1 post tagged “doctors”

      Today I had an appointment with the neurosurgeon. My surgeon is Dr, Ralph Reeder. According to his bio he specializes in Degenerative Spine, Spinal Deformity, Trauma, Tumor-Infection of the spine, neck, and back.  He is board certified and belongs to the   Congress of Neurological Surgeons and North American Spine Society. He is an interesting guy for a neurosurgeon.

  Reeder  is a member of a rock band of doctors called, Dr. Dendrite and the Twisted Synapses . To quote the lead guitarist Dr. Case, "is sort of in the gray matter of the brain and a synapse is in the white matter.... Dr. Dendrite would be the head guy, the nerve cell, and the synapses are the connections. And if you change connections, hopefully for the better, you might twist them" ¹  Dr. Reeder also has pictures on his website of himself with red hair, brown hair, and I am pictured with him below with what I think is his natural color which is grey.  

 
      I liked Dr. Reeder from the moment I met him despite the fact I was hoping to pass out from the pain I was in while he was explaining that he had to scoop out part of spine to make me feel better. Reeder is also the one who insisted I get treated immediately for the myeloma immediately. He got me the best oncologist. He spoke to my sister and my family when I needed him too. He made sure that when my family had gone home that someone looked in on me everyday whether it was himself, or one of the PAs,  Pat. Reeder told me he had alot of hope for me because my tumor was so atypical. He really took time to explain why I had to go back to the hospital the second time. He understood why I got so upset and angry about that.   He has a soft reassuring voice and he usually comes in the room with a smile and a SWAT team of medical professionals.

     Today I didn't see Reeder or my favorite Physicians Assistant Pat (who deserves his own entry for his help in my recovery. There was another screw up with appointments made upon my discharge from the Mercy. Every appointment they made for me upon discharged was screwed up and when I realized that after the first one I was vigilant about confirming appointment times and dates. This screw up was on CNOS's part. I was very disappointed and angry that I couldn't see someone who was familiar with my case.

      CNOS is the huge ortho-neuro group that Reeder is a part of . CNOS stand for  Center for Neurosciences, Orthopedics & Spine. I did get to see Sandy,  a nurse practitioner who remembered me from the hospital. She was one of the members of Reeder's SWAT team who marched in during some of my lowest moments at Mercy Hospital. She said I was a good patient but she was so happy to see me with color in my face with a sense of humor.

      The good news from Sandy and some anonymous doctor as well as a  radiologist is that spine is fusing with the large appliance in my back. That is great news. It looks wonderful and I am healing like a young person. The fear was that because of my age and gender I might not make enough bone to for this fusion to take place correctly.  According to Sandy the fusing will take between six months to a year but my initial month out X-ray looks good. I am so happy!

       My annoying hip pain could be from the brace or from sleeping on it. I got kudos for icing it and using ibuprofen but really no relief from the medical profession. The rest of my questions were answered in a vague way. If I want to drive and feel comfortable I can do that.  Sandy did commend me for trying to walk and for lifting one pound weights so that I can keep my upper body strength up. She also told me that when my initial 90 day wearing of the brace was done in November that they would send me back to Physical Therapy for my core muscles because they would be so out of shape from being in the brace and using it for support. There is a long road ahead but everything looks good.

     I can't even explain how relieved I was to look at the x-ray with her and see light shadows which indicate bone growth. This is what I want for my back to stay stable so I can walk around and maybe bend someday.

 This is wonderful news!

1 - Taken from http://www.cnos.net/dr_dendrite.htm website.