Impressed the Doc and an Airplane

Sorry, I feel like I’m running a little late this morning. I’ve been chopping up veggies, and preparing for dinner tonight.

Elaine got home from her teaching gig around 7:00 PM last night. For those of you that don’t remember, or don’t care, Elaine was hired to give a lecture and teach a class in Salida, Colorado, this past weekend.

It wouldn’t be right to ask her to start dinner this morning after the long drive home yesterday. But, I need to be clear. I am not doing any cleaning today.

You might remember I had two doctor appointments last weekend. The last appointment of the week kept me from going with Elaine to Salida.

The first appointment was with the back surgeon. It was my 3-month post-surgery checkup. New x-rays were taken and analyzed. The doctor showed me on the computer where I was healing nicely. I didn’t really see any healing that I could recognize, but I did see a bunch of metal pieces and screws.

I told the doctor I was gaining mobility every day; however, I feel like my recovery is a little behind due to my hospital stays from the blood clots. The doctor told me I could start incorporating “BLT’s” (bending, lifting, and twisting) back into my life. The doc convinced me to take recovery slow. He said I should expect my recovery could/should take up to a year before I am completely healed. He suggested I not lift anything more than twenty pounds for at least another couple of months.

The doctor told me he was quite happy with our results this far. Barring any complications down the road, I would most likely not need any more check-up appointments. We talked about doing some physical therapy, but it was left up to my choice.

The second doctor’s appointment of the week was the one that kept me from going to Salida with Elaine. I was dreading this appointment expecting bad news. Leaving the hospital last month, I was informed that I might need additional procedures in the future. This was to be an appointment with the doctor that would determine if I needed additional procedures.

It might be fun to talk about the doctor before I talk about my appointment. I had only actually seen him once.

And I was lying on a hospital bed in the procedure room just seconds before receiving general anesthesia. The doctor standing at my bedside asked me, “Do you want me to do this?” I said, “Well, yeah!” That was the end of the conversation.

I went to sleep (with the help of the anesthesiologist) thinking some young doctor just asked me if I wanted him to complete the procedure. It turned out to be the best decision I made since agreeing to back surgery.

At my appointment I was placed in a room and told the doctor would be in shortly. When the doctor walked into the room, he was close to what I remembered from our short conversation. The doctor was young (although not as young as I thought). He wore his hair in a man bun. He had a neatly trimmed beard (under a mask). He reminded me of a new Coloradoan, Horsetooth hiker, probably drove a Subaru.

The doctor held his hand out to shake my hand. He immediately pulled it back and said,

Doc: Man, I didn’t recognize you. You look great. Me: Thanks, I’ve lost a lot of weight. Doc: No kidding, your legs were this big (holding his hands 18” apart) when I saw you last.

We looked at my results from a pre-appointment Cat-scan. The doc told me he liked what he saw on the Cat-scan. I liked whatever he liked. When the doctor wanted to make a point about what we were looking at on the screen, he drew a picture with his pen.......on his hand!

As the appointment was winding down, it became more personal. Just a couple of buddies talking. I asked where he was from.

Doc: Born in Maine Me: What brought you to FC? Doc: Kid vacations, and then I moved here to become a fly-fishing guide.

I told you. Med school took him across the NE and Midwest. He has been in Fort Collins for 7-½ years.

I am so thankful he is not a fly-fishing guide. He saved me from amputation or worse. Thanks, Doc.

I’ve never been a fan of Shoe-Tube knowledge. I know a person can learn a lot from the internet. I will never believe watching videos can compare to working with a live teacher. Boy Twin disagrees with me. For most of his school years, he went to Shoe-Tube for answers to his questions.

Well, he has taken his love for internet knowledge up a level. He purchased a set of plans/instructions to build an airplane from the internet. Yep, he is going to build a single-seat airplane. Stay tuned!

God Bless. Buy yarn! Take classes!

Our crazy lives!

Monner