ASPENDAILYIMAGE
- PICTURES FROM PARADISE -
essay
The Billings Family Saga of February 2008
by Prentice Boyd Billings
Suffice it to say that February 2008 was a dark month in the annals of Billings family history. Harriet split her kneecap in half and Boyd completely herniated a disk in his spine. If you must know more- read on.
On January 30 I was skiing through the trees on skier’s right near the bottom of “Knowltons” aka. Christmas Tree ski run on Aspen Mountain and- scooting through a couple of pines- hit a nearly vertical wall at full speed, needless to say it compressed me big time. My chest slapped my knees and a strange sound like “squink” came from my lower back. Launching over the top of the obstacle with skis over my head at least my landing was soft as my rear end hit first in about 10-12 inches of fresh snow.
I was definitely dazed and so just laid there in a heap for a while- hoping that nothing too much was messed up. Groaning to a stand after a few minutes and taking stock of my moving parts everything seemed to be working ok but of course my lower middle back hurt rather nicely. “No problem” I thought and skied away.
Oops. Typical bad move. I suppose it’s just human nature to ignore the obvious if at all possible to do so. Skiing is a dangerous sport and if done long enough you can expect to get injured sooner or later. Accidents will happen and look at it this way- you can get hurt just stepping out your front door- so thank the Lord for every day you can enjoy another day of life. If you ski like I do, every day that one can walk away from the hill is like another miracle come true.
Only a few turns away from the top of Copper Gulch and the fresh corduroy I gingerly swooped down the smooth to the Uncle Wigglys Tree Farm cutoff under Bell chairlift and slid over to the bottom of Jackpot. My real goal that morning was to get a photo for aspendailyimage.com and there is a special spot under the gondola that I like (it has the town in the background), you can see it in the January archive at 1-30-8 on the web site.
As soon as I was in position for the shot it became readily apparent that something was quite wrong with my back. A silent scream began to rear its ugly head. ”That is that for you today my friend”, it murmured. Hurriedly I snapped off a few shots and ever so slowly limped my way down the hill to Little Nell and home. Stripping off the ski togs I took care of the update on the site, gulped down some ibuprofen and proceeded to take it easy. This was only about ten-ten thirty in the a.m. and I pretty much just hung by the box (computer) or watched the tube till 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
Then I decided to run an errand downtown. Headed to Wolf Camera to check out what was up with them (interested in a new camera that takes RAW images) I got about two blocks away from home to just about Pomeroy Sports when my lower left calf muscle seemed to get a really bad cramp....but it wasn’t a cramp. I could barely walk. The string of nerves running down the back of my leg from my butt to my ankle were on fire. Doing a couple of stretches seemed to help a bit and so in a bent over position I found some relief and hobbled the few blocks more to the camera store. Just being curious I hobnobbed with the sales person and found out that there is a brand new Canon point and shoot camera that takes pictures at over 12 megapixels (that’s huge), not cheap but not that expensive either. Where they get you is all the accessories...as usual.
I might have bought one then and there but; none in stock, had to come from the warehouse, etc. Not very conducive to an impulse buy- whatever. Limping home like the Hunchback of Notre Dame my bed and more pain drugs were calling me. I actually slept on the living room floor, It was a fitful night to say the least. No position suited for more than 10 to 15 minutes or so. I’d been hurt before but this was getting a bit scary.
Muddle through and persevere they say...muddle thru and persevere.....
So the next morning I got up and had some cereal, coffee, tea, etc. and planned out a little photo adventure out to Snowmass. Not really feeling too great I strapped on all my usual gear and headed out the door to the bus stop at Rubey Park. The plan was to hop on the free skier bus out to the mall area and Fanny Hill and attempt to get some people pictures- maybe even little kids skiing- which is always a good shot. The bus is only 4 blocks from my house and everything was going fine. I was hurting and still had to hunch over a bit to alleviate the pain coming from my sciatic nerves but nothing too bad until- 30 feet from where the bus is the back of my left leg exploded with a burning sensation and I pretty much could go no further, had to sit down and “grin and bear it” “Man this sucks!”, I exclaimed in a low mutter- wondering all the while-” Now how will I get the picture for the site today?”
It just so happened that my temporary collapse occurred right next to the statue of Max Marolt. I had actually considered shooting a pic. from that same angle several days before and so getting the camera out the deed was done and so was I. Not quite literally crawling home I posted it on the site and was pretty pleased the way it turned out (check out the January archive for 31). That was basically it for that day. More ibuprofen, more rest, more waiting around hoping against hope for some sort of a change so I could ski or at least walk upright. Mom showed up as usual to stay overnight and work at the Thrift Shop the next day and we had a pleasant dinner.
Saturday dawned, the first of February, mom had gotten off to her volunteer day o.k. and feeling pretty good I decided try and take another stab at making it out to Snowmass again. The night before I had inserted a piece of quarter inch plywood between the mattress and the sheets on my bed and it seemed to have kept my spine in a more natural position. Strapping on all my gear I headed out the door once more to see what would happen. The sciatic nerves in my left leg were still killing me and I hunched over taking very small steps like Tim Conway playing the old bugger on the Carol Burnett Show. I shuffled down the street and actually made it to the bus this time.
The ride out was fine, bus not too crowded and I had a nice comfy seat with lumbar support built in. Off the bus and down the mall to the ski slope my timing was just about perfect as there was about a five minute wait until a little kid’s ski class showed up and I got the shot and was back on the bus headed to town. Couldn’t have been more pleased with the way the picture turned out considering the weather and my circumstances. The snow was falling again quite heavily and the more it piled up the deeper my depression at not being able to go play in it and not knowing if my back was ever going to get better.
The waiting game continued with me taking more and more ibuprofen, hot baths, stretching exercises, heating pads, etc. The next few days were punctuated with me trying to get around and capture a few images for the website here and there- nothing too far from home- but I was getting frustrated and confused because my back seemed to be getting better some days and then worse the next. I was starting to face the fact that going too see a doctor was the only next option but of course i’m so stupid that I don’t have health insurance and so was desperately leaving that as the last option.
Then the phone call came. One of those calls that you know is going to come eventually but are never quite ready for. Ann A. (my mom’s house mate) was on on the other end of the line,”Boyd, this is Ann. Your mother has fallen down and i’m here with her in Valley View Hospital.” Mom had tripped and fallen on the concrete floor of the garage where she lives and broken her knee. Her glasses were a bit fogged and catching the right foot on a 6”x6” support board that was sticking out from holding up a totem pole of Ann’s son in law John she went “splat” on her left knee- splitting the kneecap in half horizontally.
Somehow dragging herself through the mud room and up the few steps to Ann’s she found the nearest chair and collapsed in it. Luckily Ann was home at the time and within about the next five minutes 911 was called for an ambulance. The Carbondale Police were first on the scene and soon thereafter the EMTs showed up, loaded mom onto the stretcher and she was on her way to the hospital within 15 to 20 minutes or so.
There I was a couple of hours later on the phone getting all the details from mom herself in the emergency ward at Valley View. It was about 4 or 5 o’clock and the orthopedic surgeon on call wanted to operate but already had another person up for 8 or 9 and so they couldn’t get to her until the next day so she was scheduled for 4 in the afternoon. Ann was there with her and it didn’t make a whole lot of sense for me to rush down right then so it was decided that I would come down the next day to see her through surgery. Glenwood is about an hour away on a good day and it was rush hour (yes we have them here too) so it would have been completely dark by the time I could get there. They had taken x-rays and knew exactly what the problem was. There was no big emergencey, she was fine and in no pain and was content to wait. I agreed and after chatting a few moments we said our farewells,”Love you, kiss kiss” and hung up the phone.
I had also called and made an appointment to get my back diagnosed at the local clinic the following Tuesday. Needless to say I did not sleep very well that night.
It was about eight the next morning when the phone rang and it was mom on the other end, “Good morning honey, guess what- they moved my surgery up to twelve o’clock noon.” “O.K.” I groggily replied “I’ll be right down as soon as I can.” A little more small talk and the phone was hung up and the “process of going down valley” was begun. I put it this way intentionally because it was no small task whatsoever. This is the most snow we have had around here in over 25 years and my truck was totally buried and plowed in and my back was completely screwed. I thought that I had plenty of time to try and figure how to get it out but of course now everything had changed.
I had no choice really. If I wanted to see and be with my mom before and during what could potentially have been a life threatening surgery then I had to get out the shovel, dig out my vehicle and get my butt down to the hospital a.s.a.p. There was no way to get on the bus and try to get there in time- i’d been there before but it was a while back. Gritting my teeth and trying to be as careful as possible I scooped very small shovelfuls and -thankfully Lord- after about 45 min. drove the truck out of the snow bank with a minimum of effort. My back wasn’t in total agony but it surely didn’t feel good. I strapped on one of those portable heating pads for your back, grabbed my computer and headed downvalley.
