My Upcoming Surgery

I’ll be having back surgery at 5:30 A.M., at UAB’s North Pavilion, this coming Friday, September 21. It’s an L5-S1 fusion.

Basically, they remove the disc between my vertebra and sacrum (tailbone), replace it with cadaver bone (bone from some unfortunate dead person kind enough to have made a donation of his body parts), and then screw it all together with titanium screws. Over time, it all merges into one much-less painful bone. At least, that’s the plan.

This is important to you, dear readers, for several reasons.

I may be laid so low I won’t be able to post much for a while. Or I may be so bored I’ll post more than ever. I really don’t know. Please do keep checking by. Having a high hit count would be a great encouragement during my recovery!

I know I’ll be in the hospital for about 4 days and then have a recovery of 2 to 4 weeks. I’ll have to wear a brace for 10 weeks or so.

Any way, please keep me in your prayers. I think I have the best possible surgeon, but I’d rather put my confidence in the Great Physician himself, and that requires prayer.

PS–That really cool drawing, which illustrates exactly how my back feels, is from the site of a Christian artist you might enjoy.