Spinal Tap! - 11/23/09

Well actually the day had nothing to do with the fake band, but I liked the title...

Today it was another trek back to MCV/VCU for a checkup on my two broken vertibrea. I worked most of the day and headed off to Richmond after lunch.

Milestone: Today I drove my Caddilac CTS-V (Tremec 6-speed) for the first time since the accident. Last week I drove my truck and Marsha's Grand Cherokee (both automatics), but the MCV parking garages are low and tight. Besides I look at driving the CTS as additional physical therapy.

I arrived at MCV 15 minutes early (1:25ish), thinking I could be in-and-out in less than an hour. Boy, was I mistaken. After a quick set of x-rays I was led to an examination room. The nurse took my vitals, asked a few questions and told me the doctor would be by shortly.

I waited (2:00) and waited (3:00) and finally decided to hack the computer in the room to look at my x-rays and web into my work e-mail. This kept me occupied until 4:30 or so when another nurse stopped by to apologize for the wait and do a few basic neurological tests. She left me a few minutes later, again promising that the doctor "would be right in"...

So I waited (5:00) and waited (5:30) until FINALLY the Doc arrived. We spent a few minutes looking at the pictures of my T5 and T8 vertibrea. He showed me the 'before' images (essentially a crush/compression fracture) and the results from todays x-rays. The GREAT news after all of this waiting is that he told me that they were healing great and I was clear to do whatever I felt up to.

So I asked (as I had about the leg last week) "Jumping out of an airplane?" "Tackle Football?". His reply was "If you feel up to it, go for it". So, more great news!

On the bad news front, my slow shuffle out of the Ambilitory Care section of the hospital seemed to correspond with the mass exit of visitors. It took another half an hour to get out of the parking garage. But the news was enough to keep me smiling as I cranked up Classic Vinyl on the XM radio...