I spoke to my neurosurgeon today for my pre-op meeting. For those who aren’t following along… I’m scheduled for a L4-L5 spinal fusion on Monday morning.

Apparently, there’s been a change in plans, and he’s now going to be coming in from the back rather than going in from the side. This means that I need to wear a brace during the healing process.

We had to rush downtown to the company that makes the braces so that I could get measured from every direction. Everything from the height of my nipples to how far my stomach sticks out had to be written down. Great fun!

I also got the full skinny on what they’re going to do. It basically involves deck screws and wedges.

Here are some pictures:

Wedges (well… they’re called “cages”), filled with a synthetic auger and my own bone marrow

Oh yeah… I’m gonna get screwed! These damn things are long!!

And finally… a picture from the back side. I’m gonna be built with Kenex! (ignore the “bone graft” they show in this image… I don’t get that)

I’ll be in the hospital for 3 – 4 days. Don’t forget to send flowers and/or beer (lots of the latter please!!)

I did ask if they could video tape the procedure but was told that they wouldn’t. Apparently, some woman who had taped her surgery sued because she found the conversation between her neurosurgeon and his assistant durring her surger offensive (hell… she was under at the time… and they weren’t even talking about her). They just don’t do it at my office.

Today is a bad day for me.

Perhaps if I eat some kittens….

I love my DSL!

Sure, cable modems are fast… but they don’t allow you to have servers on them for things like webhosting (at least they don’t in Spokane). They also cap your upload speed fairly low (which can suck with multiple connections to online games).

Recently, Qwest (aka: those lying bastards) actually followed through for once and gave me an upgrade to my 640kbs line. According to them, it’s now a 1.5mbs line with up to 1mbs upload. The best part was… it was a free upgrade (it isn’t any more… you have to pay a one time $9.99 processing fee to get it). I did have to buy a new router (an Actiontec – which blows), but you can rent them for $3 a month (or pay $60 to buy it).

I ran a few tests tonight through various servers across the net and they’re all pretty much in agreement. It’s actually a little faster than it shows, as the server is hit pretty much all day and all night (sucking away some of my performance).

Life is good.

On another note… tonight is my last night of graveyard. This is probably a good thing, as my wife is getting rather irritated with the alarm clock going off at 1am (and me not hearing it).

Of course, I’m not going to get much sleep tomorrow. I have to go to Holy Family hospital for my pre-surgery screening, then off to my Doctor’s office for some lab work. The joys of preparing for a surgery! We’re also heading out tonight to Good Times to watch some band or another. See you there!

The webcam is on again tonight… though it’s probably pretty damn boring to watch. If it’s between the hours of 1:00 am and 9:00 am PST, you just might get to look at the back of my head. Oh, the excitement!!

I called my old high school a couple of weeks ago to inquire about my 20th class reunion (class of ’84… yeah, I’m old).

I wasn’t able to go to my 10th reunion because I was poor beyond belief (college has done wonders to my income!).

Today, I got an email from “Connie” (who’ll I’ll have to look up in my year book) giving me the skinny of the upcoming event.

It takes place in my home town of Huron, SD on July 2 & 3. It looks like we’ll be meeting at the Elks (where ever the hell that is) on Friday, then on Saturday we’re going to Lake Ravine in the morning, the the Sportsman’s Club (again… I have no idea where the hell that is either) in the evening. There’s also the mention of a possible golf outing… so I’m gonna need to bring my clubs.

I hope they provide maps.

Of course, the whole trip depends on how my back heals up from the surgery I have scheduled for the monday after next.

I haven’t been back to Huron in 20 years. I doubt anyone I still know (or care to see) still lives there. I’ve decided to just speend the weekend there, then head back to the Black Hills to play the tourist (Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Deadwood, etc.). At least that part for sure should be fun!

My surgery is scheduled 12 days from today (the Monday after next).

I have two pre-surgery appointments prior to “fillet of Tone” day… one on Friday, and the other next Tuesday. combine that with all the lab work I have to get done prior to my surgery, and you’ve got one busy boy.

Wheeee… fun!

The whole working the graveyard shift is nearly done. I’ve been working it for the past week and a half and after today only have two shifts left. I can’t state enough how much this shift blows. It’s screwed up when I take my meds, bringing my back to a roiling boil, and I’m living on sleep deprivation.

Next week, I’ll be in the office working a normal shift (thank God!).

To pass the time… I’ve been making fun of my brother-in-law over on my forum. Take a peek at it, register an account, and I’ll make fun of you too! (or, perhaps not… my choice).

I’ve also been trying to pull down episodes of Red vs. Blue from the official website. Since they only post a few at a time, it’s pretty frustrating. If anyone out there knows where there’s an unofficial repository with all the episodes in the dvix avi format… let me know.

And finally… I know I promised to get my webcam running…. but I’ve run into a snag. I can’t find the damn thing. Apparently, I put it someplace or another but for the life of me can’t figure out where. I’ll look some more and will hopefully find it today.

– fin –