Margo's Back is Back

Update: Dec 3 Day after Margo's back surgery

Some good news!   Margo called this morning from the hospital. 
     "My pain is totally gone and even the numbness.  I was up a couple of times to go to the bathroom with a walker and nurse, but no problems walking at all and no pain. The surgeon came by early this morning and said everything went great.  They said I can come home tomorrow--no rehab center needed.  I can walk better than I did for the past several months!"  

  Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers and support.  It looks like the outcome was about the best of all possible ones.  I can't speak highly enough of Mayo Clinic and the people who work there.

Dec 2 Update
Margo has been gradually having back difficulties showing up as sciatica (pinched nerve making it pains in the leg).  Things were tolerable until about June of this year when the pain rapidly got worse.
  
  After trying various pain killers and steroid shots without improvement she had surgery on her back today.  We just talked to the surgeon who said he did a "decompression."  He had thought maybe a fusion of vertebrae would be necessary -- a complex and slow recover surgery, but after wading in did the less invasive surgery.  He was quite sure he fixed it well and that she would recover decently and be reasonably normal by February, and by March be ready to carry sap buckets. 

I think she will be in the hospital 2 days and maybe a week in a rehab center, but not sure until we see how she deals with the surgery.  

I do most of my "immediate" updates on facebook, so if you want to friend me there you can find out more details as they happen.  I include my posts from today here. 

Margo's back surgery is almost complete--only sewing up the opening left. The surgeon talked to us
-- things went very good
-- did the decompression (the milder surgery).
-- lots of arthritis in her back and spurs -- all cleaned up
-- she should be fully functional by February, but sore before that
-- next time she should have the surgery before things get so bad (of course surgeons always believe that surgery is the answer to everything!)

Have to go now. They have a special deal --like taking out your own stitches, only if a family member does the closing (the sewing) get 10% discount on the surgery. Scott and I flipped for it, and I am doing it. Think I will use a cross stitch with red and green silk....

MG0.ETSYSTATIC.COM

We are headed to St Mary's hospital for Margo's back surgery this morning. She has to be there about 9 am. Surgery is probably not until 11 am. Yesterday the surgeon said there is a good chance that she may have decompression without fusion--a simpler surgery with a shorter recovery time, but until he was in surgery wouldn't know for sure. The decompression is sort of a clean, sand, putty and lube versus a lot of welding of structural parts.
The doctor, knowing she grew up on a farm, compared her back to an old barn where the roof structure was sagging and the rafters damaged. Good analogy as we have been fixing the farm barn all fall.