The road was totally snow packed and icy in town but once you got to the Castle Creek Bridge- right about the city limits- it was basically just wet and slushy. Traffic was light and it was a breeze making it to mom’s house and exchanging the truck for her car. Down there it was like “the banana belt” compared to Aspen, the highway completely dry with smooth sailing the rest of the way. It is only 10 miles or so from mom’s to Glenwood Springs and I zoomed down as quickly as possible, trying to get there before she had to go under the knife. It wasn’t too bad, only about 11 o’clock, not running impossibly late.
Of course the hospital was almost totally different than when I had been there last, at least it was in the same place and I relatively quickly found the front entrance and a place to park. Going in it took maybe a good five to ten minutes to track down her room and when I finally found it she wasn’t there. “She’s been taken down to pre-op.” the nurse told me, also giving me the directions how to get there. A couple of minutes more and there she was, laid out on a bed with her left knee swollen up to about the size of a softball. “Hi mom, how are you feeling?” I asked, “Are you in pain?” “Not really at all.” she replied. We chitchatted a bit about what had happened and other things while the prep. nurse was getting her all ready to go into surgery,washing her leg, etc. The surgeon Dr. Adams came by to visit and we talked for a moment. It had been discussed before that he had done this operation numerous times and it should be a “piece of cake”. Other personnel of the O.R. staff swung by to touch base including the anesthesiologist and after about five to ten more minutes she was off on her way saying something like “I don’t want to do this....”
I was told that I could either wait in the lounge or go to lunch or shopping or something with a beeper and they would beep me when it was over but I opted to just wait around since the operation was only supposed to take about an hour or so. The staff said the surgeon would come find me after and tell me how it went. I sat down in the waiting room and shot off a couple of e-mails to family back East telling them what was going on and started to wait. Time sure moves slow when you have a loved one undergoing surgery. Your mind kind of plays tricks on you and so finding convenient distractions becomes a must. What seemed like two hours later (more like 45 minutes) I couldn’t help it and had to go check with the O.R. front desk and they assured me it was all o.k. and again the doctor would come find me. I trudged back to the room and continued the waiting game. It really wasn’t much longer when he came by with some fresh x-rays, told me everything went smooth and showed me the wires and pins he had put in to bring the two halves of the kneecap back together. On the picture it looked great. “She is in recovery now, you can just go wait in her room and it shouldn’t be much longer until she wakes up.” he said.
Valley View is a medium sized hospital, not too hard to find your way around and so back in her room a few minutes later I shot off another e-mail to the relatives- Aunt Ellen mostly- telling them all was o.k. and after another half hour or so there she was rolling down the hallway back to room 201, a bit foggy from being under but in good spirits considering. No pain as of yet, she couldn’t have looked much better after coming right out of an operation. I sat with her for a while, maybe an hour or two and seeing that everything was fine and knowing she was in good hands took my leave, giving a hug and kiss, telling her, “love you.” Back to Aspen I went, praying to the Lord for a rapid healing of my poor old mom’s busted knee. This was Saturday the seventh of February.
Called the next morning early and she was feeling fine- had slept quite well considering they take your vital signs every couple of hours. The doctor had said it might be possible that someone can actually walk out of the hospital the next day after this operation. He had come by doing his morning rounds and they had decided she should stay another night. I was going to run down and see her but of course it was dumping snow outside. My back was totally killing me and she was doing great and told me to just stay home so I did. The website had been put on hold at that point so I pretty much went back to bed, watched t.v., etc.
Monday morning I call pretty early , she answers the phone and things aren’t too good. Sounding horrible she kind of struggles to get out ,“They gave me some drugs last night and they made me sick.” The nurse gets on the phone and tells me the story. Around two a.m. the night nurse asked if she was having any pain and she said yes so they decided to give her a very small amount of Vicodin intravenously. She didn’t react well to it and became very nauseous, light headed and started throwing up. This lasted the rest of the night. When I showed up at about 11:30 or so she looked rather woozy with red puffy eyes but she had stopped being sick (nothing left). “How is it going mom?” I asked. “Still not too good.” and she continued to explain what had happened. The nurse on duty said it would probably take about twelve hours to get out of her system and that much time was almost up so I was hoping she would start coming around soon. Mom is small and skinny and so it doesn’t take much in the way of dose size of a drug to really affect her. They had given the smallest size dose but it was still too much or we think that maybe she is allergic to Vicodin or those type of drugs.
I asked her if she wanted the newspapers to read but her eyes were too puffed and she was still too dizzy to focus. Went and got them anyway so I could at least read them to her and she agreed. Read the headlines to her and a few articles and she slowly started to feel better, eventually getting down some water and even a little applesauce. Right about 2:00 she really started to come around a lot, stopped moaning and looked a lot brighter. Just about the 12 hours later that the nurse said it would take. Of course I was way relieved- she was doing so good before and to have this setback just didn’t seem fair.
Obviously she was not going to get out of the hospital that day. The doctor said it was o.k. with the knee but the complication with the pain killer decided that one. Hung around as long as I could until we both said time for me to go home- come back tomorrow and get me- everything is fine. Went down the next day and all was smooth as silk (except my back). Checked her out with ease and we drove back to my house with just a short stop at her place for an extra t.v., etc. Settling in pretty fast, getting around with a walker that we picked up for five dollars at the thrift shop, I got her all set up with phone and t.v. and fed and then collapsed in near exhaustion on my bed. My doctor appointment was for the next day in the afternoon.
Part Two
The next day-Tuesday the twelfth- mom was doing great still. We had the knee elevated and iced as much as possible and she was comfortable enough; moving about my small place easily, getting back and forth to the bathroom and the comfy chair in the living room, reading the papers and doing the Sudoko puzzles. I was feeling a bit better maybe but could still not walk upright. Got mom all fed and then off to my doctors appointment on time. Filled out the paperwork and then they took a couple of x-rays of my lower back. Dr. Nick came in the exam room and gave me some routine tests for strength and asked a bunch of questions about how, where and what, which I answered as concisely as possible. I asked “Did you look at the pictures yet?”, he answered “Not yet- I leave that till after the questions.” So he leaves the room and it seems like it is maybe taking a bit long for him to come back. I already know basically what he is going to tell me is that I need to get an MRI so that he can tell what the soft tissues i.e. my discs were doing.
Surprisingly another doctor, Dr. Tom, comes back in instead, which kind of threw me a curve until later when I understood that they work closely together. He performs some of the same tests on me and asks some similar questions. Previously when talking to the first Dr. I had mentioned that I was having a hard time going to the bathroom- not incontinet- but kind of dribbling out the front and not too normal out the back and with a slight numbness in my crotch, but the second Dr. hadn’t quite picked up on that part. It was kind of tough trying to tell two people my same symptoms at different times, especially when they don’t ask the same questions! Then he tells me “You have to get an MRI.”- just like I thought. He directs Dina to get me scheduled for sometime in the next week or so. We both know I don’t have insurance and that an MRI can easily cost two thousand dollars or more but reluctantly I have to agree. I paid the bill and Dina scheduled an MRI for me at Aspen Valley Hospital on the next Monday. The charges for this can vary quite a bit from place to place so I asked about the price and tried to get more info and she helped me a bit with other numbers to call and looked into scheduling me in Glenwood or Silt.
I went home and figured that a few calls around to places even farther away like Grand Junction (120 mi.) or Denver (200 mi.) couldn’t hurt if the price could be significantly reduced. They wanted 2500 in Silt and even more at Glenwood. Aspen was around two grand and I found a place in G.J. for about 1500 (these prices include the guy who reads the results). I can’t get in touch with any places in Denver because it is too late in the day. The Internet is a wonderful source for information so I started surfing around about MRIs and lo and behold. One site was telling me that the insurance companies never pay more than five to seven hundred dollars. Interesting.....here is a site telling me that if I can schedule with the “Radiologic Network” it will only be $625 all inclusive, you just have to pay upfront. It’s getting to be time for dinner, the computer goes off so I can take care of mom and think it over for a bit.
Wednesday I’m up relatively early, there is no “sleeping in“ because mom has got to be taken care of with the making of breakfast and getting the papers and so on. Having done this I get back on the computer to confirm and look into yesterday’s research. The site is discounted-radiology.com and their offices are based in California and have regular hours so I couldn’t have done anything until then anyway. Supposedly they have like 1800 sites around the country so I was counting on them having one in Colorado. I get on the phone to their office and ask. The girl on the other end says she will check and after a few minutes says, “Yes we do, in Lakewood, Colorado.” Lakewood is by Denver and with me being willing to drive that far I replied, ”That is fine.” She asked me a few questions to see if I met the criteria and I did so after a bit she asked me “When do you want an appointment? “ and I say “As soon as possible.” A lengthy pause occurs until I heard “How about eight o’clock tomorrow morning?” Again I said “That is fine.” and she proceeded to give me the address and phone number of the place. Then I got transferred directly to the finance department where my credit card info is taken and I’m told it will be charged as soon as the MRI is completed. I immediately called the phone number in Denver to make sure that the appointment had actually been made. The lady on the phone said she will check and comes back pretty fast and said kind of snippy, “Yes you do and you have to be in the machine at 8:30.“ Without hesitation I replied, “I’ll be there.” and hung up.
