First Week in the Operating Room and Other Maddux Adventures...

I have been in the operating room this week. Spine surgery is scary. There is a lot of "you're being too gentle, be more aggressive" and "don't poke so hard or you can go through the spinal cord and paralyze the patient!" Needless to say I am nervous, lacking confidence, and not too sure what to do most of the time.

But on the plus side, my doctors and the head PA are very encouraging and supportive. It's been a huge learning curve. They have shown me things I even thought I already knew how to do, take scrubbing for instance. They have found 2-3 things they want me to do differently. All good things mind you, but it can really be draining and a huge ego-deflator to be told something that seems so simple. The same for cutting knots. Seems easy enough, but it can't be too long and it can't be too short. The difference is less than a millimeter.

But I got to see lumbar (low back) fusions, microdiskectomies, laminectomies, and anterior cervical decompression & fusions. It's always inspiring for me to think how FEW people in the world know what your spinal cord actually looks like, etc. Spinal surgery (orthopedics in general) is a lot like watching carpenters at work. Only ours is really like a horror movie. So I find that pretty neat as well.

I did get to feel like a super hero today. I did a telephone peer-to-peer conversation with an insurance company who didn't want to pay for something. Our conversation was less than 5 minutes long and I received almost immediate approval. It was nice to be successful at SOMETHING the first time around.

But overall things are well. I like the OR. The doctors have been very nice and are excellent teachers. I think at this point I need more experience and TIME to know each of their idiosyncracies.

My Jesse's are doing well. Baby Jesse has still been moody. He has been playing with his bottom front gum with his tongue a lot lately. And I am possibly imagining some bony prominence there or else he really may be getting teeth soon. I have been saying that for 4 months now and I am beginning to feel like the boy who cried wolf.

Big Jesse is having some problems with one of his classes. Their was some miscommunication in a syllabus of when something was due. Hopefully he can work this out with the teacher. If not, he has an F and that will not be good for the education program. Please pray that this works out and his professor is understanding AND merciful. He had it done on time, he just was keeping it to make sure it was perfect before he sent it in and thought he had until Friday to do it. I just wish he was better at checking his email more. He could've avoided this all together.

I am counting down until Memorial Day. I need a 3 day weekend like the deserts miss the rain... (singing in my head)

Ahh geez, the baby is crying. I already put him down for the night. Come on teeth!!