The "Operation #3" Story

It was an ordinary day. I was headed to the hospital for operation #3. My back this time. For years I had this pain in my back. I thought it started when I lifted a monstrous air conditioner into my window on Janet Ave. Never went away so my doctor sent me to physical therapy, had an Xray, more physical therapy, did home stretching routines, more physical therapy then finally after years of pain in the lower back was referred to Dr G. at the Lancaster NeuroScience and Spine Associates. After examination he made arrangements for me to visit a physical therapist. Not Again! I gave it one more try. Tim K., the physical therapist and a longtime friend was glad for the business, but didn't know anything more to do to help me. He tried a few new things and after six weeks told me to go back to the surgeon again. This time Dr. G. ordered a CAT scan of my lower back. A week later Carol and I were called to his office. This time it was a different message. "See here, in the lower back, are these little white things. They are bone fragments floating around in your back. I believe that is what is causing the pain. We will have to remove them surgically to eliminate the pain." "Let's get it done then," I told him. He had his secretary schedule me for surgery and three weeks later I am headed to the Lancaster General Hospital. Check through admissions and given a room with a view. Can see the entire way to the Lancaster Train Station from my window. Next day they take me early in the morning to the operating room. Give me a shot and I'm out. Next thing I know I'm in recovery. No pain in my back at all. Wow! But, the doctor told my wife while I was in recovery that the reason I have pain is arthritis. He couldn't decide what the white marks were on the CAT scan. Maybe someone dropped some white-out on it in the office. He scrapped and broke off as much of the arthritis as he could and stitched me back up again. I asked if the pain would come back again. "After the anesthetic wears off in about a day, we'll see if you have pain," he said. I also asked if the arthritis was totally gone. He told me that he did his best, but it will return. "You will know when it does," he said. "May be a year, five years or longer, but it will return." But for now it feels great. When I looked out my hospital room window I could see all the way to the train station. Without my glasses! My eye doctor said that with some people, their vision is affected like that. If only they could produce a pill that would duplicate the results I was having, I wouldn't need glasses! I take pills for everything else, why not this. In a day the anesthetic wore off and my vision was back to normal, but the pain in the back was mostly gone. Wow!! The soreness was from the stitches. Took about two weeks for recovery from the operation. I was told not to drive during this time. Well, those of who know me, know I don't listen very well. Yep, hopped in the car to visit Keith at the gallery where I work and.......someone ran into me in the parking lot. Murphy's Law, right. I did have my seatbelt on at the time. Doc never found out, though. It's been over ten years, the pain has slowly returned, but I am controlling it with medication now. At first with prescription meds, but when I found that Tylenol Arthritis works as well, I switched. Not as bad on my liver as the prescription was. My wife has started to complain that she also has a pain. It comes and goes, but it's not in her back and Tylenol doesn't help much. It's in her a**. It's ME! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.