Here I was in Aspen and to get this great price on an MRI it was going to be necessary to drive the 200 miles to Denver and right away to boot. Fortunately the roads and weather were clear and dry for it being February in Colorado and the drive was the least of my worries. My upstairs neighbors Ron and Diane were willing to look after mom for a night so I grit my teeth, got everything set and hopped in the car and headed down the road at about one o’clock in the afternoon. The trip was smooth and getting to Denver I of course hit town right at the rush hour and so was soon was stuck in a traffic jam. I had gotten off the freeway right where the MRI place was to look for a motel but couldn't find any in the immediate area and then made the mistake of going back on the freeway to go a little farther into town. The next exit was only about a mile away but I didn’t see any motels off the side until just after I had gone past it and that is when the traffic jam started. It was maybe a mile and a half to the next exit but with the stop and go traffic it seemed to take the better part of an hour to get back off the freeway and backtrack back to the La Quinta Inn that was only about a mile from the offices where I had to be 8:00 the next morning.
There was no way I could have slept in the soft motel bed and so getting to my room the first thing I had to do was pull the sheets and blankets off the bed and onto the floor. I had anticipated this and taken my inflatable camping pad to at least have a little comfort during the night. It is a lightweight, one inch thick pad that I use to go backpacking in the summer. I had been using it on the plywood on top of my bed at home successfully and it was adequate to keep me somewhat comfortable and actually sleep for more than a few hours that night. It started to blow and snow outside about midnight which was kind of stressful because the roads can be a real mess in Denver when it snows. Peeking out the curtain in the middle of the night after a bathroom break at the snow piling up an inch or two I saw a rabbit in the parking lot right outside my room. A good luck sign I hoped and went back to bed.
Up early the next morning and into a hot bath for my aching back I took a large dose of ibuprofen about 6:30 so that when I had to lay flat in the MRI machine the pain wouldn’t be too bad. It takes fifteen to twenty minutes being perfectly still on your back to complete the procedure. I got into the car about seven to have plenty of time to find the office and be there by eight to fill out the paperwork. The snow was maybe 3-4 inches, no problem for mom’s little SUV, and I made really good time and found the place easily, getting to the door at 7:30 or so. Tried the doorknob-locked. Knocked on the door- no answer. I thought maybe someone would be there by then if my appointment was so early but no. I leaned against the wall and slowly slid down it to a sitting position and waited.
Did not know what to think then except just be patient and hang out for a while for someone to show. It was a big empty dark building but at least an office across the hall had people in it which made me feel better, after all this whole trip was kind of a crap shoot to get a good deal and I still wasn’t sure if it was going to work out or not. Well about twenty-five minutes later the secretary shows up and unlocking the door asked, “Good morning, can I help you?” I replied, “Hi, I’m here for my 8:00 appointment.” as we both entered. I gave her my name and she fired up her computer and the confusion began.
My name was not on her system and there was no scheduled appt. for that time in the morning. I explained that just yesterday the woman on the phone had told me to be here first thing and this was the only address given to me. She was very nice and told me that they had four different offices and proceeded to call each one in order to find out what was happening. The first place called had me on their list but the office was in Englewood- south of Denver- about 45 minutes away on a good day not during rush hour and not when the weather is fowl. There was obviously no way for me to get back on the road and make it in time and so there I was, right time-wrong place. She explained to the other office what was happening and I overheard her say, “Well he is here now and so I’ll just have to fit him in somehow.” Handing me the usual paperwork she smiled and told me to have a seat and that she could probably get me in sometime later that morning. Somewhat relieved, I began to fill out the forms but did not know whether or not the same price was going to apply and I had driven all that way and my back was killing me and I said to myself, “No matter- just get it done and worry about it later.”
So I sat there and waited. The rest of the staff slowly filtered in; first the interns to make coffee and get things set up and then the technicians and radiologists and doctors. It was maybe about 9 or so when the first patient showed up and checked in and there was nothing for me to do except sit there and watch as more came. I was in no mood to even read the magazines or anything- the pain pills were starting to maybe wear off a bit so I just paced back and forth hoping they could work it out soon before the pain got too intense. Eventually my call came to go on back to the changing room and get ready and I threw on the disposable paper shorts and locked my valuables away. The MRI technician was super understanding and nicely explaining the test, gently laid me on the sliding table with all the support padding under my head, knees and back. It took only about 15 min. and amazingly the pain held off as I laid absolutely still with the strange buzzing and clicking going off around me in the giant plastic donut that surrounds one at the time. Pulling me back out of the machine with sort of a worried look on her face the nice lady told me to get dressed and have a seat back out in the waiting room while the films processed and the radiologist got a chance to look at them.
Got dressed and returned to a chair and began another waiting game; from what I understood once the test was over it was supposed to be a short time until my release to go back home with the packet of MRI pictures but after maybe 10-15 minutes another woman (a doctor I think) came out and told me, “We see something we don’t like and are trying to call your doctor, please be patient. Are you comfortable- do you want to lie down?” “No thanks, I’m ok.” I replied, not knowing what to think but suspecting that something really crappie was going to be the result. They were having a hard time getting in touch with Dr. Tom back in Aspen and every once in a while someone would come out and give me an update on their progress. All the while the gears in my brain kept spinning and telling me it must be something bad if they are holding me here. My mood became darker and darker the longer I waited- hoping not to get stuck in Denver- thinking, “They are going to basically have to physically restrain me to keep me here.” I had driven all the way there with no problem and was damned if it was my fate not to be able to return home that day.
Finally the lady doctor came back out and handing me the films told me that an appointment had been made in my name to see my doctor the next day and that I could go but to please be very careful on the way back. That was when I knew for sure something was really wrong but I still felt as if maybe my luck would hold and maybe it wasn’t as bad as they thought. Getting back in the car I headed for home and first thing called mom to tell her I was on my way. She answered and told me, “A nurse called here and you have to go to Rifle (about 60 miles away) tomorrow.” I told her I knew about the appointment but didn’t understand what the big hurry was and hoped to get it changed to the next week. Mom had her own app. the next day in Glenwood and the scheduling was tight to get her there and then get myself to Rifle- she would have to wait in the orthopedic office for several hours for it to work. Saying she was willing to do that I was talked into it though because I understood something was up and there was no use fighting it. The roads and traffic on the way back weren’t so bad- except for it snowing around Vail Pass- but even that could have been worse and I had a safe, smooth trip home.
Part Three
The next day mom and I got down to her doctor’s office in Glenwood no problem and then I took off to Rifle with my films in hand and my fingers crossed for good luck. It was a clear, beautiful Colorado day as I found the newly opened office with ease and sat down with the paperwork. A short wait later and I was lead back to the exam room to wait some more while the team of doctors looked over my MRI pictures . Dr. Nick and Dr. Tom were both running around with several patients and it took a while for them to get back to me. I again described my symptoms in detail including the numbness in my crotch in which they were partic-ularly interested. When I was asked to drop my pants and given the rubber glove up the backside test my suspicions increased alarmingly. Then it came- Dr. Tom came into the office and broke the bad news, “Mr. Billings, I’m afraid you need to have surgery right away.” My jaw dropped and I could barely speak as my mind started to do cartwheels.
The emotions flooded in and I began to choke up and nearly cried. Dr. Tom began to explain what and where the problem was- a severely herniated disc between my L1 and L2 vertebrae. That is high up in the lower back and very difficult work on, normally done by going into the front of the body cavity meaning they would have to have a general surgeon slice my belly open and lay my insides on the table just to get to it. When I heard that the fear virtually overwhelmed me and the crying started in earnest. Also the only place in the area that it could be done was in Grand Junction- 120 miles from Aspen, that meant my mom would be stranded in Glenwood if I drove there right away. Having not much of a choice I reluctantly agreed and the arrangements were made to have me walk into the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital. The doctor got on the phone to the surgeon on call and came back to tell me everything was set for me to take off right then.
I got on the phone to Valley View in Glenwood to tell mom and see what she thought and could barely choke the words out as I tried to explain. She understood and told me not to worry, that everything would be all right and if it had to be done then do it and the last thing to be concerned with was leaving her stranded. In a state of shock I gathered up my belongings and left the office. The beautiful clear day had turned to a fog in my brain and like a zombie I drove down the highway towards my inevitable fate. Times of stress do strange things to your thinking and I pondered just running the car off the road to end it all and be done with it. Eventually I resigned myself to the circumstances and comforted my state by telling myself that at least I could get a second opinion by going to St. Mary’s. What is an hour or more of a trip flew by in no time and there I was sitting in the emergency room of the hospital.
