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Hello there friends,

I just had my appointment with Dr. Campos, the neurosurgeon.  I am scheduled for surgery at 11 am on Friday.  He said there was no option other than surgery.  I have two huge pieces of bone that were broken when I fell and they are pressing on my spinal cord.  They have to be taken out.

The surgery is a 4-5 hour long procedure and a 3 day hospital stay will follow.  They will be going in through my throat and moving aside my vocal chords, esophagus and bronchial tube.  I may wake up with no voice for a while because when everything is moved aside like a curtain, it becomes irritated and swollen.  Dr. Campos will remove the C4 and part of C5 and replace it with carbon fiber discs.  There will be a metal plate screwed into C3 and C5 to fuse the vertebrae.  I do have to quit smoking because smoking prevents new bone from growing.  My vertebrae have to regrow some to fuse with the metal plate.  If I do not stop, I may have to repeat this surgery and that's something I don't want to do.  So after 30 years, I am saying goodbye to Marlboro.  Friday Morning will be my last smoke on the way to the hospital. My husband said we will take the money I am spending on cigarettes and put it in an envelope and at the end of the year I can spend that money on scrapping supplies.  I'm excited.

I won't be blogging for a while.  So this is my last one until I can sit up and sit in a chair for any length of time.  I do not have a laptop, just an old dinosaur that gets me through.  I will check my blog one more time before I go to bed on Thursday night to get any messages you guys might leave.  Thanks for the prayers and warm thoughts and I will "See" ya'll soon.  God bless.