I'm fuuuuuuuuuusing!

Yesterday was my 2nd follow-up appointment at Rothman Institute with Dr. Albert. It's hard to imagine that it's been almost 3 months since my cervical spine surgery and fusion.

The good news is... the bones are fusing, just the way they're supposed to. With Lupus, I guess you just never know. The top one isn't fusing as quickly as the bottom one, but Dr. Albert said that was normal. The top one always takes longer.

I was really concerned about this check-up. If the bones didn't fuse, then another surgery would be necessary to add ANOTHER plate (and more screws) to the other side of my spine for support. I'm SO grateful that doesn't seem to be necessary.

It's now been 12 weeks since I took Methotrexate and I'm doing well. The longer I can stay off of it, the better for the fusion. Since I've been able to stay off the Methotrexate for so long, Dr. Albert wants to know if he can also take credit for curing my Lupus. I wish!! :)

I'm sooooooo grateful!

9 Weeks...

... with NO Methotrexate (the cancer drug that I've been taking for about 5 years for Lupus)!!!

I'm not sure how long I'll be able to stay off of it, but for now - I'm off - and VERY grateful!

That's it. Nothing big or exciting. Just the Methotrexate thing.

:::: doing a happy dance (in my mind) ::::

2 Week Checkup

Back to the Rothman Institute today for my 2 week post-surgery checkup. Apparently the surgery went better than expected. Dr. Albert was delighted with my progress (and so am I).

To celebrate, Michael and I went guitar hunting and I ended up buying a BEAUTIFUL old guitar - a Gibson MK-72, made in 1976. It's definitely and oldie but goodie.

The guitar purchase seemed like a good idea at the time, but at the moment, I'm wondering if I lost my mind (even if it was only temporary). Is this the start of senility or a celebration of "life"? It seems like such a small step from one to the other. I think I'll choose "celebration". It makes me feel SO much more stable! ;)

Life is...

... good! There have been times in the last 10 days that "life is" was enough.

Long story short - I had surgery on Monday to remove 2 herniated discs from my neck and to fuse my spine in those places. There have been lots of ups and downs in the process - stress tests to get more information about a blockage that showed up on an Echocardiogram (result - no problem with blockage), a 2nd Echocardiogram to verify results from the first one that indicated pulmonary hypertension and right heart damage (result - strong indication of pulmonary hypertension and right heart damage), from there, a right heart catheterization to measure the damage (result - no damage - no pulmonary hypertension) and from there a quick trip to cervical spine surgery.

I'm still recuperating, but I'm planning on a full recovery (with God's help, of course).

Thank you for your thoughts - and prayers - and all the help.

Life IS good!

Bleed! Bleed! Bleed!

Today was THE day for the bloodwork that the good ol' rheumatologist requires every 8 weeks. Painless (pretty much) as usual. (Thank you, Quentin!)

That's it. Just bloodwork.

The end.