Month: February 2024

Today marks the beginning of the next stage in our lives. What began two years ago when we sold our home in St. Augustine and bought our home in Zephyrhills will now come to fruition. While this is not exactly the circumstances I had envisioned originally it is wonderful day nonetheless.

Rosie is feeling through her level with the reduced pain meds and dealing with little aches and pains that were previously unnoticed due to the heightened levels of pain masking medications they utilized in the hospital. All in all, however, these are minor things.

I do suspect that the pain medication they are giving her is helping immensely with the pain from her neck and the knee that is rather swollen. She delayed one of her rounds of the medication and after a short period of time began complaining of the pain. I told her that as the doctors gave her the pain medication I thought it wise for now to stay on schedule for at least the first week. I realize there will be a certain amount of pain during this healing period, but I see no point in being in pain right away if you can have some modicum of comfort while you adapt to life post hospitalization.

In a couple of hours we will load our bags in the car and head for Zephyrhills. I expect to be there some time after lunch. In a sense, God has blessed us with a reset on our lives.

Oh my! What an exciting day!

Mr. Rosie The Cleaner

P.S.
The car feels a lot worse than it looks.

This is my follow-up to our wonderful, exciting news yesterday.

I have had a number of requests from both friends and family regarding Rosie’s continuing status as well as what’s happening. We are relaxing today or rather I should say Rosie is relaxing. I am preparing to gather her belongings and make ready for our departure from St. Augustine. We expect to leave St. Augustine tomorrow morning and return to Zephyrhills to begin her healing and recuperation in earnest.

For those of you wishing to send cards and/or flowers you are free now to send them to our home address if you wish. Rosie has been quite excited about all of the prayers, words of love & support, and exhortations to health & healing. I apologize for delaying this response earlier for those that were asking, but I didn’t want you to send things to the hospital in case we were discharged. And we were!!

You may send your cards or flowers to:

Roseanne Rankin
35550 Wintersweet Ln.
Zephyrhills, FL 33541

As with everything I continue to marvel at what a loving, caring, and wonderfully supportive group of people you all are. You will never know how much you contributed to keeping her spirits high and her focus on God and Healing. I am truly grateful for each and every one of you.

God Bless You All!!!

Mr. Rosie The Cleaner

Before I begin this update I want to say Praise God and Thank You Jesus for what I personally see as a a tremendous blessing in our lives. I want to thank all of you who have supported, encouraged, and prayed since you found out about this accident and injury.

Today was a bit of the entire roller coaster ride packed into a single day. We began the day waiting for feedback from the neurosurgical team following the Flexion & Extension X-Rays on Monday. This morning one of the neurosurgeons came in and let us know that based on his viewing of the raw images he felt 99.9% certain that we would be categorized as a Type 1 fracture. He explained that in the X-Rays the departure of the C2 vertebrate from alignment with C1 vertebrate was less than 2 mm. This was better than the previous review. The angle during movement was less than 7%. We were waiting from that point forward for the final decision by the team.

Please keep in mind that all through this we expected that even if we were Type 1 we would be looking at occupational therapy, follow-up visits with the neurosurgical team and discharge in the coming days. We got word this afternoon that the process was changed.

At 1530 EST today we were told that the occupational therapist had indicated no need for additional therapy during the healing process. We were also notified that Rosie had been officially categorized as a Type 1 fracture. The neurosurgical team decided that we were ready to check out and head home today. WOW!!! We checked out of the hospital today at around 1600 EST and right now I am sitting in our hotel room writing this update.

We will be returning to Zephyrhills and getting Rosie on the road to full recovery. The doctors have instructed her to walk, no lifting of anything more than 4lbs, no bending, stretching, and most importantly she is not permitted to return to cleaning for a period of one year; if at all. She can be active otherwise. I will be going on walks with her as the doctor wants the activity to promote blood flow and help with healing the fractures.

Folks, in the span of four days we’ve gone from a terrible accident, to hospitalization, the expectation of surgery with all of its affiliated risks and side effects, and the ups and downs of various diagnostic conclusions to this. Absent the accident itself having been removed, I could not possibly have asked for a more wonderful outcome. I have my Rosie safe and on the road to recovery with a bright future and one more example in my life of the power of God, answered prayers, and one more answer reinforcing why I worship Christ as my Lord and Savior.

This journey is only now beginning. We have three months of careful recuperation followed by an additional nine months of adaptation and growth to be ready for an entirely new life together after so much time apart. I put the last two years behind me and look forward to many bright and wondrous years with my beautiful wife.

God Bless each and every one of you. Thank you again for everything.

Mr. Rosie The Cleaner

Enjoy The Journey and Never Take ANYTHING FOR GRANTED!

Personal – Rosie has continued to work like a champ with the entire process of being held captive in the hospital. She seems to enjoy the medication and that helps keep her relaxed, limit the pain, and help with her natural desire to constantly move. As before the nurses and staff are stellar which makes the entire experience so much better.

