Ma van's latest medical escapade

Ma wanted to see the same specialist Elizabeth and I saw. (hoping for an operation I think) :)
Well he booked her in for a pain block procedure-you go into theater and get 24 injections in the back near the nerves that exit the spine - a sort of long term local anesthetic or something. She is now pain free and moving around with ease. The mom is peeling and skinning a few ruby grapefruits for me like she used to do for Graeme. She also says you must make her a lace thingie and send it to her so she can see what you are making.

My Turn for a back problem

Well I Took Elizabeth to the Docter for a follow up on her operation and happened to mention that I have back problem as well, so he sent me for an immediate MRI. As a result I find that I have Spinal Degenerative Spondilosis and also Spinal Stenosis and Arthritis and enlarged ligaments (whatever those are) Below is a bunch of info on it all. I hope I do not have to have an operation.

About Degenerative Spondylosis

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By Lori Newell, eHow Contributing Writer

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About Degenerative Spondylosis

Degenerative spondylosis also called degenerative disk disease or osteoarthritis of the spine, is a condition that affects the spinal column. It creates changes in the disks that separate the vertebra in your back. It can lead to many symptoms and create disability. Understanding what happens with this disease will help you to choose the right form of treatment and manage your symptoms.

Identification

1. Your spinal column is made up of bones called vertebrae that are separated by disks. The disks provide a space between the vertebrae allowing your spine to move. With degenerative spondylosis this space becomes smaller. With age the disks begin to shrink naturally and the vertebrae may develop bony spurs or growths. See the picture above. These degenerative changes put pressure on the nerves around the spine. It can happen in the neck (cervical), mid back (thorasic) or low back (lumbar) areas.

Causes

2. Some degenerative changes that happen in the spine are a normal part of aging. Bones change with wear and tear and the disks naturally lose fluid with age. In some people for reasons not well understood, this process is worse then others. Degenerative spondylosis can also occur after an injury, it can be genetic or secondary to another medical condition.

Symptoms

3. The symptoms you experience will vary based on where in the spine the degnerative spondylosis is, and the severity of the condition. There may be pain and stiffness in the back, or pain that radiates to other areas. There may be numbness, tingling or muscle weakness in the arms and legs. You may lose range of motion in the spine and have trouble turning your head, or with twisting and bending motions. If the damage presses on nerves that send signals to the intestines, you may have problems with digestion and bowel movements. Some people with degenerative spondylosis have no symptoms at all and in others the symptoms are severe.

Diagnosis

4. Degenerative spondylosis can be diagnosed by providing your physician with a complete medical history of your symptoms and a physical examination. In the later stages of this condition, x-rays can be used to see changes in the spinal column. MRI's are helpful to show damage to surrounding m,muscle or tissues. Your doctor will also do routine blood tests to rule out any other conditions that might be causing your symptoms.

Treatments

5. The first stage in treatment is to see if your symptoms can be managed with non surgical techniques. Loosing weight to take pressure off the spine is essential. The right exercise program will help to improve your flexibility and strengthen the muscles in your back. Your physical therapist can help you to design the right program and show you what exercises to avoid. Inactivity is discouraged as this can lead to blood clots and muscle weakness. Ice and heat therapy can help, as well as massage and acupuncture. If your pain is severe, medication may be used. In extreme circumstances when you can no longer walk or the pain is unbearable, surgery can be tried to take pressure off the nerves
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   Spinal Stenosis

   Spinal Stenosis is a condition due to narrowing of the spinal cord causing nerve pinching which leads to persistent pain in the buttocks, limping, lack of feeling in the lower extremities, and decreased physical activity. There are several different types of spinal stenosis affecting all regions of the spine (cervical, thoracic and lumbar), for a comprehensive definition covering "what is spinal stenosis" please visit the definition page.

