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Come on Alan your late again No petty excuses.Unless you have a note from a responsible adult( If you know any )
We are all waiting for the next instalment.
Kevin

Hello mig

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Prequel!

'We have it to do' said Mel. She always said it. We had been paired in a pretend teaching practice. Well there were three of us actually, Lyn the other, but she was only onthe course becasue she was having an affair with the lecturer, best not mention their real names here. In essence the lesson was downto Mel and me. Crime and punishment was the topic, we did a whole thing on James Hanratty, the whys and wherefores. When we had done we had persuaded the class that Hanratty should have been acquitted, I still believe it today.(ok Mig, go on, Google Hanratty-then you will see why acquittal would have been important!)

I became friends with Mel, a blunt talking woman, why dont you get your back straightened? She looked me inthe eye. Ohh they cant do that, there is no procedure I said. Crap she said. go to your doctor tell him you want surgery, when he says you cant, quote the patient charter at him....

Well I am not much of a quoter at the best of times, and certainly not to the doc, but onthe other hand. Mel wasn't the sort of person you argued with......cripes. what's that saying a rock and a hard place or something!

Well it so happened that I had, a year or so before I met Mel,toyed with the idea of asking about being straightened up. I mentioned it to someone, can't rememer who, but whoever it was instantly without pause, regaled me with tales of all of the ...plegias' I would get if I did, so I was put off. Rather like some on KA to this day, I weighed the life I had with AS progressing against the risks of surgery, on balance, I took the view that AS would be the lesser of the two evils.

I did nothing.

How though to respond to Mel, each week,

'Alan, we have it to do'.

Have you seenthe doctor, what did he say, what did you say, tell him he's an idiot......... Always a twinkle in her eye often we sat and drank coffee in the break, she would tell me tales of what it is like to deliver ababy, what were her thoughts about being gay and thereby unlikely to have children and so it went, and, so did I. To my doctor. TM we will call him.

Dry mouthed I sat in his room, Hi Alan, yes he calls me Alan we are quite friendly, what can I do for you? I want surgery on my spine to straighten me up........You are too old. Well I still want it. I am not sure if it can actually be done. Well will you find out I said. Alan this kind of surgery is very stressful, you are 42, this is big big stuff. Nevertheless, I said, a vision of Mel in my mind, sat at coffee demanding to know the latest developments. Yes I will said TM, I will refer you to the queens, (QMC) and he did.

Mel was thrilled and then started sitting with someone else for coffee. Not as an affront to me but it was with a rather stunning looking other nurse LK, I think Mel quite errrr.......liked her!

was summoned to Harlow Wood, the spinal unit was based there as I began this journey, it was switched to the queens fairly soon after. At this first visit, the stage was set for the coming metamorphosis.

J K Webb, the surgeon met me. (For info J K Webb developed the procedure of spinal osteotomy which is used world wide, but more of that later)

He stood at the side of me. Stand up as straight as you can he says. I am doing, says I. His huge hand then whacked against my knees, the knees went back, the legs straighter than for years, the shoulders neck and head tumbling forward and dow........that's you real shape. says he.......Jesus.........says I Imagine you are at the side of a busy road and want to cross says he. keep your legs straight and look across the road (well I must say here that there wasn't really a road in the examination room, it was a pretend one you see!!!!! I dont think there are many examination rooms in spinal clinics with roads through them, well of course there may be......

Of course, I had no hope of lloking across the road, imaginary or otherwise. A dawning of true and desperate realisation of the real me, and the knowledge that it could and would get worse.

JK then looked me inthe face, yes legs were bent again and head a little higher,

"What do YOU want ME to do" he said, then stared me in the eyes.

"I want YOU to straighten ME up" said I.

Ok, then we will............wow...........wow.....was this happening...

His two assistant docs had been messing with me and drawing things on me (Schobers test) (spelling) and importantly onthe lifesize xrays that had been taken that morning.

