skutsch

75 Tique wrote: Just have to recollect here, your 247 LLBD attempts in the frigid water last fall. Man, I admire your perseverence.

had to laugh at this one Larry...

sure glad to hear that it is moving along as smooth as possible

now about that "itch I just can't reach"....where?



john

jbear wrote: dang computers. john

F12 John, always hit F12

Steve, glad things are ahead of schedule, all the best on an even speedier than expected recovery. At this pace maybe they'll be wrong about your skiing too.

Steve, I missed this completely, haven't been on as much lately. Best of luck with the recovery, you'll continue to be ahead of schedule all the way!

And I want to learn to barefoot at 52 ...........

Man Steve, that's a tough break.   Keep up the healing! sounds like you're on the right track.

Ok guys, time for another update. Had a follow up visit on Monday (it's been six weeks already). So it appears that the healing continues, although it is difficult to see a lot of progress from the x-rays. For the second time, he indicated a 3 month window instead of his original assessment of 6 months so that is positive, but he also warned that it is a wait and see assessment. I go back in 6 weeks. Oh, my doctor came in and now addresses me as "The Indestructible Man" I thought that was pretty funny - he is such an awesome doc!

I did get copies of all my films, so here are some before and after shots. I probably won't leave these up for a real long time.

This first picture is a CAT scan, it shows one of the 3 or 4 fractures that I had on a number of vertebrae.


Remember this is a CAT scan so it represents slices or cross sections of the body. So this also illustrates how I was also able to displace the vertebrae, the fracture is to one of the facets on the spine. These facets act to hold the vertebrae stacked in place. Essentially I sheared these facets off, which allowed the vertebrae to become displaced as shown in this next slice (CAT scan again). This is probably the worst displacement, it is approximately 40% displaced - This is where the Docs, all go, "we can't figure out how you survived this (Miracle 1), let alone walking around (Miracle 2)"


This also is a pretty good visualization of how screwed up my spine was. There should be a little bit of a curve here, but nothing like what you see.

Finally some shots of the post operative work. You can see the rods and screws they have installed to keep everything stable until the bone grows back. Once the bone grows back all those vertebrae will be fused essentially creating a super vertebrae, from T1 to C5.


And this is a front view:


So thats the update, I probably won't leave these pics up here, maybe a week or two. Anyway continuing to get stronger every day. Not much pain anymore, just discomfort from the brace, pressure points from where it hits the head when sleeping, stiff neck, etc, that kind of stuff.

Oh, the gloves are off on the jokes, so have it. Morfoot started it and I have seen a few others. Heck thats part of the fun, still chuckling from "The indestructible man" comment. So lets here 'em! Thanks again for all the support!

Morfoot wrote: Thanks for the update bro. Chin up ....Oh wait.... it already is!

Haha, awesome!

Keep up the good work Steve! Great to hear you're recovering well.

Nice progress. You can hold your head high! You might need to put a swivel on your drivers seat so you can turn to see your skiers!

And are they indexed?

wow...those were hard to look at...

john

Makes my neck hurt just lookin at it...keep up the super recovery

Your inside bacerds look a bit discombobulated.

Well look at it this way, could have been much worse, imagine if you would have fallen crotch first we would all be looking at pics of your package

Keep on Keepin on your Rapid Recovery

HA! These are good ones guys, keep em coming. I am a firm believer that laughter and humor are some of the best secrets to healing.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I did get clear to fly, so I am actually out on my first business trip. It does not happen without a lot of planning though, have to have someone to carry my bags on both ends etc, arrange for a driver, but it was a pretty critical meeting. Oh and Tim, you were right TSA didn't know what to do with me, despite calling and giving them a heads up. They ended up having to do a pat down and chemical/explosives test on exposed part of the brace.

Lastly, the meeting is in Traverse City, MI - beautiful place by the way, looking forward to bringing the boat up here to explore. But as I pulled into the city limits, I happened upon someone pulling a Black Stripe BFN, first one of those I have ever seen (BLack stripe). So if it was anyone on here, it sure was a welcome site.

Steve WHEN you do get back to slalom you'll have an advantage as far as keeping the eyes and head level, and upper body quiet! That's one of the hardest parts and now it's built in.

bet you enjoyed the "pat down on exposed parts"....


john

How goes it Steve?