MONDAY – 1230 EST

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.