WHat are you doing? in an icy tone............well we are working out the angles snivelled one lowly trainee, well they are wrong, this is a mans spine ypu are dealing with, you cant work out the angles. you get the angles right......( If you look at my xrays on this site you will actually see the lines they made that day) it was a bit embarrasing so during his little dig at the trainees, i was busily counting the fascinating green carpet tile and trying not to be noticed, which, is difficult whrn you are a rounded over 6 feet 5 almost naked man in a room occupied only by 3 other men..

Was thrilled, elated. I knew that TM had come through for me, as he always does, and that they were going to do it.......wow..........I saw Mel the following Wednesday, told her all, she was back to coffeeing with me, I guess her overtures elswhere were perhaps in the wrong key!

I told her all.

She touched my elbow, smiled, super, she said let me know all as it happens, I was summoned to the QMC a month later, with instructions to take my lungs with me and at least one ear as well, breathing was the thing and they were going to test it, but why, would one need an ear.....

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All agog Alan. Gosh, can't hardly wait for the next bit - this is more exciting than the two best matches at Wimbledon this year!

Shoot, was mighty brave of you to proceed. Dunno 'what' I'd do in like circs. Just dunno. Have been totally bent over at the neck, and that for several months. It was hell, and painful. But still dunno IF I'd have gone an done owt about it, IF owt could'av bin dun... Think we have to award you the KA STAR man. We aint got a star in those icon thinggies. Hmmmmm.

When is the next bit? Don't make us wait toooooo loooong, pretty pleeeeese. 'Smile'.

Molly C (ex-pat)


MollyC1i - Riding OutAS
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Hi Alan
Reading this chapter makes me realize how lucky you were having someone who encouraged you into getting your back straightend.And Im really pleased for you that it worked out you seem a realy nice person (even if you are an ex copper)
As you know the chances of me coming through such an operation without being paralised from the neck down is very slim.So I have to eccept my life getting worse with my head getting nearer my feet. Its just a question of how low my head gets before I choke.The hospital mesured me tuesday now 5'8.25". This dam disease is really the pits I wouldnt wish this on my worst enemy and ive go some pretty nasty ones.Your an insperation to others on KA keep it up
its helping to keep me sane. Although I doubt my own sanity
most of the time.
Kevin

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Kevin - you couldn't say a truer word. It's a pretty amazing story, isn't it?

Wish your kyphosis wasn't so high and you could be a candidate for something like this. Are you hoping that your new biologics will slow down the progress of the disease? And stop further bending?


Wendy

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Methotrexate, Celebrex, Plaquenil
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Alan - it's a stranger than fiction story and you tell it very well. I hadn't thought about the bent knees so that you could see forward.

Reading between the lines, you must have been very scared as you got ready for this. Not just fear of paralysis but also of the pain of the recovery.

I'm very proud to know you and all the KickAs folk who deal with such severe pain and disability with such courage.


Wendy

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mig Offline
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Ok, have done my googling homework as instructed and thought the verdict obviously wrong and his fate so grossly unfair. What kind of a car thief doesn't know how to drive a car? Clue number one to his innocence!

Thank goodness for Mel and her intimidation tactics. What a massive impact on your life, having met her and her considered and vocal opinion, when you did. 'Alan, we have to do it'. It is hard to imagine, really imagine, the optimism you must have had to dream of being straight and go for it.

It is such a brutally cruel thief AS.

Thank goodness you came through that surgery with such success. wow


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I believe you do have hope and possibilities, huge risks yes I know, but Kevin, you seem to be in the same place as I was, weighing the alternatives...........I do hope that there is a way forward for you and some fabulous quality of life waiting there in the wings...........just imagine, if you get straight, we could go out womanising.....................errr or we could stay at home and watch TV.......yes looking as I do then yes, staying in I think........lol

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oh yes Wendy the old bent knees trick, bet all on KA use it. Am glad you are still interested in this stuff.

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Yup, I use that trick to see a starry night sky, for putting in eye drops,.. or for looking up at really tall people standing next to me in crowded elevators... lol

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