Tests Troubles and Trials

We left for Waterfall on Friday morning - then about halfway there the darn accelerator cable breaks. So I fix it with some electrical cable and a few cable ties. I get to Harrysmith and get a engineering works to repair the thing for me as there are no Tata spares available in the town. Just past Pietermaritzberg the cable breaks again. But this time I cannot make a repair, so I attach electrical cable to the thing and run the cable through the bonnet to the drivers window and use a bic pen to work the accelerator. Took us a little longer to get there than usual, but we got there in the end. More about the weekend later.

The week ahead

This week I will work like a banshee and on Friday Elizabeth and I leave for waterfall in KZN to preach and visit.
We will be returning on Tuesday to continue with the ministry in Welkom.

Blessing upon blessing

Well, Isn't the Lord wonderful - the car's engine blew up but the Lord made provision with a twin cab. And what is more, we have had a really good week of work this week. Have to make enough to pay for the vehicle's repayments now.

 

The in-valid at home

So now Elizabeth is in a neck brace - even has to shower with it on - so they give her two of the things, one drying after the last shower and one on the neck at all times.
Physiotherapy has given her exercises to do, and she can lift and do nothing strenuous for 6 weeks - so I have to carry the washing to the laundry and she trundles along and supervises my every movement. She cannot pick up the Kettle, water bottle, make the bed, hang out or retrieve the washing, move a pot on the stove and so forth and so on.
I have her comfortably ensconced on the couch with a good book and we run around catering to her every whim, not that we mind and not that she does not deserve it.

Now the car is bust - so I cannot do any installations or get to church - phew! how much is this going to cost us now? I pray God will give us a new car or the wherewithal to fix this one. Praying for a decent twin cab.

Post Operative pics

To begin with, we travelled to Bloemfontein and booked in at the Mario Marshall residence, a 5 star accommodation facility for the Free State CESA Ministers. Our deep and humble thanks to Mario and Nadja for the wonderful hospitality and warm fellowship and advice. (I stayed with them till Elizabeth came out of hospital)

The Next morning at 6am we got Elizabeth booked into Rose park Hospital in Bloemfontein early on Wednesday Morning. I was able to be with her all the time, but was not allowed to take a nap on an empty bed. They took her into the operating theater about 11:30am and I sat outside waiting for her to come out untill 2:30pm. (Prayer and tears) Silly how emorional a fellow can get about his wife going in for a serious operation.
Dr. Pierre Lewis (the neurosurgeon) said that when he started the operation he was alarmed as he expected the C6/C7 vertebrae to be in a certain position but as Elizabeth has such a short neck it was tucked behind the collar bone and he had very limited vision for doing the job. Also he could not get to some spots and had to insert a different prosthetic disk to the one he intended. He reckons it was a very difficult job and took an hour longer than he expected as a result. Then he said, "But with the Lord's help we managed." Now that warmed my heart. He told me he has inserted a vocal on/off switch for my use when she talks too much, but I just cannot find it.
Then Neurosurgical ICU for 24 hours and boy - she sure needed it. She was in great pain after the op and I was dreading the pain enduring (so prayers and tears)  - she had a pain pump and she pumped away as if her life depended on it - but it only allows a squirt of pain killer every seven minutes. By God's grace and the prayers of His saints her vocal chords are OK phew!
The next day they moved her to the ward and wonder of wonders, no pain at all - (more prayer and tears) though this time of gratitude to our Father who so wondrously answers prayers.
on Friday they booked her out after x rays and we had a meal at Mario and Nadja's before taking the long trip home - 9 kilometers out of Bloemfontein the engine starts to make an awful noise and black/blue/grey smoke bubbles out from under the bonnet.
Thank God for cell phones - Mario and Nadja roll up and take Elizabeth to Welkom for me - Bruce, Mark, Leonard and Lloyd arrive in about 2 and a half hours to tow me back to Welkom - Eish, now what is the Lord teaching me with this now traumatic event. There were several other events that night that made me wonder why these attacks - but I will not go into them

Elizabeth's Dilema

Work has been great. I had 4 months of almost no work then a mad month of continual work. We thank God for His many mercies.
Elizabeth now has a ruptured disk twixt the 6th and 7th vertebrae. this is pinching the spinal chord and she has to have the disk removed and a prodsthetic one put in in it's place. Then intensive care for a day or so - then neck brace for 6 weeks. It may damage the vocal chords or "sluk derem"
She goes in on this coming Wednesday - prays will be appreciated. Doctor is a jolly jovial fellow and seems confident that he can do the job.
On the posotive side - Elizabeth will be 2 mm taller after the operation.

