Tag: surgery

Dear Ravi,

Sorry that I have been remiss in writing to you. I have visited you several times, but my muse has gone quiet. I think that she is tired of the winter and lacking in inspiration. I am very excited about several things. The Gathered Community at St. Clement’s continues to grow and gain forward momentum. As you know, we are creating a new worship style for non- neurotypical people, just like you! Our next service will be during Holy Week, and then we shall plunge full time into providing this ministry in the fall of 2026. This does not mean we won’t be working feverishly behind the scenes to pull this off in the meantime! In other news, I am going to a writer’s workshop in April where I can spend 9 hours with 200 other writers refining my craft and getting a chance to pitch our manuscript to an agent. Last week, I met with a different agent for a review of our letter of query. She had good suggestions for me how to tweak the work to make it more appealing to other agents, and I spent about a week stewing about how to do this. Inspiration dawned at 3:30 this morning, so I hopped up and got to work. Right now, the letter is waiting to be edited by your daddy, and the cat and the dog are napping on my pile of notes. I am under a heated blanket with a cup of coffee. For the moment, life is peaceful.

Do you remember in 2019 when I had an emergency spinal fusion? That surgery, fusing C4 through C7, gave me 6 good years. What I have recently discovered is that bones either above or below a fusion begin to degenerate over time. I have not been able to run since October, due to the pain. I did weeks of PT, but it only brought a modicum of relief. At the direction of my neurosurgeon, I am going in for more scans and nuclear medicine next Tuesday. Hopefully, these tests will pinpoint where the pain is coming from. He thinks that doing steroid injections into my cervical spine will be the next step. Historically, I have not had much luck with steroid injections, but he wants to try this before possible surgery. Right now, he cannot guarantee that the surgery will fix the pain, and if he does choose to operate, he would fuse C1, C2, and C3 to the base of my skull, making me lose 90 % of the movement in my neck. Last time I had surgery the surgeon made an incision in the front of my neck, which had a shorter recovery time than if he had gone in through the back, which cuts a lot of muscle. This time, the surgery would have to go in through the back of neck. If the surgeon were to go in through the front, I could lose the ability to swallow or to speak. Obviously, I am not a fan of this idea! I was disappointed with this particular neurosurgeon as he did not seem to take into account the amount of pain that I am in, and how it is difficult to do activities of daily living. He did not give me a lot of options, or much, if any, hope of being pain free and able to properly function. I did call Mayo Clinic, where you had two lifesaving surgeries, but they will not take my insurance. So, I am looking for a second opinion within my network. To say the least, American healthcare is a joke. There is always tons of waiting, negotiating with insurance, and catastrophically high bills to pay. I am more than a bit disgusted.

There are, however, things to be excited about. Eventually, spring will come and I can work in the garden. I will get to see your two trees that we planted blossom and grow. There are writing workshops to attend and blogs to write. There are agents to talk to. Your story will not be forgotten. There are Sunday school classes to teach and worship services to attend. So, not all is bleak. I hope you know how much I love and miss you. Please pray for Mercury, as she has done some incredibly foolish and damaging things. Please pray for your Uncle Rob as he still continues his battle with cancer. Daddy and I love you forever and ever. Mom.