It's been almost two weeks since we visited the doctor for the second opinion and my doctor has not received the transcripts. If I offered the kind of "customer service" that UCSF Medical Center does, I would be out of business.
So I sit here waiting for the reports to get to my doctor. Meanwhile, nothing happens. The doctor doesn't want to schedule a phone consult until he's had time to review the report, which is understandable. And of course, since there's no phone consult scheduled, there's no surgery scheduled. The doctor goes on vacation for the first two weeks in July. So, the soonest surgery MIGHT be towards the end of next month.
So I wait. And wait. And continue to live in increasing pain and sleep less and less.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
A Second Second Opinion
Got home yesterday from another drive to UCSF Medical Center, this time to meet with the head of the Spinal Center. Dr. McCormack wanted another second opinion on a course of action (the neurologist recommended a triple partial laminectomy).
After waiting for 3 hours in the lobby (we had been warned by staff that he was running late), we finally had a chance to speak with Dr Weinstein. He was very personable with a friendly bedside manner. After the now-obligatory walks around the room (walk away, walk on your toes, walk on your heels) and reflex tests, we got to the meat of the matter.
We were basically given a choice of all-at-once or two-stage surgery options. The all at once option would be to fuse the four vertebrae in question and also deal with the spinal stenosis. This would be a major surgery, with significant invasion and recovery time. An interesting side note: in looking at the x-rays, the doctor noted that the L5-S1 area was almost totally fused on its own, due to the deterioration of the disc.
The second option would be to deal with the stenosis now to relieve the numbness in my legs that hampers my mobility and see how that affects the back pain. The possibility exists that relieving the pressure on the spinal canal and the nerves emanating from it might diminish the constant pain I feel. This surgery would be done with minimally invasive surgery and result in only about 10 days of recovery time. Needless to say, we are leaning toward this option. The possibility exists that we would still have to deal with the fusion at a later date, though. But I have lived with back pain most of my life, so I ma willing to give this a chance.
Now we wait for the report to Dr. McCormack and another consultation. Then, with any luck, we can get surgery scheduled right away. Charlie's travel schedule has a couple of openings coming soon, and it would be great to have this not be too disruptive to her work schedule.
This situation has been very debilitating. I have been able to spend less and less time able to stand and/or walk without having to take time to sit to recover. I find myself getting depressed and angry a lot as we wait and wait for some sort of resolution. Charlie has been wonderfully supportive, in spite of my moods. She is an amazing woman and I love her so much and look forward to the time when we can travel and have fun together again soon.
After waiting for 3 hours in the lobby (we had been warned by staff that he was running late), we finally had a chance to speak with Dr Weinstein. He was very personable with a friendly bedside manner. After the now-obligatory walks around the room (walk away, walk on your toes, walk on your heels) and reflex tests, we got to the meat of the matter.
We were basically given a choice of all-at-once or two-stage surgery options. The all at once option would be to fuse the four vertebrae in question and also deal with the spinal stenosis. This would be a major surgery, with significant invasion and recovery time. An interesting side note: in looking at the x-rays, the doctor noted that the L5-S1 area was almost totally fused on its own, due to the deterioration of the disc.
The second option would be to deal with the stenosis now to relieve the numbness in my legs that hampers my mobility and see how that affects the back pain. The possibility exists that relieving the pressure on the spinal canal and the nerves emanating from it might diminish the constant pain I feel. This surgery would be done with minimally invasive surgery and result in only about 10 days of recovery time. Needless to say, we are leaning toward this option. The possibility exists that we would still have to deal with the fusion at a later date, though. But I have lived with back pain most of my life, so I ma willing to give this a chance.
Now we wait for the report to Dr. McCormack and another consultation. Then, with any luck, we can get surgery scheduled right away. Charlie's travel schedule has a couple of openings coming soon, and it would be great to have this not be too disruptive to her work schedule.
This situation has been very debilitating. I have been able to spend less and less time able to stand and/or walk without having to take time to sit to recover. I find myself getting depressed and angry a lot as we wait and wait for some sort of resolution. Charlie has been wonderfully supportive, in spite of my moods. She is an amazing woman and I love her so much and look forward to the time when we can travel and have fun together again soon.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
The Arrogance of Non-Profits - A Rant
Recently, I had two very different experiences dealing with two different non-profit organizations. One was local, the other national, which may explain some of the differences. Let me explain...
The first one is a local non-profit to which we had donated product for the past 5 years for their annual fundraising raffle. The name is not important. This group is not particularly close to our mission statement of supporting cycling and outdoor non-profits, but we had first supported them when we had just started, so we continued to donate someting each year anyway.