The Income of Christ Church Welkom (CESA) has continued to get less and less every month. And having started working as a DSTV installer for income for the church and for myself, while being the minister of our strugling church part time - things have become harder than ever. I am finding that the attack's on myself and the church which are the norm for the ministry have escalated. The sad thing is that the person/'s doing the dirty work are often if not always those whom you thought were in your corner.
Then Ellies changed the rules of doing work for them and I have had almost no work for a few weeks.

Tough Times

The month of January it normally a quiet month for DSTV installers, this month is a bit bad and all. Hope it livens up soon - So we are taking it easy and Tilly will go back to Roodepoort this Saturday. It is also a difficult month for me as a minister. Life goes on and I have to preach and prepare. Need a month vacation I do.

The Maid and the Missies

My Mother (Helen) who is old and infirm and cannot stand and do kitchen work, usually empties the dishwasher for Elizabeth whenever it needs doing. The maid has often been present when Mom is doing the job. Below is a picture of Mom doing the job the geriatric way.

This Saturday Elizabeth asks the maid if she knows how to empty the dishwasher. She says yes, no problem. Elizabeth passes the kitchen and sees the following.














Do you see the humour?

The Funeral

16-01-2010
We buried the Dad today. What a grand funeral, what a great reaffirmation of God's goodness and purposes. I preached from Luke 16 the passage about Lazarus and the Rich Man dying and going to heaven and hell respectivley. There were a number of unsaved people there and it was good to be able to tell them what Dad would have said if he were able to come back from the dead. You see, we discussed this before he died. Dad was particularly concerned to tell his youngest son (Andrew) to repent and turn to God. Unfortunatley I do not have all the photo's to choose from, I will update the photo's when I get them - I do have a few of the Men of the family filling in the hole.

AVBOB - the undertakers

This was a real trial for me - they wanted to charge R8000.00 for a plain wodden coffin unvarnised and with rope handles - their cheapest one was R5000.00 plus - I explained the we Christians do not engage in ancestor worship and require a simple and cheap event and service. My self and Lawrence Dargie decided we will price and build our own coffin. We can make one for well under R1000.00 but Lawrence made some enquiries from a friend or 2 and consequently we managed to get them to admit that they actually have a R900.00 coffin for over the counter coffin sales only. They eventually did the funeral for Dad's funeral policy PLUS R1500.00 - Made me feel cheap and dirty bargaining for a cheaper funeral for the Dad
Dad for all his working life paid AVBOB faithfully - never missing a payment - so that his family will have no problems when he died, then he dies and they tell us the policy cannot even provide him a coffin, let alone their services. How on earth do really poor families manage?

The Dad's Passing

On Sunday 10-01-2010 at about 4pm My dad died in hospital. He had been ill and very frail for som 3 to 6 months prior to this. On Sunday morning Dad asked to see a doctor. He was in great pain and suffering with diahreah and vomiting. Elizabeth took him to hospital while I went to church. Elizabeth stayed with him till he was restfull. They struggled to deal with his pain and eventually gave him pethadine. He slept then and Elizabeth left him and came home. At about 3 pm he awoke and called for help to go to the loo, at the end of the gastric event the nurse helped him back to bed and went to fetch him some pain medication. When she returned he was strugling to breath despite the oxygen. And then he died.

We rejoice that Father God promoted him to glory, gave Dad total recovery from all his suffering and pain, Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

We mourn because we love him and miss him, but we do not mourn as those who have no hope. We look to the ressurection of the dead with the sure knowledge that one day, "yet in my flesh shall I see the Lord" and my Dad.