'Back' to my old self

The house is coming along, really the only things left to do is put up shelves in the garage and hang pictures.

The builder still has a rather long punch list but that is always to be expected in a new house.

Kyle celebrated his 17th birthday yesterday. Traditionally the family goes out to dinner sometime around the date of the birthday so Monday we took Kyle to 'Texas Land and Cattle', A Steakhouse chain here in the Dallas Area. I must say it was good eats.

Kyle is trying out for the Wylie HS Billiards team. Who ever heard of a high school billiards team? Anyway, he seems to really be enjoying it. He has practice at a local Bowling alley every Tuesday night. Heritage Ranch, where Nancy and Howard live, has a couple of billiards tables in the clubhouse so we have taken Kyle there a couple of times. I have forgotten how enjoyable pool can be. Keep your fingers crossed that he makes the team.

Michelle is going to try out for the Cooper Junior HS girls soccer team. The tryouts are the end of this month I think. They play during the winter sports season, which I thought was odd. Anyway keep your fingers crossed there as well.

I have been having back issues for 20+ years on and off. It started again right before we moved; Good timing eh?. But it was not too bad and I worked through it. Historically the pain goes away in a week or two or three. This time it has not. In fact it has gotten worse. I had an MRI done in October and it shows I have a degenerated disc, no news there. And some bulging that is encroaching on the spinal column, Again nothing new really. My primary care physician referred me to a orthopedist and I had that appointment on Monday. In short they recommended surgery., Spinal fusion. While I do not disagree with the prognosis he really did not give me much information about the procedure or the options etc. Basically he left it at "call me when you want to schedule the surgery and I will try to fit you in after the first of the year"

I wanted a second opinion on what my options were etc. Previously I had seen somthing on disc replacement vs. Spinal Fusion and wanted to persue that as an option. After some research over the internet, I made an appointment with a Spine guy at the Texas Back Institute; Apparently a highly respected, cutting edge institute right in my back yard. They did the first disc replacement surgery in the country. I had the appointment yesterday. He concured that surgery was probably the best option but was VERY good about discussing all the options and the different aspects of each of the options. Unfortunatly the disc replacement will almost certainly NOT be covered by insurance. and at $35k+ I cannot afford that out of pocket. BUT he is going to try and convince them to cover it.

If the insurance will not cover the disc replacement I will go ahead with the spinal fusion but with the docs at the Texas Back institute instead of the first doc. I had a VERY good experience with them and have a very positive first impression. The procedure they recommended was less invasive and had a shorter recovery time and left more options for surgery in the future should I need it. (less scaring and such) They also said they would be able to get me in before the end of the year. Which is important, not only from a pain relief stand point but from an insurance standpoint as well.

I will keep you posted.