February Surgery - Not a reason for Universal Health Care

Monday, I finally got some problems fixed that has been causing me many problems. At least that's what we're hoping. It all started several years ago when I was on a C-5 mission in Puerto Rico. It was raining slightly and I slipped when leaving the airplane while carrying a suitcase. I fell about 10 feet to the tarmac but at least I had the presence of mind to try to roll into the fall rather than just smack the ground. At the time the only problem I incurred was a broken wrist but as time went by a few more problems came up. About 4 years after that I started losing strength in my left arm and went to see a neurosurgeon. The MRI found that I had a herniated disk in my neck that was impinging the nerves in the arm causing the problem. He went in and opened up the nerve conduit in the spine and relieved the problem but in the process weakened the vertebra. At the time we didn't realize this but recently I fell again but this time the impact was on my right arm. The transfer of the impact reinjured the weakened disks and I started having the same symptoms again but this time centered in my right arm and wrist. The MRI revealed another impingement and herniation which required another surgery. Also the Doc identified a carpal tunnel problem in my right wrist so back under the knife I went and now I'm in the recovery phase. Here are some pics of the results:

A few points I'd like to make here. First, the quality and expediency of the medical coverage we in the military get is almost unequaled in the civilian world. Of course being an crew-member covered under the flight medicine program helped out but still from the time the problem was diagnosed until the surgery happened was only a few weeks. We in the military are taken care of very well although I know there are a few folks out there that would disagree; for me I'm pretty damn happy with them.

The other point I'd like to make is how even though I'm in a government run health care system this should not be a statement as to how a system would be beneficial for the rest of the country. We in the military reap the benefits of an affluent private medical system that augments our own. When I first joined almost every base or post had its own hospital with its own cadre of doctors. Since then the government decided to shift the care to an insurance based system (Tricare) with referrals from our primary care physicians at the base. This system uses the local medical infrastructure to support the base population so we get top-notch care at no cost to us. It's pretty much transparent compared to what we used to have. While this process works for us it only works because we have a local civilian medical team to feed off of. If the government decided to take over the health care system we would be back to what we had before with long waits, poor service and endless amounts of red-tape and bureaucracy. As far as medical care goes I'm almost in a perfect world right now, why would I want to go back to an antiquated system that had problems supporting the very people it was there to service? No, don't equate what the military gets when you try to argue for government run health care, its apples and oranges since we still depend on the strong prosperous medical system our country enjoys.

By the way, I'm doing fine now and with luck, should fully recover. :)

Latest Knee Surgery

Well yesterdays knee surgery went well. Dr DePrange found a tear in the meniscus that was easy to repair. I'm not sure how it happened since I'm not that athletic but I'm pretty sure it happened while I was deployed. One thing I know contributed to the problem was getting knocked around during an approach into Baghdad. We were trying to land and I was standing behind the pilot scanning for threats when we flew through the wake turbulence of a departing IL-76. I got slammed into the circuit breaker panel and ended up on the floor. My knee was the first thing I noticed but that's also when the back problems started. I think I posted a few things earlier about this incident so I'm not going to repeat myself. I'm glad though that we found something and it's now fixed. Next week I see a new doctor about the back, hopefully we get that fixed as well. I'm going to be on leave for a few weeks to help with the recovery of the knee. My plan is to start walking as much as the back can endure. Since I've been back I haven't exercised much and it's showing. I've got to loose this excess weight so I'm going to take advantage of this time off to work on it. Athena is going to be my walking partner; I'm sure she'll love it. I know this isn't my normal type of post but I've found that by writing things out helps me focus and prioritize my thoughts. It's kind of funny how that works; I've never been the type of person to keep a journal or diary but I'm really enjoying this. What's really interesting is that I'll have an idea in my head but when I try to write it out it changes and evolves into something better. It's like I take a bunch of random thoughts and writing it out channels them into a workable plan. If you you find your that type of person you might want to give this "blog" thing a try, it may help. (If you do let me know, I'll enjoy the read).

Another Surgery

Well the Doc's going to hack me open again. He needs to go into my left knee to fix a problem that's developed form last years surgery. Nothing major, just a quick "scope job". Oh well, I could use the time off from work. Now if we could just figure out what's going on with the back...

