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den 29 november 2003
Seven weeks and counting
Dear friends,
First of all I want to thank all of you fans that sent cards, e-mails, and in other ways contacted me during this period of illness. I’ve received greetings from all over the world and many from old friends that I have not heard from in years (so I guess all bad things carry something good with them too). I even received an email from space, from the American astronaut onboard “The International Space Station”, which I thought was pretty cool.
You cannot imagine what every greeting means to me. It gives me strength to fight back. Unfortunately I will have no chance of answering all of you personally since it’s been thousands of them but I hope you will accept this “collective” THANK YOU from me.
Now a short update of the state I am in. It has been a rocky road since the last surgery.
A lot of complications set in a few days after the last spine surgery was complete, some of them uncomfortable and some of them seriously life threatening, like blood cloths in my lungs, extremely low blood count etc.
I’ve been transported twice to the rehab center, when conditions looked stable, only to have to go back to Methodist Hospitals intensive care.
But it seems that God is on our side and I have a strong body and we’ve made it through so far.
It’s been trying time from a mental standpoint. One day I’ve felt OK and I have thought “now I am over the hump” only to have a set back. Now I am not counting on a smooth ride anymore, in fact I am always prepared for something else to happen, but I am of course hoping for the best.
I have also stopped taking any drugs. I was on Morphine for a long time but it affected my stomach in a negative way, it kind of “stopped”. So I decided to rather live with some pain while healing. Now I only take drugs when I get acute gall bladder attacks or something else.
Anita and me have really learned a lot about the Medicare, body-functions and medicine lately. We have felt it necessary to be very involved in the process and the Internet and other sources of information have been frequently used. I guess you can say we’ve been the doctors and nurses worst nightmares J. But in the end, its my body.
On the positive side I can tell you that every day I feel I am getting stronger.
I was ecstatic the other day when the leg doctor came in and said “your bones are healing faster than what we expected and you can start walking on your left leg tomorrow”!
Since then I have walked nearly every day.
Of course I am only strong enough to walk with a walker very short distances but you got to start somewhere and every day I am walking a little bit further.
Two days ago I walked with crutches for the first time. That’s a lot harder as it requires more balance and it wears me out really fast at the moment. That’s what happens when you spend 7 weeks in bed.
More good news is that I will be transported to Columbus Monday Dec 1st. I will not be able to go home straight away as I will need to get some more strength back first but still its will be good. If nothing else sets in, I hope to be home in my own house in a week or two.
It will also be good for Anita, since it’s only like 4 weeks left until she is due to give birth to our first child, and both her doctor and hospital is in Columbus. She has been fantastic during this period. It´s nearly like she has been through a worse trial than me!
Now I got to rest a little, then eat and go to therapy!
Talk to you later and again thanks for all the greetings that enlightened my world!
Kenny
kennybrack.com
KB
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