KTM Freeride E @ erzberg pt.2

New front porch going up and My Dad at Thanksgiving for the first time in 35+ years

Update

I wanted to give an update on my surgery. I arrived at 6:00 am Tuesday and got registered and prepped with no problem. I want into surgery around 8:30 am and was done around 10:50. Dr Loesch told Helen everything went well. He said there was allot of movement and he was glade we decided to go through with the surgery. He said I was taking a real chance every day by not having it done. He said there was quite a bit of bleeding during the procedure because of the location of the incision. It is in a place where there is allot of muscle which hold more blood vessel's than a less dense area.after that After that they gave me pain meds and took me to a room. later that day a physical therapist came to see me and put me through some simple movements, She showed me how to do things like lay down and get up without damaging my neck. Also an occupational therapist came in and showed me how to get dressed, putt on my socks ect. I was walking the halls that day. I was pretty tired out and just needed to get some sleep. This is when things got worse. I woke up around 3Am with really bad chest pains. I woke Helen up and she got a nurse. They did an EKG and a chest xray. Finally they determined there was water in/on my lungs. They say it happens when a breathing tube is used because it causes irritation and your body channels fluid to the site, so it affected my lungs which was causing the chest pain.It took most of the night and next morning to get the pain under control. I would not wish that kind of pain on anyone. It was pretty bad. I was amazed how it came on so quickly.After that it was get my numbers stabilized. They had trouble with my oxygen level. I had to be on it for three days. I had no appetite the whole time I was there. I just checked my weight today and am down 15 lbs. I was nauseous the whole time because of having to be on anesthesia for such a long time. Didn't go to the bathroom other than urinate till I got home. Went 4 days without washing my hair or showering. They didn't want me to shower because I was wearing a heart monitor and that would screw that up. After 3 and one half long days I finally got to come home. Now I am just resting and trying to get things back to normal.Its going to be 12 weeks until a full recovery and it looks like I will be in the hard collar the whole time.Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers. You all definitely helped me through this.Still a ways to go but its going to be for the better.

Update

I wanted to post an update about my surgery. I am scheduled to have the surgery on Tuesday the 18th at St. Vincents. I am told it takes about an hour and a half to complete and after that I will be in the hospital for 1-2 days. They will go in and insert 2 screws in each of my 1st and 2nd vertebrae and attach rods crisscrossing like an X between them. Then they rough up the bone and take a piece out of my hip and attach it behind the "X" and let it grow the 2 vertebrae together. Dr. estimates it will take about 12 weeks to completely recover and I am going to lose some range of motion in my neck. Looks like I will be home for the Holidays Ha ha..

We are Farmers!!

Elk Video

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Update Oct 5th

I have surgery scheduled for Nov. 18th. Dr. Loesch is going to fuse the fracture. I guess he goes in from the back and uses 2 screws to fuse them together. I don't have any pain, just some tingling and numbness in my left index and middle finger and forearm. I am ready for this to be over.

Update

Well, Weds (Sept 10th) at 2:00 I am scheduled for a ct scan at St Vincent. I am seeing Dr. Loesch who is part of Dr. Daltons group. He wants to get an idea of when exactly the fracture occurred on my vertebrae He thinks it may be an old fracture. I really don't remember any other time when I could have done it other than another dirt bike crash about 2 or three years ago. I guess that will determine what course of treatment he will recommend.
     I did see Dr. Macielak last week and he put me in a soft collar and gave me some excersises to do. I still have numbness in my index and middle finger as well as my forearm. I also still have pain in my arm from time to time, although it is not as bad as before. It seems to occur when I remove the collar. I don't have any pain in my neck what so ever. I am thinking I will at least start some light cardio on the bike next week. This doing nothing is driving me crazy and I feel like a slug. No golf for at least three weeks.

Upate #2

I went to a neurologist in Erie today who looked at my MRI results. He thinks that possibly the fracture is from something that happened awhile ago. He ordered a cat scan because it shows bone better than an MRI. He will look at it and probably have me get a flex X-ray also. That is where they have me put my neck in different positions and x-ray them. He also saw some bone spurs. He feels that most likely I can get better with physical therapy. He did say there were herniated discs. I really don't feel I know anything more now than when I went up there. We will see what happens after the cat scan.

Update

Saw my family doctor yesterday. She explained what was going on with my neck. Basically my neck is kind of a mess. In addition to the fracture, all the vertebra in my neck are hernieated.  This means that they are pushing down on each other and thats whats causing my pain. All the nerves come down the spinal column and out to the extremities. Right now I am on meds to get the pain and inflammation under control. I have an appt with Dr Macielak Sept 2nd. I also am getting an appt with Dr. Dalton to get his opinion.
   So far I'm being told they can treat this with medication. I may have to get injections at some point. Surgery is kind of a last resort if everything else fails.  

Now What!!

Well, about 6 weeks ago my son Dave and I went dirt bike riding for fathers day. I had an incident where I was rounding a corner and did'nt notice a low handing branch over thrall. I hit my head pretty hard and was thrown off the bike. ( I was wearing a helmet). I was worried about a concussion but didn't have any symptoms so I didn't get anything checked out. I did go to the chiropractor and get adjusted. All was fine unit last week. On Friday I was in the finals of the annual strength  contest at Bill Lawrences gym. It was a very strenous contest but I finished it with no problems. Didn't win but still felt good about my performance. I felt fine the rest of the week. Then Wednesday I helped my sister Suzy move some things because she sold her house and was under the gun to get her stuff out by Friday. Then on Thursday morning about 4 AM I woke up to severe chest pain and pain shooting down my left arm. Needless to say I woke my wife and rushed off to the emergency room. They ran all the cardiac tests and found nothing wrong with my heart (Thank God). I told them about my bike accident so they ordered neck x-rays which showed nothing.Then then ordered an MRI. It turns out I have a fracture in one of my neck vertebra. Probably the strength contest and the moving caused thing to flare up. They put me in the neck brace immediately and contacted a neurosurgeon. Dr Macielak looked at the MRI and decided the best treatment would be to manage the pain and inflammation with medication. The disks are bulging and pushing on my nerves causing the pain in my left arm. The meds should bring the swelling down and relieve the pain. I need to see Macilak in a couple of weeks and he will determine what more to to if anything at that time. I was told my neck is a mess and was lucky I wasn't paralyzed with all the activity I have done in the last couple of weeks. All I can do now is wait and see if the meds work and stay in this brace  so the fracture will heal correctly. Right now I still have quite a bit of pain in my left arm. Hopefully the drugs will take care of that. 

My Ugly Golf Swing

id

Screamin' Eagle Part 2/2

Dream Team 2014

Dave and Kristy's rehearsal evening

Dream Team 2014