Everyone couldn’t have been more pleasant as I was lead here and there to check in, do the paperwork and then strip off my clothes and put on the gown and get onto the gurney for the emergency nurse to prep. A short time later and my surgeon Dr. Lopez came in and pulled out my films to see what was up. He went through a couple holding them up to the light and then got to the one that showed where the problem lied, I think he said something like,”Whoa”. He turned the film towards me to point out what and where the problem was and it was obvious even to me what was going on. Two days after the MRI and this was my first glimpse of the huge mass of material pressing on my spinal cord causing the excruciating pain when I attempted to straighten up and walk. It wasn’t going to fix itself and so something was going to need to be done. I asked, “ My other doctor told me you have to go in from the front to get to it?”, he replied, “ Not necessarily, it’s possible I can go in from the back with a retractor to get it done. Let me take your films and examine them closely and I’ll get back to you.”
My relief was palpable as he left the room with the pictures in hand- at least there was a chance of avoiding the major surgery part of this thing.
It took a while but after maybe a half an hour he came back and told me that the retractor procedure was a real possibility and asked if I was willing to go forward. “Yes” I replied and he handed me the consent form to sign. He didn’t have a pen on him and so left me with it to read over and think about it. The form stated the usual consequences possible when undergoing this sort of thing including infection, paralysis or death. My eyes opened a bit wider when reading that but after only a few minutes I was looking for a pen to sign with, understanding that was the norm and resigning myself gladly to the retractor operation. It was a hundred times better than undergoing the alternative. A short time later he came back with a pen and I immediately signed the form, shook his hand and said, “Let’s go for it Doc.” We talked over the timing of the surgery and he said that he would rather schedule it for the next morning- just in case there was an emergency that evening because he was on call. “No problem- sounds good to me.” I said and so we shook hands again before he left. I was wheeled up to my room to begin the wait for the next day.
I rested relatively comfortably that night considering what was about to happen. The pain killers they gave me helped as I called all the friends and family possible to let them know what was going on. Luckily I had my cell phone with all the numbers on it. Just in case I didn't make it I wanted to at least have a few words but was confident all the while. The doctor had mentioned that he had done this kind of operation many times before, starting with his fellowship when first beginning his career. I actually got a few hours of sleep in, which was incredible as far as I was concerned. The operation was on for eight o'clock in the morning and although mom couldn’t get there beforehand she would be there when I woke up.
I awakened at maybe six the next morning, quite nervous as expected. Cut off from eating or drinking anything but water at midnight I wasn’t really hungry anyway, the butterflies in my stomach were having a good old time. The O.R. nurse came in at seven or so and then Dr. Lopez just after, again I expressed my confidence in him and asked him to call my adopted brother Tony, an orthopedic surgeon in Sandy, Utah (just south of Salt Lake City). He had wanted to talk with my doctor about the procedure and so I handed the doc. my card with the numbers written on the back, asking about the possibility. Soon after the nurse wheeled me down the hall to the elevator to drop a floor to pre-op, she complained that the bed didn’t seem to roll easily but managed it somehow. I told her it probably needed oiling and that anyway she was getting a workout that morning. Beginning to prep me it seemed at that point my biggest concern was my glasses not getting misplaced while undergoing what was to date the scariest operation of my life- typical. The anesthesiologist came in and asked a few questions about medications, etc. and informed me that they were going to monitor my spinal cord during the operation and that I might actually be partly awake and remember some of it. In my previous experience I went out like a light with even a simple epidural and so informed him of this and really had no worries about that.
Rolling into the operating theater the nurse assured that they were going to take good care of me and putting a mask over my mouth told me to breath deep- within a few breaths I was gone- off to dreamland.
I don’t recall what the dream was but it was pleasant and when finally coming to I almost just wanted to go back to sleep and continue it. There was mom right beside me with a cup of crushed ice for my dry mouth, I asked for water but they wouldn’t give it and so the ice chips had to suffice. Mom inquired about how I felt and I replied somewhat groggily, “Hi mom, just fine, considering.” It’s strange what my mind goes through just after an operation. I always wonder if any time has passed at all and if they actually did anything. Getting some more feeling I could tell that something was indeed different- there was a slight pinching in my back but the agonizing pain from before was gone- excellent! Time to focus on the recovery and get the heck out of that hospital. If they would have allowed it I could have walked right then although that wasn’t possible with all the usual tubes and wires attached here and there: an i.v. in my arm, oxygen in the nose, heart monitor on the finger, drain in the back and Foley catheter up the front.
It was great seeing mom there and knowing I had come through the operation o.k. The doctor showed up and told me everything went smooth and I automatically thanked him sincerely. He explained that they had indeed done the retractor operation going in from the back on the right hand side of my spine. Cutting away pieces of vertebrae he was then able to access the herniated area and remove the disk material. Then he inserted two pins in my L1 and L2 sections and fused them together. My disk was now basically just an empty shell with metal holding the pieces of bone together but it looked good. He took off and they brought me back up to my room to begin my recovery in earnest. All the connections to me were annoying but I could put up with anything at that point, seeing that I was past the hard part and on the mend.
Mom sat with me for another hour or two as I fully came back and commented upon how nice my doctor was and remarked on the fluids draining out nicely from the Foley into the catch bag by my left side on the floor. The drain in my back was working well also although the little catch bag for it on my right didn’t seem to want to stay on the bed. It was a little difficult to change positions with tubes running out both sides but I managed o.k. Mom eventually went off to stay with her friend Joan B. who has a place in Grand Junction in an area called the Redlands. It was a relatively comfortable night considering that the nurses came in to take my vital signs every few hours and replace the fluid bag on the i.v. stand once in a while. I pretty much watched t.v. most of the time and maybe got a few hours sleep- the Vicodin and Valium helped immensely. They were also giving me stool softener in the hope of getting me to have a bowel movement in the next couple of days- a requirement for my release from the hospital.
If you’ve ever had an operation then you know how difficult it can be to get your digestive system back to normal. The food goes in well enough when the appetite comes around but the discharge part can be a real problem. Sometimes it can be days before it happens and the whole time you wonder- where is it all staying in the meantime? My hunger returned right away but with all those tubes hooked up it wasn’t likely that I could make it to the bathroom any time soon even if I did feel the urge. The next day Dr. L. came around and removed the drain from my back and I think it was that afternoon/evening when they pulled the i.v. (after my required set of antibiotics) and the Foley catheter( a quick but painful experience). I was then free to get up and go back and forth to the john and to start gently walking up and down the hallway. I was also keeping a good eye on the clock to call in the nurses for my medication as they were quite busy on that floor with their other patients. Getting up every so often to try and expel the waste material there was nothing happening in that area. It was a concern because they wouldn’t let me leave until it happened.
My surgery had been Saturday and here it was Monday and nothing was moving down there. I expressed my concern to the nurse and she said, “ Well, we shall have to try something other than the stool softeners- I’ll order you some Milk of Magnesia.” “Great” I replied, hoping that it would bring me some relief. It was supposed to work in four to six hours and maybe about eight to ten later there I was on the toilet having success, “Whew” I thought, “ It’s about time.” immediately after informing the nurse on duty. On track to leave the next day my walks around the hallways became longer and longer as I explored every possible avenue of the maze on that floor, pausing to look at the artwork on the walls now and then. I began gazing longingly out the windows towards the Grand Mesa and the Colorado National Monument anticipating the next day and my eventual trip back home.
It was Tuesday and time for me to go but there was a problem with the return back to Aspen. Mom and I had her car to go back in but neither of us could drive- she couldn’t bend her left leg and I was hopped up on pain killers. The only thing I could think of was to try and call some friends to come and rescue us. I called one of my ski buddies Brad Larson in Basalt and by the hand of fate his brother Curt just happened to be returning from Denver that morning and they were willing to go through with the hassle of driving down the 100 or so miles and get us. There is nothing like having good friends to help in a time of need. Working out the logistics and taking care of the discharge paperwork the doctor came by and hurriedly wrote me out a couple of prescriptions and gave me instructions for self care, “Take a gentle shower each day, you can walk around but be sure not to lift more than ten pounds” “No problem Doc.”, I replied and made an appointment to see him in three weeks. Throwing on my clothes I wound my way through the halls and down the elevator and walked out the emergency room door I had come in four days previous into a bright blue Colorado day, only a slight soreness in my back- what a marvelous feeling!
Shortly thereafter Joan dropped mom off and it wasn’t more than ten minutes later that Brad was calling on the cell phone and he and Curt were rolling around the corner into view a moment later- perfect timing. I hopped in with Curt and Brad got behind the wheel of mom’s car with her as passenger and after a quick stop for gas we were on the way home. It was a smooth trip and a couple of hours more and we were sitting on the couch at home, two cripples on our way to a speedy recovery.