New Years

Tonight 2007 ends and '08 begins. While I don't have any specific plans for this year I will say I'm looking forward to it. 2007 has had it's share of ups and downs for me; my family, my job and my health have all been areas that have seen the most extreme fluctuations in the past year. Other than my Dad's health which has been in decline for a while now, the biggest upheaval in my family has been the reemergence of my son back into it. I've been estranged from my son for many years now due a decision I'd made a long time ago. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do but as the years passed, deciding to limit contact with my son was something I'd increasingly regretted. Earlier this year I had finally been able to locate him on the internet (a high point) but when I attempted to reestablish a relationship with him he rejected me (a low point). While I understand his animosity towards me and see that it's a huge uphill battle, I'm hoping that in the upcoming year I can make progress in creating some type of relationship with him. As for my job, well here it was more about image that anything else. Earlier in the year I was filling in as the Squadron 1st Sergeant. As the top enlisted member of the squadron I was able to positively affect the career of many of our folks. This is something that I take personal pride in because I feel that unless you recognize the successes of your folks your not really leading them into success. During the year I deployed for four months and experienced some of the most challenging experiences I could ever imagine, some I did well, and some... not so much. The death of Joey during the deployment was tough but we banded together and pushed through it to get the mission done. While this time was a personal low point for me I think professionally it was more a high point. Although I could have handled things better, I kept focus on my guys making sure they dealt with the loss but also understood the importance of completing their mission. I remember taking pride in the fact that we didn't loose any missions due to this event, I think more than anything it was strong leadership from the entire squadron staff that kept that from happening. The low point of the deployment was the second half. It all started with me getting a little too big for my britches and made a few decisions that upset some of the leadership. When they put me in the "penalty box" it didn't set well with me and I started pushing back; its never a good thing when you try to push around your boss. This was some very poor judgment on my part and the repercussions reinforced my dependency into depression. All of it came to a head when the commander said I was a failure as a SrNCO, citing the fact that since I'd been unsuccessful in getting any of my guys recognized with awards I had failed them. While now I totally disagree with him, his comments hurt and made me re-access my entire career. I've since discovered that while my guys didn't get recognized I did gain their respect and admiration and that my ex-commander was totally oblivious to how his people felt towards me. The year ended on a high point though when I was successful in getting some well deserving individuals recognized and promoted. I also was able to secure some highly sought after assignments for a few of my guys so I may have slipped a little I've proven to myself that I am the SrNCO I should be. Some of the problems I had in the desert stemmed from my increasing health problems. Between my knees surgeries and my back problems I'm now always in a constant level pain. The pain varies greatly in intensity but it's always there. I never really understood how pain could be such a debilitating issue for people but now I have a totally different insight on it. I'm trying very hard not to use pain medication at all since I feel this will only cause other dependency issues I think would be worse so we're trying to use physical therapy to help reduce the pain. It seems to be working but the road is tough and frustrating. Pain can cause depression, moodiness, and laziness; all of these areas I noticed an increase in during the past year so hopefully in the upcoming one I can reverse this trend. As soon as I can get the pain under control things will get a lot easier for me. So as you can see I'm looking forward to the upcoming year but I'm sure t will have it's own challenges.

Originally posted @ MySpace as "Crutches Yuck"

Yesterdays surgery seemed to go well, now comes the long recovery.  I'll be in crutches for about 12 weeks, 6 weeks for the right leg another surgery around my birthday and then another 6 weeks.  This time the doc put me in a brace that prevents me from moving my leg.  Now those of you that know me know that I like to take things apart, well I figured out how to make it so I can bend my knee.  Needless to day Rosa chewed my butt out for that.  One thing though, thank God for pain killers.  He gave me hydrocodone; nothing major but a few of these and I feeling pretty damn good.  That and Motrin and I'm feeling no pain. 

Here are before and after pictures:

 http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k283/TheBass_25/JWHUN026.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k283/TheBass_25/CMHUN014.jpg

He drilled out the defective part and put in a plug that will eventually grow over with scar cartilage.  The right knee was harder for him to do because of the shape of the defect.  The left knee will be easier.  The hope is that after the scar tissue forms it will be a permanent fix and the meniscus tears will stop. I'm just looking forward to being able to go to the gym without being in pain.  Not sure if that's going to happen but it's my best shot.  If this doesn't work then I'm probably going to have to retire. We'll just have to wait and see to have to retire. We'll just have to wait and see.

Originally posted @ MySpace as "Knee Surgery"

Well I'm having yet another knee surgery. Funny how after the Air Force decides to make running a more important part of the fitness program that all us old guys are having knee problems. I wonder if the VA has been consulted about all the orthopedic issues being created for them?