I almost put this update off til tomorrow but then realized that would mean I wouldn’t have posted anything during the entire month of November and well, that just won’t do. In truth, I’ve been sitting on this update for several weeks now, since my last x-ray appointment back on, uh, November 3rd.
Not a lot of terribly interesting things have happened in the month of November.
And yet, that’s good news at this stage. We’re now solidly into the “no news is good news” part of the process, patiently waiting on time to pass and the bones to knit themselves back together.
Update on the new back pins installed at the end of last month - things are looking pretty well. The new pinsites are not nearly as “open-woundish” as the original ones were. There have been some small amounts of discharge at times, but not nearly the giant-globules-of-dried-pus levels we were seeing consistently over those first weeks. Daily pin site cleanings continue, at times we are using both hydrogen peroxide AND neosporin to really deliver the ol’ one-two punch to keep them in line. The front pinsites continue to be virtually no issue whatsoever.
The first week or so after the new pins were put in was pretty wretched, to be honest. Having, at that point, gotten very used to how everything felt and to a basically “pain-free” level of living, to suddenly go back to having constant spikes of pain through my skull everytime I moved was more than a little discouraging. Thankfully - as we hoped - after several days of chewing ibuprofen and gritting my teeth (but not too tightly, lest it cause even more skull pain) - the aching started to subside and eventually evened out to merely the background level of “discomfort” that has become the quite-liveable norm these days.
This also provided an opportunity to see how the wound sites where the old pins were taken out will heal. As I’ll be dealing with four of those at such time as the Halo comes off, it was a nice preview. No stitches or anything required - once the pins came out, the skin in the area just kind of slapped itself back together, and Dr. Lynn’s only instruction was to “pack those suckers full of Neosporin for a week”. So we did, and Lindsay reports they are healing nicely. It seemed like all the pain was from the new sites - not so much the old - which gives hope for not too much localized pain when the screws come out when the Halo comes off.
The last x-ray appointment back on Nov 3rd was all smooth sailing. Virtually nothing has changed on the x-rays - everything is still aligned properly. Dr. Lynn was able to point out how you can see, faintly, where the bones are stitching themselves back together, pinpointing some progress. The plan from here out is thus: in early December, we’ll do another set of x-rays (at the three month mark) - expecting here to see virtually the same as these previous ones. Then, in January - at the four month mark - we’ll do a CT scan. Dr. Lynn explained that while x-rays let us see that everything is aligned and hint at the bone growth happening, only CT scans can adequately show just how strong the bones are/have grown back together. So the CT scan will really provide the gold standard for when it’s time to take the Halo off. We COULD do CT scans at three months - sometimes bones grow back fast, and it’s theoretically possible we could be in a good-enough spot to remove the Halo then. But - CT scans hit the body with about 1500x the radiation that x-rays do, and Dr. Lynn said he doesn’t like “over-ordering” them - he’d rather wait another month and do the CT scan in January. If the bones don’t look quite ready at that point, we can wait another few weeks or a month and then check again. But he said - and I agree - I’m fine with wearing the Halo for a few extra weeks if it promotes better bone growth in the long run. While I’m eager to get out of this cage, in the grand scheme of things, a few more weeks or a month won’t make that much difference. Patience is a virtue, and all that.
The rest of life continues to be pretty normal. Work keeps me busy, I walk several miles daily on my treadmill, and Graham demands nigh-constant attention when he’s not napping on the sofa. I’ve started venturing out of the house more often than just for the doctor’s visits now - after two months I decided I really wanted to get back to going about one of my favorite errands - grocery shopping - so we’ve resumed our weekly trips to Walmart. I figured it would be a shame to not go out in public when possible with the Halo on to see what kind of public reaction it gets. So far - not a ton, at least that I’ve noticed. I’ve had a couple Walmart cashiers engage me in friendly dialogue about it, and one kindly old lady shook her head as she passed and remarked “my goodness, and I thought having to wear a mask was bad!” The Walmart cashier tonight did seem hesitant at first, then finally broached the topic with an “Alright, so - I’m sorry - I just - I have to ask, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want, but….” - which gave Lindsay and I the idea that we need to create a sign I can wear on my back that says something to the effect of “Feel Free To Ask, I Don’t Mind”. It’s not that I’m trying to set myself up as the Halo Ambassador, but I certainly have not gotten tired of talking about it, so hey, why not invite conversation?
Next appointment is on December 7th, only a week away. More updates to come (with hopefully less of a delay before the next post!)
Next Update - A Very Halo Christmas
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| This is a highly normal x-ray |