It’s taken me a while to write this out so now it is almost the end of March. Mom is doing well and is in therapy a couple of days a week and has to do exercises at home three times a day. She complains a little but no more than expected. My back is feeling great considering and although I am limited to only walking for a couple of months and really miss skiing I’ll be back next season. Hope all is well with you and please- be careful out there.
by Prentice Boyd Billings
Suffice it to say that February 2008 was a dark month in the annals of Billings family history. Harriet split her kneecap in half and Boyd completely herniated a disk in his spine. If you must know more- read on.
On January 30 I was skiing through the trees on skier’s right near the bottom of “Knowltons” aka. Christmas Tree ski run on Aspen Mountain and- scooting through a couple of pines- hit a nearly vertical wall at full speed, needless to say it compressed me big time. My chest slapped my knees and a strange sound like “squink” came from my lower back. Launching over the top of the obstacle with skis over my head at least my landing was soft as my rear end hit first in about 10-12 inches of fresh snow.
I was definitely dazed and so just laid there in a heap for a while- hoping that nothing too much was messed up. Groaning to a stand after a few minutes and taking stock of my moving parts everything seemed to be working ok but of course my lower middle back hurt rather nicely. “No problem” I thought and skied away.
Oops. Typical bad move. I suppose it’s just human nature to ignore the obvious if at all possible to do so. Skiing is a dangerous sport and if done long enough you can expect to get injured sooner or later. Accidents will happen and look at it this way- you can get hurt just stepping out your front door- so thank the Lord for every day you can enjoy another day of life. If you ski like I do, every day that one can walk away from the hill is like another miracle come true.
Only a few turns away from the top of Copper Gulch and the fresh corduroy I gingerly swooped down the smooth to the Uncle Wigglys Tree Farm cutoff under Bell chairlift and slid over to the bottom of Jackpot. My real goal that morning was to get a photo for aspendailyimage.com and there is a special spot under the gondola that I like (it has the town in the background), you can see it in the January archive at 1-30-8 on the web site.
As soon as I was in position for the shot it became readily apparent that something was quite wrong with my back. A silent scream began to rear its ugly head. ”That is that for you today my friend”, it murmured. Hurriedly I snapped off a few shots and ever so slowly limped my way down the hill to Little Nell and home. Stripping off the ski togs I took care of the update on the site, gulped down some ibuprofen and proceeded to take it easy. This was only about ten-ten thirty in the a.m. and I pretty much just hung by the box (computer) or watched the tube till 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
Then I decided to run an errand downtown. Headed to Wolf Camera to check out what was up with them (interested in a new camera that takes RAW images) I got about two blocks away from home to just about Pomeroy Sports when my lower left calf muscle seemed to get a really bad cramp....but it wasn’t a cramp. I could barely walk. The string of nerves running down the back of my leg from my butt to my ankle were on fire. Doing a couple of stretches seemed to help a bit and so in a bent over position I found some relief and hobbled the few blocks more to the camera store. Just being curious I hobnobbed with the sales person and found out that there is a brand new Canon point and shoot camera that takes pictures at over 12 megapixels (that’s huge), not cheap but not that expensive either. Where they get you is all the accessories...as usual.
I might have bought one then and there but; none in stock, had to come from the warehouse, etc. Not very conducive to an impulse buy- whatever. Limping home like the Hunchback of Notre Dame my bed and more pain drugs were calling me. I actually slept on the living room floor, It was a fitful night to say the least. No position suited for more than 10 to 15 minutes or so. I’d been hurt before but this was getting a bit scary.
Muddle through and persevere they say...muddle thru and persevere.....
So the next morning I got up and had some cereal, coffee, tea, etc. and planned out a little photo adventure out to Snowmass. Not really feeling too great I strapped on all my usual gear and headed out the door to the bus stop at Rubey Park. The plan was to hop on the free skier bus out to the mall area and Fanny Hill and attempt to get some people pictures- maybe even little kids skiing- which is always a good shot. The bus is only 4 blocks from my house and everything was going fine. I was hurting and still had to hunch over a bit to alleviate the pain coming from my sciatic nerves but nothing too bad until- 30 feet from where the bus is the back of my left leg exploded with a burning sensation and I pretty much could go no further, had to sit down and “grin and bear it” “Man this sucks!”, I exclaimed in a low mutter- wondering all the while-” Now how will I get the picture for the site today?”
It just so happened that my temporary collapse occurred right next to the statue of Max Marolt. I had actually considered shooting a pic. from that same angle several days before and so getting the camera out the deed was done and so was I. Not quite literally crawling home I posted it on the site and was pretty pleased the way it turned out (check out the January archive for 31). That was basically it for that day. More ibuprofen, more rest, more waiting around hoping against hope for some sort of a change so I could ski or at least walk upright. Mom showed up as usual to stay overnight and work at the Thrift Shop the next day and we had a pleasant dinner.
Saturday dawned, the first of February, mom had gotten off to her volunteer day o.k. and feeling pretty good I decided try and take another stab at making it out to Snowmass again. The night before I had inserted a piece of quarter inch plywood between the mattress and the sheets on my bed and it seemed to have kept my spine in a more natural position. Strapping on all my gear I headed out the door once more to see what would happen. The sciatic nerves in my left leg were still killing me and I hunched over taking very small steps like Tim Conway playing the old bugger on the Carol Burnett Show. I shuffled down the street and actually made it to the bus this time.
The ride out was fine, bus not too crowded and I had a nice comfy seat with lumbar support built in. Off the bus and down the mall to the ski slope my timing was just about perfect as there was about a five minute wait until a little kid’s ski class showed up and I got the shot and was back on the bus headed to town. Couldn’t have been more pleased with the way the picture turned out considering the weather and my circumstances. The snow was falling again quite heavily and the more it piled up the deeper my depression at not being able to go play in it and not knowing if my back was ever going to get better.
The waiting game continued with me taking more and more ibuprofen, hot baths, stretching exercises, heating pads, etc. The next few days were punctuated with me trying to get around and capture a few images for the website here and there- nothing too far from home- but I was getting frustrated and confused because my back seemed to be getting better some days and then worse the next. I was starting to face the fact that going too see a doctor was the only next option but of course i’m so stupid that I don’t have health insurance and so was desperately leaving that as the last option.
Then the phone call came. One of those calls that you know is going to come eventually but are never quite ready for. Ann A. (my mom’s house mate) was on on the other end of the line,”Boyd, this is Ann. Your mother has fallen down and i’m here with her in Valley View Hospital.” Mom had tripped and fallen on the concrete floor of the garage where she lives and broken her knee. Her glasses were a bit fogged and catching the right foot on a 6”x6” support board that was sticking out from holding up a totem pole of Ann’s son in law John she went “splat” on her left knee- splitting the kneecap in half horizontally.
Somehow dragging herself through the mud room and up the few steps to Ann’s she found the nearest chair and collapsed in it. Luckily Ann was home at the time and within about the next five minutes 911 was called for an ambulance. The Carbondale Police were first on the scene and soon thereafter the EMTs showed up, loaded mom onto the stretcher and she was on her way to the hospital within 15 to 20 minutes or so.
There I was a couple of hours later on the phone getting all the details from mom herself in the emergency ward at Valley View. It was about 4 or 5 o’clock and the orthopedic surgeon on call wanted to operate but already had another person up for 8 or 9 and so they couldn’t get to her until the next day so she was scheduled for 4 in the afternoon. Ann was there with her and it didn’t make a whole lot of sense for me to rush down right then so it was decided that I would come down the next day to see her through surgery. Glenwood is about an hour away on a good day and it was rush hour (yes we have them here too) so it would have been completely dark by the time I could get there. They had taken x-rays and knew exactly what the problem was. There was no big emergencey, she was fine and in no pain and was content to wait. I agreed and after chatting a few moments we said our farewells,”Love you, kiss kiss” and hung up the phone.
I had also called and made an appointment to get my back diagnosed at the local clinic the following Tuesday. Needless to say I did not sleep very well that night.
It was about eight the next morning when the phone rang and it was mom on the other end, “Good morning honey, guess what- they moved my surgery up to twelve o’clock noon.” “O.K.” I groggily replied “I’ll be right down as soon as I can.” A little more small talk and the phone was hung up and the “process of going down valley” was begun. I put it this way intentionally because it was no small task whatsoever. This is the most snow we have had around here in over 25 years and my truck was totally buried and plowed in and my back was completely screwed. I thought that I had plenty of time to try and figure how to get it out but of course now everything had changed.
I had no choice really. If I wanted to see and be with my mom before and during what could potentially have been a life threatening surgery then I had to get out the shovel, dig out my vehicle and get my butt down to the hospital a.s.a.p. There was no way to get on the bus and try to get there in time- i’d been there before but it was a while back. Gritting my teeth and trying to be as careful as possible I scooped very small shovelfuls and -thankfully Lord- after about 45 min. drove the truck out of the snow bank with a minimum of effort. My back wasn’t in total agony but it surely didn’t feel good. I strapped on one of those portable heating pads for your back, grabbed my computer and headed downvalley.
