Well... time to sweep up the dusty corners in here!
I'm on a somewhat indefinite medical hiatus from playing music, and pretty much everything else due to a very recent surgery... a C5-C7 cervical fusion. I've been chronicling the whole misadventure here at
Link Removed but to shorten the story up, after a lifetime of head and neck injuries and the periphery, I finally woke up one morning this past Spring with part of my left hand 'asleep'. A trip to the imaging lab for some MRI's confirmed for my family doctor, I needed a neurosurgeon. So I got one. He looked at the pictures, shook his head, and said, "Yep, classic foraminal stenosis in the cervicals and spondylosis throughout the upper spine... you will need surgery, but before that happens we're going to try a couple epidural steroid injections just to prove to the Almighty Insurance Company that your spine indeed, is totally dorked." (Okay, he didn't really say
exactly that, but that was the jist of it) I tried the injections. They hurt like a sumb!tch and worked for about six weeks each. Gradually, I lost the feeling in the fingers more each day. Got the last shot on August 2nd... it was gone by mid September.
So Tuesday 10/9, my rockstar of a neurosurgeon spent 3-1/2 hours rebuilding my upper back/lower neck, through a hole in my throat, if you can believe that. I spent two days in the hospital, another four days after they discharged me at some friends' house, until I could finally take care of myself enough for them to bring me home. What a ride.
The best news is, once the swelling went down, I could feel my whole left hand again. Not only that, but by watching the monitors during surgery, my doctor told me they were able to see the neural activity increasing on my
right side too, which means I was apparently
losing it too without realizing it.
I get the stitches out later this week, and we're supposed to talk about a long-term plan. Rehab won't start until the bones are completely fused together, which is usually about six weeks after surgery, so I guess another month or so in the house here. No driving. No steps. Nothing > 5 lbs. Cervical collar brace at least 8 (awake) hours a day... like you'd really sleep with it on. Take it easy until further notice - doctor's orders.
I'm catching up on reading. I've rediscovered the X-Files, and M*A*S*H on DVD, courtesy of a visit and gift from my childhood sweetheart... 37 years later, and she still knows what I like. I've lost 42 lbs since April, most of it in the last 6 weeks. To be fair, a lot that is owed to the side-effects of an anti-convulsant drug they put me on to try and curb some of the headaches. It stopped a lifetime of pain cold in its tracks, but suddenly I can't remember to eat lunch, or dinner. Go figure. I needed to lose a few pounds anyway.
What does all that have to do with playing Turner basses...? Not much yet. I do have the feeling that lighter is better going forward, which is very good news for the Renaissance basses. I don't know what that means for my 11 lb. Electrolines yet. I hate the thought of selling basses. They may have to be converted into a Model One or a Deuce someday.
One brighter piece of news - my neo oldtyme band New River Bound finally finished mastering our record. Before I was wheeled into the operating room, they were looking at various forms of digital distribution and a small run of hard copy pressing of like 300 copies. My Custom fretless Ren 5 is used on all tracks except those that I played upright on... I think 3 or 4 tunes. I love the way it turned out. Hopefully I'll be able to resume a playing schedule by Spring 2019, and we can go out and support the project.
With apologies for the long post... what are you guys up to?
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