmas tree, tubes here and there, ventilator running, and that full strength morphine pump which just kept injecting me on schedule so pain was managed.

Having learned how to stifle screaming with a pillow and not wanting to freak out my family, at home I used a pillow. In hospital I asked for a washcloth, rolled it up, and bit down on it so screams would be muffled post op. It worked well. They allowed me to take it home as a souvenir.

All of those things began in mid 2005 right after the wreck and progressed over the course of 5 years when my God gift of the Boston Scientific SCS was allowed to me..... but then that is another story.

Thank you Ginnie for being such a caring YOU, my blessing,
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