Health – This was a busy day. After the 1230 EST update she had a visit from a coordinator who discussed the process and setup for occupational therapy that would follow either surgery or into therapy if she moves forward without surgery.

She also had a visit form an occupational therapist who went over how to change out her neck brace with me and made sure we understood how the brace should fit.

The big moment came when they took her down to the X-Ray room for the Flexion & Extension test. Rosie said they took her in and she had to stand up for five minutes. The movement of her head down and then back up was painful. The best news there, however, is that there was no numbness or tingling during the evolution itself. With that news we are moving in the direction of avoiding surgery.

This does not, in and of itself, mean that there will not be surgery. The images themselves must be reviewed by the surgical team for any trace of shift in the position of the vertebrate or in the angle between the C1 & C2.

Overall it was a good day and positive signs abound. I remain convinced that God is answering the prayers of all our prayer warriors and working his will in all things. While we remain prepared for surgery or whatever comes, we are cautiously optimistic that we will not experience that particular, medical joy.

God Bless Each and Every One of You!!!

Mr. Rosie The Cleaner

Personal – Rosie is doing well with the ups and downs of hospital life. I must confess that she is being way more patient and understanding than I expected her to be. If you know, you know.

The nurses and UF Health are simply AWESOME! The care they are showing for my dear wife is top notch from end to end. The doctors are patient. They explain every issue with care and answer my constant flow of questions about hazards, complications, side effects, and concerns without hesitation and loaded with compassion. It is obvious that they care about what they are doing.

Medical – To continue the roller coaster we had a visit just a while ago from another one of the doctors on the neurosurgical team. Lots of technical data. The initial review we received on Saturday indicated that the C1-C2 fusion was likely the best option. This was premised on the instability in the shift of the C2 vertebrate.

The doctor that came this morning provided us with a great deal of analytical information on the actual site of the injury. There is a potential that we will not require surgery, but this hinges on several variables. For reference, a Type 1 fracture is generally the kind that will not require surgery. Instead you would wear a neck brace collar for a period of time, conduct some therapy and move on with your life. When you get to a Type 2 fracture you are now at the threshold of surgery.

The second surgeon to evaluate the injury has indicated that we are Type 1 with a bit of margin between T1 / T2. There are items pertaining to the length of the shift of the C2 vertebrate and the angle of departure between, I believe, the C1 and C2 vertebrate that indicate the state of the injury. At the moment we appear to be within the range of the Type 1. What the doctor has ordered is another round of special function X-Rays for checking Flexion and, I think, Extension. Basically Rosie will move her head down as if she is putting her chin on her chest and move her head back as though looking up at the stars. With this action they will take X-Rays and from those images the doctor will look for shifting of the vertebrate or changes of that angle between the vertebrate.

Rosie is instructed to stop the motion of Flexion or Extension if she feels ANY TINGLING or NUMBNESS during the motion. If that occurs we will likely be moving to the surgery phase. If there is no numbness and the doctor sees motion in the vertebrate or increase in the angle then we are likely moving to the surgery phase.

If, however, there is no numbness, no tingling and no substantive movement of the vertebrate during the test then it is likely that the doctor will see this as a Type 1 and we will proceed with Non-Surgical Treatment.

In this scenario Rosie would be fitted with a properly sized neck brace that would have to be worn for three months minimum in conjunction with therapy twice a week and regular evaluation of the injury site via imaging to check for shifting of the vertebrate or increased angle. At any time that the surgical staff felt that some instability had been introduced or risk to Rosie had arisen due to altered circumstances we would immediately move to surgery.

We are encouraged by this additional information as even the surgeon indicated that the best surgery for Rosie is NO SURGERY. We are leaving all of this in God’s hands. Keep the well wishes, thoughts, and prayers coming. Rosie and I love you all.

God Bless & Keep You,

Mr. Rosie The Cleaner

P.S. If any of you are more medically knowledgeable than I am then I apologize for my horrendous understanding of all of this. I’m doing my best to take it all in as a computer nerd.

I want to make sure we update and clarify for everyone what has been happening.

Friday, 23 February 2024, at approximately 1930 (7:30 PM) EST, Rosie was involved in an automobile accident. I have set up this website to provide updates and information to family.

Rosie is in the hospital with a fracture to her neck at the C2 vertebrate. We are waiting for our meeting with the doctor to decide on treatment options. It looks, at this point, like she will be having surgery to rectify the problem.

I will be providing updates for all of you on this site. Please check back here periodically as I will attempt to make a minimum of one update each day on progress and information.

God Bless you all and thank you for all of the love and support you have already shown. Rosie is overwhelmed with all of the family and friends who have wished her well and sent their love and prayers her way.

We Love You All!!!

Mr. Rosie The Cleaner