This year, I first get a call from a member of the group, not so much asking as telling me that we'll be donating again this year! Okay, so the "presumed close" is a well-used tradition in sales, so I wasn't all that offended, but after I agreed to donate, he then told me (no asking) that he would be by to pick up the donation over 2 weeks before the event. As many of you know, I pride myself on the freshness of my coffee, so I asked if it didn't make more sense to pick it up the week of the event. "No," he said, "It would be easier for me if we could get it earlier. So please have it ready."
So, I put the basket together on the requested day, and guess who doesn't show up? Guess who doesn't call? Guess who sends an email the next day (to "undisclosed recipients") stating that it would be more "efficient" if the donations would be picked up the week of the event? No "I'm sorry for the inconvenience" or anything. Oh, and the following was at the end of the note: "Please advise your staff that we'll be picking up the donations." Sir, yes, sir! I wrote back stating that the basket was ready per his earlier request, and that the only day to pick up the basket that week would be Monday, as Kinetic Koffee would be closed the rest of the week. No response...
The week before the event, another "undisclosed recipients" email. This one states that the donations would be picked up on Wednesday and again, "advise your staff" as these people are very busy and can't be kept waiting around while someone finds their donation. I again politely respond, stating that the office will be closed after Monday, per my last email. The guy calls me and acys rather exasperated that no one would be there on Wednesday, but he'll change his plans and come on Monday. Gosh, thanks! Sorry to inconvenience you!
So he shows up on Monday, not looking happy at all about having to change his plans to accomodate my schedule. I give him the $60 basket and he finally smiles and says, "Thank you" and quickly leaves.
But wait, there's an epilogue! About 2 weeks later, there's another email. Was this a Thank you?" Well, no. This one is addressed to all donors and says that many of us had not picked up the commemorative items to which we were entitled as donors. Attached was a spreadsheet showing what you could choose to receive, based upon the value of your donation. Remember, I gave a $60 basket. Well, since I gave less than $100, I was not entitled to anything. At the bottom of the email were words to the effect, "Please disregard this message if you did not qualify for these items." Someone at the organization could have (and should have) taken the minute or two to figure out who was eligible and who was not. Those who did not "donate enough" should not have even seen this email, unless the intention was to shame us into donating more next year.
You can be assured that Kinetic Koffee will most definitely NOT be supporting this group in the future. Luckily, not all non-profits are this bad.
On the other hand, I had the absolute pleasure to work with Chris Strout at World Bicycle Relief again. The experience was a polar opposite to the local group. Kinetic Koffee always does fundraising at the Sea Otter Classic, and this year we chose to support WBR. Chris and his staff were very enthusiastic and excited. They asked what we wanted or needed to make it a success for both groups and supplied us with a banner, pamphlets, and stickers to give away. The fundraising didn't go as well as we had hoped (hot weather is not very conducive to sampling hot coffee), but the folks from SRAM (WBR's founder is a co-founder of SRAM) came over often to check in to say how much they appreciated what we were doing and seeing if we needed anything. I had said something to one of the SRAM folks about how disappointed I was in our sales and he said that the money didn't matter. Just the fact that we were doing what we could to spread the word about WBR was enough. Truly heartwarming to me.
You can be assured that Kinetic Koffee will do all it can to support this group in the future. And I would ask that anyone who wants to support a great group with a wonderful misson to send a donation to them, please!
Respectfully submitted,
The first one is a local non-profit to which we had donated product for the past 5 years for their annual fundraising raffle. The name is not important. This group is not particularly close to our mission statement of supporting cycling and outdoor non-profits, but we had first supported them when we had just started, so we continued to donate someting each year anyway.
This year, I first get a call from a member of the group, not so much asking as telling me that we'll be donating again this year! Okay, so the "presumed close" is a well-used tradition in sales, so I wasn't all that offended, but after I agreed to donate, he then told me (no asking) that he would be by to pick up the donation over 2 weeks before the event. As many of you know, I pride myself on the freshness of my coffee, so I asked if it didn't make more sense to pick it up the week of the event. "No," he said, "It would be easier for me if we could get it earlier. So please have it ready."
So, I put the basket together on the requested day, and guess who doesn't show up? Guess who doesn't call? Guess who sends an email the next day (to "undisclosed recipients") stating that it would be more "efficient" if the donations would be picked up the week of the event? No "I'm sorry for the inconvenience" or anything. Oh, and the following was at the end of the note: "Please advise your staff that we'll be picking up the donations." Sir, yes, sir! I wrote back stating that the basket was ready per his earlier request, and that the only day to pick up the basket that week would be Monday, as Kinetic Koffee would be closed the rest of the week. No response...