The road was totally snow packed and icy in town but once you got to the Castle Creek Bridge- right about the city limits- it was basically just wet and slushy. Traffic was light and it was a breeze making it to mom’s house and exchanging the truck for her car. Down there it was like “the banana belt” compared to Aspen, the highway completely dry with smooth sailing the rest of the way. It is only 10 miles or so from mom’s to Glenwood Springs and I zoomed down as quickly as possible, trying to get there before she had to go under the knife. It wasn’t too bad, only about 11 o’clock, not running impossibly late.
Of course the hospital was almost totally different than when I had been there last, at least it was in the same place and I relatively quickly found the front entrance and a place to park. Going in it took maybe a good five to ten minutes to track down her room and when I finally found it she wasn’t there. “She’s been taken down to pre-op.” the nurse told me, also giving me the directions how to get there. A couple of minutes more and there she was, laid out on a bed with her left knee swollen up to about the size of a softball. “Hi mom, how are you feeling?” I asked, “Are you in pain?” “Not really at all.” she replied. We chitchatted a bit about what had happened and other things while the prep. nurse was getting her all ready to go into surgery,washing her leg, etc. The surgeon Dr. Adams came by to visit and we talked for a moment. It had been discussed before that he had done this operation numerous times and it should be a “piece of cake”. Other personnel of the O.R. staff swung by to touch base including the anesthesiologist and after about five to ten more minutes she was off on her way saying something like “I don’t want to do this....”
I was told that I could either wait in the lounge or go to lunch or shopping or something with a beeper and they would beep me when it was over but I opted to just wait around since the operation was only supposed to take about an hour or so. The staff said the surgeon would come find me after and tell me how it went. I sat down in the waiting room and shot off a couple of e-mails to family back East telling them what was going on and started to wait. Time sure moves slow when you have a loved one undergoing surgery. Your mind kind of plays tricks on you and so finding convenient distractions becomes a must. What seemed like two hours later (more like 45 minutes) I couldn’t help it and had to go check with the O.R. front desk and they assured me it was all o.k. and again the doctor would come find me. I trudged back to the room and continued the waiting game. It really wasn’t much longer when he came by with some fresh x-rays, told me everything went smooth and showed me the wires and pins he had put in to bring the two halves of the kneecap back together. On the picture it looked great. “She is in recovery now, you can just go wait in her room and it shouldn’t be much longer until she wakes up.” he said.
Valley View is a medium sized hospital, not too hard to find your way around and so back in her room a few minutes later I shot off another e-mail to the relatives- Aunt Ellen mostly- telling them all was o.k. and after another half hour or so there she was rolling down the hallway back to room 201, a bit foggy from being under but in good spirits considering. No pain as of yet, she couldn’t have looked much better after coming right out of an operation. I sat with her for a while, maybe an hour or two and seeing that everything was fine and knowing she was in good hands took my leave, giving a hug and kiss, telling her, “love you.” Back to Aspen I went, praying to the Lord for a rapid healing of my poor old mom’s busted knee. This was Saturday the seventh of February.
Called the next morning early and she was feeling fine- had slept quite well considering they take your vital signs every couple of hours. The doctor had said it might be possible that someone can actually walk out of the hospital the next day after this operation. He had come by doing his morning rounds and they had decided she should stay another night. I was going to run down and see her but of course it was dumping snow outside. My back was totally killing me and she was doing great and told me to just stay home so I did. The website had been put on hold at that point so I pretty much went back to bed, watched t.v., etc.
Monday morning I call pretty early , she answers the phone and things aren’t too good. Sounding horrible she kind of struggles to get out ,“They gave me some drugs last night and they made me sick.” The nurse gets on the phone and tells me the story. Around two a.m. the night nurse asked if she was having any pain and she said yes so they decided to give her a very small amount of Vicodin intravenously. She didn’t react well to it and became very nauseous, light headed and started throwing up. This lasted the rest of the night. When I showed up at about 11:30 or so she looked rather woozy with red puffy eyes but she had stopped being sick (nothing left). “How is it going mom?” I asked. “Still not too good.” and she continued to explain what had happened. The nurse on duty said it would probably take about twelve hours to get out of her system and that much time was almost up so I was hoping she would start coming around soon. Mom is small and skinny and so it doesn’t take much in the way of dose size of a drug to really affect her. They had given the smallest size dose but it was still too much or we think that maybe she is allergic to Vicodin or those type of drugs.
I asked her if she wanted the newspapers to read but her eyes were too puffed and she was still too dizzy to focus. Went and got them anyway so I could at least read them to her and she agreed. Read the headlines to her and a few articles and she slowly started to feel better, eventually getting down some water and even a little applesauce. Right about 2:00 she really started to come around a lot, stopped moaning and looked a lot brighter. Just about the 12 hours later that the nurse said it would take. Of course I was way relieved- she was doing so good before and to have this setback just didn’t seem fair.
Obviously she was not going to get out of the hospital that day. The doctor said it was o.k. with the knee but the complication with the pain killer decided that one. Hung around as long as I could until we both said time for me to go home- come back tomorrow and get me- everything is fine. Went down the next day and all was smooth as silk (except my back). Checked her out with ease and we drove back to my house with just a short stop at her place for an extra t.v., etc. Settling in pretty fast, getting around with a walker that we picked up for five dollars at the thrift shop, I got her all set up with phone and t.v. and fed and then collapsed in near exhaustion on my bed. My doctor appointment was for the next day in the afternoon.
Part Two
The next day-Tuesday the twelfth- mom was doing great still. We had the knee elevated and iced as much as possible and she was comfortable enough; moving about my small place easily, getting back and forth to the bathroom and the comfy chair in the living room, reading the papers and doing the Sudoko puzzles. I was feeling a bit better maybe but could still not walk upright. Got mom all fed and then off to my doctors appointment on time. Filled out the paperwork and then they took a couple of x-rays of my lower back. Dr. Nick came in the exam room and gave me some routine tests for strength and asked a bunch of questions about how, where and what, which I answered as concisely as possible. I asked “Did you look at the pictures yet?”, he answered “Not yet- I leave that till after the questions.” So he leaves the room and it seems like it is maybe taking a bit long for him to come back. I already know basically what he is going to tell me is that I need to get an MRI so that he can tell what the soft tissues i.e. my discs were doing.
Surprisingly another doctor, Dr. Tom, comes back in instead, which kind of threw me a curve until later when I understood that they work closely together. He performs some of the same tests on me and asks some similar questions. Previously when talking to the first Dr. I had mentioned that I was having a hard time going to the bathroom- not incontinet- but kind of dribbling out the front and not too normal out the back and with a slight numbness in my crotch, but the second Dr. hadn’t quite picked up on that part. It was kind of tough trying to tell two people my same symptoms at different times, especially when they don’t ask the same questions! Then he tells me “You have to get an MRI.”- just like I thought. He directs Dina to get me scheduled for sometime in the next week or so. We both know I don’t have insurance and that an MRI can easily cost two thousand dollars or more but reluctantly I have to agree. I paid the bill and Dina scheduled an MRI for me at Aspen Valley Hospital on the next Monday. The charges for this can vary quite a bit from place to place so I asked about the price and tried to get more info and she helped me a bit with other numbers to call and looked into scheduling me in Glenwood or Silt.
I went home and figured that a few calls around to places even farther away like Grand Junction (120 mi.) or Denver (200 mi.) couldn’t hurt if the price could be significantly reduced. They wanted 2500 in Silt and even more at Glenwood. Aspen was around two grand and I found a place in G.J. for about 1500 (these prices include the guy who reads the results). I can’t get in touch with any places in Denver because it is too late in the day. The Internet is a wonderful source for information so I started surfing around about MRIs and lo and behold. One site was telling me that the insurance companies never pay more than five to seven hundred dollars. Interesting.....here is a site telling me that if I can schedule with the “Radiologic Network” it will only be $625 all inclusive, you just have to pay upfront. It’s getting to be time for dinner, the computer goes off so I can take care of mom and think it over for a bit.
Wednesday I’m up relatively early, there is no “sleeping in“ because mom has got to be taken care of with the making of breakfast and getting the papers and so on. Having done this I get back on the computer to confirm and look into yesterday’s research. The site is discounted-radiology.com and their offices are based in California and have regular hours so I couldn’t have done anything until then anyway. Supposedly they have like 1800 sites around the country so I was counting on them having one in Colorado. I get on the phone to their office and ask. The girl on the other end says she will check and after a few minutes says, “Yes we do, in Lakewood, Colorado.” Lakewood is by Denver and with me being willing to drive that far I replied, ”That is fine.” She asked me a few questions to see if I met the criteria and I did so after a bit she asked me “When do you want an appointment? “ and I say “As soon as possible.” A lengthy pause occurs until I heard “How about eight o’clock tomorrow morning?” Again I said “That is fine.” and she proceeded to give me the address and phone number of the place. Then I got transferred directly to the finance department where my credit card info is taken and I’m told it will be charged as soon as the MRI is completed. I immediately called the phone number in Denver to make sure that the appointment had actually been made. The lady on the phone said she will check and comes back pretty fast and said kind of snippy, “Yes you do and you have to be in the machine at 8:30.“ Without hesitation I replied, “I’ll be there.” and hung up.
