When we had arrived Friday at the palatial Days Inn of Albert Lea, the weather was indeed awful. Nowhere to go.
But we awoke on Saturday in Albert Lea to a beautiful, sunny, cold (12 degrees F) and windy (>30 mph) morning. Off we went. Traveling I-35 was ummm, challenging and adventurous from the Iowa line to Des Moines. Blindingly bright sun, ice, howling winds, blowing snow, drifts, and vehicles piloted by idiots contributed to the white-knuckled fun. We counted six tractor-trailers and 91 other vehicles stranded off the road. A dozen or so of these were NOT resting on the wheels. 40 mph was about as fast as I ever drove. That 150 mile stretch ate up about five hours.
After lunch in Des Moines, however, the drive south was normal, or nearly so. It was easy to see almost exactly where the band of snow ended. Just an inch or two had fallen from Des Moines southward, and it was gone by the time we crossed the Missouri line. After the requisite casino stop in Kansas City, we arrived home at around 11:00 pm.
In re-reading my earlier posts, I was a bit stingy with the info regarding the upcoming surgery - chalk it up to my physical condition at the time. So here's what's going to take place: Drs. Matsumoto and Lee will present my case to the committee for approval on Tuesday, March 6. The operating theater, located in St. Mary's Hospital, will then be booked for "The Tom Fahrig Show Featuring Special Guest Star Dr. Kendall Lee & Friends" on March 21 (target date) or March 28 (rain date). I'm to show up the day before for dress rehearsal, and by popular demand will be held over one night for observation.
The system to be used is called Activa® Therapy, by Medtronic®. The implantation of the electrodes in the brain is done under local anesthesia, so that I can provide real time feedback as to effects (intended and otherwise). The neurostimulator (the controller/battery pack) is implanted in my shoulder under general anesthesia. I cannot emphasize how much I'm looking forward to the results.
I'll add another post when I hear from the team at Mayo.
I'm thoroughly enjoying this chronicling of my admittedly insignificant thoughts about my big adventure, and am tickled when I receive comments and messages. Thanks ever so much, dear reader, for your thoughts, prayers and well wishes. I am humbled.
Tom
1 comment:
Well, so nice to hear all the details. Glad you made it safe and sound and are so excited about your upcoming gig. I have to say that the "insignificant" word is bothering me. Really, is all this insignificant? I DON'T think so. Have we learned NOTHING about how significant our thoughts really are? NOW you are going to have to change your blog address. HAHA - tracy
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