The week before the event, another "undisclosed recipients" email. This one states that the donations would be picked up on Wednesday and again, "advise your staff" as these people are very busy and can't be kept waiting around while someone finds their donation. I again politely respond, stating that the office will be closed after Monday, per my last email. The guy calls me and acys rather exasperated that no one would be there on Wednesday, but he'll change his plans and come on Monday. Gosh, thanks! Sorry to inconvenience you!
So he shows up on Monday, not looking happy at all about having to change his plans to accomodate my schedule. I give him the $60 basket and he finally smiles and says, "Thank you" and quickly leaves.
But wait, there's an epilogue! About 2 weeks later, there's another email. Was this a Thank you?" Well, no. This one is addressed to all donors and says that many of us had not picked up the commemorative items to which we were entitled as donors. Attached was a spreadsheet showing what you could choose to receive, based upon the value of your donation. Remember, I gave a $60 basket. Well, since I gave less than $100, I was not entitled to anything. At the bottom of the email were words to the effect, "Please disregard this message if you did not qualify for these items." Someone at the organization could have (and should have) taken the minute or two to figure out who was eligible and who was not. Those who did not "donate enough" should not have even seen this email, unless the intention was to shame us into donating more next year.
You can be assured that Kinetic Koffee will most definitely NOT be supporting this group in the future. Luckily, not all non-profits are this bad.
On the other hand, I had the absolute pleasure to work with Chris Strout at World Bicycle Relief again. The experience was a polar opposite to the local group. Kinetic Koffee always does fundraising at the Sea Otter Classic, and this year we chose to support WBR. Chris and his staff were very enthusiastic and excited. They asked what we wanted or needed to make it a success for both groups and supplied us with a banner, pamphlets, and stickers to give away. The fundraising didn't go as well as we had hoped (hot weather is not very conducive to sampling hot coffee), but the folks from SRAM (WBR's founder is a co-founder of SRAM) came over often to check in to say how much they appreciated what we were doing and seeing if we needed anything. I had said something to one of the SRAM folks about how disappointed I was in our sales and he said that the money didn't matter. Just the fact that we were doing what we could to spread the word about WBR was enough. Truly heartwarming to me.
You can be assured that Kinetic Koffee will do all it can to support this group in the future. And I would ask that anyone who wants to support a great group with a wonderful misson to send a donation to them, please!
Respectfully submitted,
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Has it really been over a month???
Things have gotten a little out of control this past month - both in a good way and a bad way. I promise to give a full update tomorrow.
Lots to write about...
Lots to write about...
Friday, March 27, 2009
Caffeine, the last legal stimulant
I will give an update on my back this weekend - promise! In the meantime, my friend Dirk sent me an interesting link on the effects of caffeine on athletic performance. You can read it here.
I was a test subject in a similar study at Cal State San Jose back in the mid-90's. Of course, this was when I was racing and much, much fitter than I am today. I'll have to dig out the results and post them...
I was a test subject in a similar study at Cal State San Jose back in the mid-90's. Of course, this was when I was racing and much, much fitter than I am today. I'll have to dig out the results and post them...
Monday, March 9, 2009
Starting the Positive Spin...
Well, if there is one bright spot in this whole surgery thing, it's that it'll be great motivation to really get in shape before the surgery. I figure that I've got about 6 weeks to work out and lose about 10 pounds before I go under the knife.
Why get fit before surgery? It will (I hope) allow me to recover much faster than I would otherwise.
Why wait? Well, this week is Canoecopia and next month is Sea Otter. Both are very important for Kinetic Koffee and we cannot afford NOT to be at either event. Ergo, the operation must wait until the end of April.
Make sense?
Why get fit before surgery? It will (I hope) allow me to recover much faster than I would otherwise.
Why wait? Well, this week is Canoecopia and next month is Sea Otter. Both are very important for Kinetic Koffee and we cannot afford NOT to be at either event. Ergo, the operation must wait until the end of April.
Make sense?
Friday, March 6, 2009
It's Official
Well, today I received the news I had been preparing to get for the past 6 months - surgery was recommended by the neurologist that I visited today in Redding. He looked at the MRIs and the results of the EMG, tapped me with a hammer (not my head, though) and stuck me with pins (feel this? feel this?). His prognosis: partial laminectomies in at least two locations.
So, now it's back in the neurosurgeon's court. And of course I need to bring someone up to speed soon as a roaster so the company can continue in my absence. Looks like I have a lot to work on.
But first, there's Canoecopia next week (I am really looking forward to spending time with my friends in Madison) and Sea Otter next month. They'll be interesting, that's for sure...
So, now it's back in the neurosurgeon's court. And of course I need to bring someone up to speed soon as a roaster so the company can continue in my absence. Looks like I have a lot to work on.
But first, there's Canoecopia next week (I am really looking forward to spending time with my friends in Madison) and Sea Otter next month. They'll be interesting, that's for sure...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