Here I was in Aspen and to get this great price on an MRI it was going to be necessary to drive the 200 miles to Denver and right away to boot. Fortunately the roads and weather were clear and dry for it being February in Colorado and the drive was the least of my worries. My upstairs neighbors Ron and Diane were willing to look after mom for a night so I grit my teeth, got everything set and hopped in the car and headed down the road at about one o’clock in the afternoon. The trip was smooth and getting to Denver I of course hit town right at the rush hour and so was soon was stuck in a traffic jam. I had gotten off the freeway right where the MRI place was to look for a motel but couldn't find any in the immediate area and then made the mistake of going back on the freeway to go a little farther into town. The next exit was only about a mile away but I didn’t see any motels off the side until just after I had gone past it and that is when the traffic jam started. It was maybe a mile and a half to the next exit but with the stop and go traffic it seemed to take the better part of an hour to get back off the freeway and backtrack back to the La Quinta Inn that was only about a mile from the offices where I had to be 8:00 the next morning.
There was no way I could have slept in the soft motel bed and so getting to my room the first thing I had to do was pull the sheets and blankets off the bed and onto the floor. I had anticipated this and taken my inflatable camping pad to at least have a little comfort during the night. It is a lightweight, one inch thick pad that I use to go backpacking in the summer. I had been using it on the plywood on top of my bed at home successfully and it was adequate to keep me somewhat comfortable and actually sleep for more than a few hours that night. It started to blow and snow outside about midnight which was kind of stressful because the roads can be a real mess in Denver when it snows. Peeking out the curtain in the middle of the night after a bathroom break at the snow piling up an inch or two I saw a rabbit in the parking lot right outside my room. A good luck sign I hoped and went back to bed.
Up early the next morning and into a hot bath for my aching back I took a large dose of ibuprofen about 6:30 so that when I had to lay flat in the MRI machine the pain wouldn’t be too bad. It takes fifteen to twenty minutes being perfectly still on your back to complete the procedure. I got into the car about seven to have plenty of time to find the office and be there by eight to fill out the paperwork. The snow was maybe 3-4 inches, no problem for mom’s little SUV, and I made really good time and found the place easily, getting to the door at 7:30 or so. Tried the doorknob-locked. Knocked on the door- no answer. I thought maybe someone would be there by then if my appointment was so early but no. I leaned against the wall and slowly slid down it to a sitting position and waited.
Did not know what to think then except just be patient and hang out for a while for someone to show. It was a big empty dark building but at least an office across the hall had people in it which made me feel better, after all this whole trip was kind of a crap shoot to get a good deal and I still wasn’t sure if it was going to work out or not. Well about twenty-five minutes later the secretary shows up and unlocking the door asked, “Good morning, can I help you?” I replied, “Hi, I’m here for my 8:00 appointment.” as we both entered. I gave her my name and she fired up her computer and the confusion began.
My name was not on her system and there was no scheduled appt. for that time in the morning. I explained that just yesterday the woman on the phone had told me to be here first thing and this was the only address given to me. She was very nice and told me that they had four different offices and proceeded to call each one in order to find out what was happening. The first place called had me on their list but the office was in Englewood- south of Denver- about 45 minutes away on a good day not during rush hour and not when the weather is fowl. There was obviously no way for me to get back on the road and make it in time and so there I was, right time-wrong place. She explained to the other office what was happening and I overheard her say, “Well he is here now and so I’ll just have to fit him in somehow.” Handing me the usual paperwork she smiled and told me to have a seat and that she could probably get me in sometime later that morning. Somewhat relieved, I began to fill out the forms but did not know whether or not the same price was going to apply and I had driven all that way and my back was killing me and I said to myself, “No matter- just get it done and worry about it later.”
So I sat there and waited. The rest of the staff slowly filtered in; first the interns to make coffee and get things set up and then the technicians and radiologists and doctors. It was maybe about 9 or so when the first patient showed up and checked in and there was nothing for me to do except sit there and watch as more came. I was in no mood to even read the magazines or anything- the pain pills were starting to maybe wear off a bit so I just paced back and forth hoping they could work it out soon before the pain got too intense. Eventually my call came to go on back to the changing room and get ready and I threw on the disposable paper shorts and locked my valuables away. The MRI technician was super understanding and nicely explaining the test, gently laid me on the sliding table with all the support padding under my head, knees and back. It took only about 15 min. and amazingly the pain held off as I laid absolutely still with the strange buzzing and clicking going off around me in the giant plastic donut that surrounds one at the time. Pulling me back out of the machine with sort of a worried look on her face the nice lady told me to get dressed and have a seat back out in the waiting room while the films processed and the radiologist got a chance to look at them.
Got dressed and returned to a chair and began another waiting game; from what I understood once the test was over it was supposed to be a short time until my release to go back home with the packet of MRI pictures but after maybe 10-15 minutes another woman (a doctor I think) came out and told me, “We see something we don’t like and are trying to call your doctor, please be patient. Are you comfortable- do you want to lie down?” “No thanks, I’m ok.” I replied, not knowing what to think but suspecting that something really crappie was going to be the result. They were having a hard time getting in touch with Dr. Tom back in Aspen and every once in a while someone would come out and give me an update on their progress. All the while the gears in my brain kept spinning and telling me it must be something bad if they are holding me here. My mood became darker and darker the longer I waited- hoping not to get stuck in Denver- thinking, “They are going to basically have to physically restrain me to keep me here.” I had driven all the way there with no problem and was damned if it was my fate not to be able to return home that day.
Finally the lady doctor came back out and handing me the films told me that an appointment had been made in my name to see my doctor the next day and that I could go but to please be very careful on the way back. That was when I knew for sure something was really wrong but I still felt as if maybe my luck would hold and maybe it wasn’t as bad as they thought. Getting back in the car I headed for home and first thing called mom to tell her I was on my way. She answered and told me, “A nurse called here and you have to go to Rifle (about 60 miles away) tomorrow.” I told her I knew about the appointment but didn’t understand what the big hurry was and hoped to get it changed to the next week. Mom had her own app. the next day in Glenwood and the scheduling was tight to get her there and then get myself to Rifle- she would have to wait in the orthopedic office for several hours for it to work. Saying she was willing to do that I was talked into it though because I understood something was up and there was no use fighting it. The roads and traffic on the way back weren’t so bad- except for it snowing around Vail Pass- but even that could have been worse and I had a safe, smooth trip home.
Part Three
The next day mom and I got down to her doctor’s office in Glenwood no problem and then I took off to Rifle with my films in hand and my fingers crossed for good luck. It was a clear, beautiful Colorado day as I found the newly opened office with ease and sat down with the paperwork. A short wait later and I was lead back to the exam room to wait some more while the team of doctors looked over my MRI pictures . Dr. Nick and Dr. Tom were both running around with several patients and it took a while for them to get back to me. I again described my symptoms in detail including the numbness in my crotch in which they were partic-ularly interested. When I was asked to drop my pants and given the rubber glove up the backside test my suspicions increased alarmingly. Then it came- Dr. Tom came into the office and broke the bad news, “Mr. Billings, I’m afraid you need to have surgery right away.” My jaw dropped and I could barely speak as my mind started to do cartwheels.
The emotions flooded in and I began to choke up and nearly cried. Dr. Tom began to explain what and where the problem was- a severely herniated disc between my L1 and L2 vertebrae. That is high up in the lower back and very difficult work on, normally done by going into the front of the body cavity meaning they would have to have a general surgeon slice my belly open and lay my insides on the table just to get to it. When I heard that the fear virtually overwhelmed me and the crying started in earnest. Also the only place in the area that it could be done was in Grand Junction- 120 miles from Aspen, that meant my mom would be stranded in Glenwood if I drove there right away. Having not much of a choice I reluctantly agreed and the arrangements were made to have me walk into the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital. The doctor got on the phone to the surgeon on call and came back to tell me everything was set for me to take off right then.
I got on the phone to Valley View in Glenwood to tell mom and see what she thought and could barely choke the words out as I tried to explain. She understood and told me not to worry, that everything would be all right and if it had to be done then do it and the last thing to be concerned with was leaving her stranded. In a state of shock I gathered up my belongings and left the office. The beautiful clear day had turned to a fog in my brain and like a zombie I drove down the highway towards my inevitable fate. Times of stress do strange things to your thinking and I pondered just running the car off the road to end it all and be done with it. Eventually I resigned myself to the circumstances and comforted my state by telling myself that at least I could get a second opinion by going to St. Mary’s. What is an hour or more of a trip flew by in no time and there I was sitting in the emergency room of the hospital.
