Update on my back

Hi everyone! I know I have some blog readers who have been wanting the status of my back and what's going on. Last Thursday was my last day at work and today concludes my first week out completely. I spend about 90% of the day lying in bed and the other 10% includes getting up to stretch, do my leg excercises and checking e-mail.

I went to see my Dr again Weds for a "range of motion test" and he was not pleased with how I'm doing at all. I will say this has been an incredibly bad week. It's amazing just how painful this is. Even lying down doesn't take the pain away completely and if I don't get up and move around every so often it's worse, but getting up hurts too so it's a continuous cycle of pain.

I am only taking the pain pills when I absolutely have to. I am on Oxycontin which is a very serious narcotic and with so many people becoming addicted to this stuff I am taking it less than prescribed to hopefully make sure that doesn't happen to me. I go see the surgeon on Monday afternoon and I will probably get a 2nd opinion after that to be sure we are going to correct route.

Several years ago when I hurt my upper back my Dr prescribed me a "Tens Unit" which is one of the best things ever. It's a little machine with wires and you put a "pad" on the end of each wire and position them in places around the pain and it sends electro currents to that area and helps to "numb" the pain. My Dr is looking into possibly getting me one of those so I don't have to depend on pain pills so much.

Other than that, I'm watching TONS of daytime TV (but haven't gotten into any of my old soaps, THANK GOODNESS!) but am completely bored out of my mind! I so want to go back to work and see my friends and co-workers again. Not to mention I really like my job and hope that they don't replace me forever!

Well that's the story from here. I'll post my progess again when I have something to report. Thanks for all the well wishes! They brighten my days!!!!

More vacation pics (Berea, Ohio) and the first from Michigan

We ended our time in Ohio with a short drive to Berea (my mom's hometown) to have dinner with my Uncle Paul and his family. This is me and my Uncle Paul (my mom's youngest brother)

This one is my grandma (she looks pretty good for 86, doesn't she?) Doug, my Uncle Paul, Aunt Laurie and cousin Amanda.

We drove my grandma back to Michigan with us which was intersting and she stayed with my brother and his wife. On Tuesday night (our first full night in Michigan) I went to Michigan City, Indiana with Bev and my step-sister, Jennifer for a night of slots at the casino! I had never been to a casino before and had a blast! I started with $30 and ended up with $90!!!! How exciting! This is me playing one of my first slot machines!


This one is of my and Jen. (Notice the woman in the left side of the picture? I wasn't at the casino, I swear! LOL)

After our evening of gambling, this is the 3 of us waiting for the valet to bring our car around.
Nothing could have been a better topper for the evening than a stop at Oinks!!! Oinks is located in New Buffalo, Michigan (on the way home from Mich City) and is famous for some of the best hand dipped ice cream anywhere! In the summer, this place is always super crowded so it was impossible to get a pic inside but they have tons of collectible pig items hanging from the ceiling along with lots of vintage ice cream scoops and the like! If you ever find yourself near New Buffalo in the summertime, make sure you stop here! The prices are steep (for the 3 of us it was almost $15) but it's so worth it!

More vacation pics (Cleveland, Ohio)

After leaving Akron, we went to Cleveland to visit some other relatives. Even though we drove through downtown Cleveland we didn't take any pics because I've been there so many times in my life it wasn't a big deal (besides, I was driving and Doug had the camera!) Our first stop was for a visit with my cousin Keith, his wife Meg and their kids. They have 4 girls, but we didn't get to see the youngest as she was at a friends house. The smallest one in the pic was a toddler the last time I saw them. My how time flies!

After spending the afternoon here we went to visit with my cousin Jack and his family at my Uncle Don's house. On the way we passed a 2 story McDonalds. We had never seen one before so snapped a pic!

This is me, Doug and my name sake, my Uncle Don. There were 3 pics of us and we weren't all smliling in any of them! LOL

This is my cousin Jack BBQing in my Uncle's backyard.


Me and Doug as we get ready to leave Cleveland.