I usually don't post a lot of personal stuff online, but I wanted to be sure that when I go into the body and fender shop next month and drop off the site for a while that there will be no speculation about the whys and wherefores of the situation.
I've been having increasing problems with numbness in my hands and legs, and loss of strength in my upper body, especially my right arm. It's gotten severe enough that I've had to learn how to eat with my left hand (I'm normally right handed). As you can imagine it hasn't helped much with doing shop work that requires dexterity and upper body strength. It is interfering with my job and my side business, which is doing CNC subcontract work and making the stuff I sell here.
Had an MRI last month and have since made two trips to Louisville KY (about 300 mile round trip) to a clinic there. Turns out I have spinal stenosis in all my cervical (neck) vertebra. The hole inside the spinal blocks is less than half the diameter it should be, and it is compressing my spinal cord. The only solution is surgery. The procedure involves making a cut lengthwise down one side of each vertebra almost all the way through, and then do the same thing to the other side but the cut goes all the way through. The first cut acts as a hinge and the vertebra is opened up and a spacer is put into the other side to keep it open until it heals. They don't plan to fuse any vertebra together, but I will have to wear a doughnut collar to help stabilize my fat head during recovery.
The Drs think that barring any complications, the surgery itself will take a couple hours, I will have to spend 3 or 4 days in the hospital, then I can go home and start getting therapy after a couple of weeks. A six week followup visit back to Louisville and if all is well I would be released and could gradually get back to work and my business.
Not really looking forward to the pain of the first few days after surgery, but I'll be getting IV painkillers and I've gotten over the pain part of other surgeries in a few days, so I hope that part can be tolerated. Drs say the pain will mainly be from cutting through heavy neck muscles, not from spinal cord nerves. I can get through that with a little help.
The upshot is that I must throttle back on my business right now and shut it down for several months beginning sometime late May. I have another week in the Spring semester to finish and then school is out. I hope to wrap up any outstanding orders then. If you've ordered something from me be a little patient, I'll get it to you but I am working very slow right now and the time I have is limited for another week.
I will post notice when I get a firm date for my surgery, and will try to shut things down in an orderly fashion.
If/when I'm off the site for a while, it won't be because I'm hacked off at anybody or got my feelings bent or anything. I'm finding out for real that when you are a one-owner business, the business is closed when you can't work, and I hope all of you understand that.
|
   
   
|
|
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Ramar