Everyone couldn’t have been more pleasant as I was lead here and there to check in, do the paperwork and then strip off my clothes and put on the gown and get onto the gurney for the emergency nurse to prep. A short time later and my surgeon Dr. Lopez came in and pulled out my films to see what was up. He went through a couple holding them up to the light and then got to the one that showed where the problem lied, I think he said something like,”Whoa”. He turned the film towards me to point out what and where the problem was and it was obvious even to me what was going on. Two days after the MRI and this was my first glimpse of the huge mass of material pressing on my spinal cord causing the excruciating pain when I attempted to straighten up and walk. It wasn’t going to fix itself and so something was going to need to be done. I asked, “ My other doctor told me you have to go in from the front to get to it?”, he replied, “ Not necessarily, it’s possible I can go in from the back with a retractor to get it done. Let me take your films and examine them closely and I’ll get back to you.”
My relief was palpable as he left the room with the pictures in hand- at least there was a chance of avoiding the major surgery part of this thing.
It took a while but after maybe a half an hour he came back and told me that the retractor procedure was a real possibility and asked if I was willing to go forward. “Yes” I replied and he handed me the consent form to sign. He didn’t have a pen on him and so left me with it to read over and think about it. The form stated the usual consequences possible when undergoing this sort of thing including infection, paralysis or death. My eyes opened a bit wider when reading that but after only a few minutes I was looking for a pen to sign with, understanding that was the norm and resigning myself gladly to the retractor operation. It was a hundred times better than undergoing the alternative. A short time later he came back with a pen and I immediately signed the form, shook his hand and said, “Let’s go for it Doc.” We talked over the timing of the surgery and he said that he would rather schedule it for the next morning- just in case there was an emergency that evening because he was on call. “No problem- sounds good to me.” I said and so we shook hands again before he left. I was wheeled up to my room to begin the wait for the next day.
I rested relatively comfortably that night considering what was about to happen. The pain killers they gave me helped as I called all the friends and family possible to let them know what was going on. Luckily I had my cell phone with all the numbers on it. Just in case I didn't make it I wanted to at least have a few words but was confident all the while. The doctor had mentioned that he had done this kind of operation many times before, starting with his fellowship when first beginning his career. I actually got a few hours of sleep in, which was incredible as far as I was concerned. The operation was on for eight o'clock in the morning and although mom couldn’t get there beforehand she would be there when I woke up.
I awakened at maybe six the next morning, quite nervous as expected. Cut off from eating or drinking anything but water at midnight I wasn’t really hungry anyway, the butterflies in my stomach were having a good old time. The O.R. nurse came in at seven or so and then Dr. Lopez just after, again I expressed my confidence in him and asked him to call my adopted brother Tony, an orthopedic surgeon in Sandy, Utah (just south of Salt Lake City). He had wanted to talk with my doctor about the procedure and so I handed the doc. my card with the numbers written on the back, asking about the possibility. Soon after the nurse wheeled me down the hall to the elevator to drop a floor to pre-op, she complained that the bed didn’t seem to roll easily but managed it somehow. I told her it probably needed oiling and that anyway she was getting a workout that morning. Beginning to prep me it seemed at that point my biggest concern was my glasses not getting misplaced while undergoing what was to date the scariest operation of my life- typical. The anesthesiologist came in and asked a few questions about medications, etc. and informed me that they were going to monitor my spinal cord during the operation and that I might actually be partly awake and remember some of it. In my previous experience I went out like a light with even a simple epidural and so informed him of this and really had no worries about that.
Rolling into the operating theater the nurse assured that they were going to take good care of me and putting a mask over my mouth told me to breath deep- within a few breaths I was gone- off to dreamland.
I don’t recall what the dream was but it was pleasant and when finally coming to I almost just wanted to go back to sleep and continue it. There was mom right beside me with a cup of crushed ice for my dry mouth, I asked for water but they wouldn’t give it and so the ice chips had to suffice. Mom inquired about how I felt and I replied somewhat groggily, “Hi mom, just fine, considering.” It’s strange what my mind goes through just after an operation. I always wonder if any time has passed at all and if they actually did anything. Getting some more feeling I could tell that something was indeed different- there was a slight pinching in my back but the agonizing pain from before was gone- excellent! Time to focus on the recovery and get the heck out of that hospital. If they would have allowed it I could have walked right then although that wasn’t possible with all the usual tubes and wires attached here and there: an i.v. in my arm, oxygen in the nose, heart monitor on the finger, drain in the back and Foley catheter up the front.
It was great seeing mom there and knowing I had come through the operation o.k. The doctor showed up and told me everything went smooth and I automatically thanked him sincerely. He explained that they had indeed done the retractor operation going in from the back on the right hand side of my spine. Cutting away pieces of vertebrae he was then able to access the herniated area and remove the disk material. Then he inserted two pins in my L1 and L2 sections and fused them together. My disk was now basically just an empty shell with metal holding the pieces of bone together but it looked good. He took off and they brought me back up to my room to begin my recovery in earnest. All the connections to me were annoying but I could put up with anything at that point, seeing that I was past the hard part and on the mend.
Mom sat with me for another hour or two as I fully came back and commented upon how nice my doctor was and remarked on the fluids draining out nicely from the Foley into the catch bag by my left side on the floor. The drain in my back was working well also although the little catch bag for it on my right didn’t seem to want to stay on the bed. It was a little difficult to change positions with tubes running out both sides but I managed o.k. Mom eventually went off to stay with her friend Joan B. who has a place in Grand Junction in an area called the Redlands. It was a relatively comfortable night considering that the nurses came in to take my vital signs every few hours and replace the fluid bag on the i.v. stand once in a while. I pretty much watched t.v. most of the time and maybe got a few hours sleep- the Vicodin and Valium helped immensely. They were also giving me stool softener in the hope of getting me to have a bowel movement in the next couple of days- a requirement for my release from the hospital.
If you’ve ever had an operation then you know how difficult it can be to get your digestive system back to normal. The food goes in well enough when the appetite comes around but the discharge part can be a real problem. Sometimes it can be days before it happens and the whole time you wonder- where is it all staying in the meantime? My hunger returned right away but with all those tubes hooked up it wasn’t likely that I could make it to the bathroom any time soon even if I did feel the urge. The next day Dr. L. came around and removed the drain from my back and I think it was that afternoon/evening when they pulled the i.v. (after my required set of antibiotics) and the Foley catheter( a quick but painful experience). I was then free to get up and go back and forth to the john and to start gently walking up and down the hallway. I was also keeping a good eye on the clock to call in the nurses for my medication as they were quite busy on that floor with their other patients. Getting up every so often to try and expel the waste material there was nothing happening in that area. It was a concern because they wouldn’t let me leave until it happened.
My surgery had been Saturday and here it was Monday and nothing was moving down there. I expressed my concern to the nurse and she said, “ Well, we shall have to try something other than the stool softeners- I’ll order you some Milk of Magnesia.” “Great” I replied, hoping that it would bring me some relief. It was supposed to work in four to six hours and maybe about eight to ten later there I was on the toilet having success, “Whew” I thought, “ It’s about time.” immediately after informing the nurse on duty. On track to leave the next day my walks around the hallways became longer and longer as I explored every possible avenue of the maze on that floor, pausing to look at the artwork on the walls now and then. I began gazing longingly out the windows towards the Grand Mesa and the Colorado National Monument anticipating the next day and my eventual trip back home.
It was Tuesday and time for me to go but there was a problem with the return back to Aspen. Mom and I had her car to go back in but neither of us could drive- she couldn’t bend her left leg and I was hopped up on pain killers. The only thing I could think of was to try and call some friends to come and rescue us. I called one of my ski buddies Brad Larson in Basalt and by the hand of fate his brother Curt just happened to be returning from Denver that morning and they were willing to go through with the hassle of driving down the 100 or so miles and get us. There is nothing like having good friends to help in a time of need. Working out the logistics and taking care of the discharge paperwork the doctor came by and hurriedly wrote me out a couple of prescriptions and gave me instructions for self care, “Take a gentle shower each day, you can walk around but be sure not to lift more than ten pounds” “No problem Doc.”, I replied and made an appointment to see him in three weeks. Throwing on my clothes I wound my way through the halls and down the elevator and walked out the emergency room door I had come in four days previous into a bright blue Colorado day, only a slight soreness in my back- what a marvelous feeling!
Shortly thereafter Joan dropped mom off and it wasn’t more than ten minutes later that Brad was calling on the cell phone and he and Curt were rolling around the corner into view a moment later- perfect timing. I hopped in with Curt and Brad got behind the wheel of mom’s car with her as passenger and after a quick stop for gas we were on the way home. It was a smooth trip and a couple of hours more and we were sitting on the couch at home, two cripples on our way to a speedy recovery.
It’s taken me a while to write this out so now it is almost the end of March. Mom is doing well and is in therapy a couple of days a week and has to do exercises at home three times a day. She complains a little but no more than expected. My back is feeling great considering and although I am limited to only walking for a couple of months and really miss skiing I’ll be back next season. Hope all is well with you and please- be careful out there.
