Hi guys,

I got my neck fixed, got home from the hospital today. I´m a bit sore but my neck moves and I´m in a lot better shape than I thought I would be! I didn´t get the old model surgery, they gave me a prosthetic disc which should give me more movement.

My bone carpenter shot next years hunt out of the water though -the prosthetis in my right knee is coming loose (osteolysis on the tibial side) and my left one needs work -metal- so we decided on fixing them both at the same time in the spring.

But I should be in great shape for 2010! I had to cancel 2009 but this way I just might be able to save up for a lion or a second leopard...

My docs didn´t not sh-t about shooting but they said I could get back to normal after six weeks -with discretion.

Sorry about the knee, but good news on the neck.

Glad to hear that the procedure went well. Good luck with your recovery and your knee.

Get well soon. No Lott, eh?

Cewe,

At least you will be fixed and ready in 2010 I suppose another good thing for you having so much time on your hands now is to write some extra ! Enjoy

Thanks for the well wishes. I´ll stick to my silenced -and heavy as sin- 6.5x55 for the rest of this years hunts. I think I´ll work my way up to the bigger calibers and go by feel...and hope/pray for patience...

These neurosurgeons sure are good, I only have a small cut on my throat, no big scars like in the -70´s!

What type of disc was it ? They gave me a mesh bag of bones injected with bone marrow from my hip. said all went well and in a month i should be functional. still no word if i can hunt or not but with this pain i have no intentions of rushing it. He did say it may be a year or more until i can bow hunt so my 2009 safari may be with the rifle, but at least i should still be able to go .Glad to hear yours went well. guess we will both be watching from the sidelines for a while. I am hoping when cleared i can use my 30-06 right away. least ways the pain pills are good eh ? prayers are with you on a speedy recovery.
cheers
ej
pm me and we can compare notes , i d be interested in how our 2 different countries drs. operate. Thanks

Ej: I had a cervical C6/C7 discectomy and a prostetic disc, they didn´t give me any of the fun pills when they released me as I don´t need them! The pain was gone more or less pronto, I can turn my head in any direction and if it was up tp me I´d be hunting next Saturday.

As I see it I´ll be able to shoot quite normally in six weeks time, that is up to 30-06 level.

What did they rearrange in your neck?

Hang in there, stay positive and you'll be healed up and haired over in no time!

We may need to change your call name to

"Bionic-cewe"

Glad to hear the medical community is turning miracles into daily events.
Frank

Glad to hear you're on the mend. I suffered for the better part of a year with L4-L5 back problems. Had the epirdural series and have been virtually 100% for two years now.

Sometimes when you're going through it you wonder if you'll ever get better. But before you know it you'll be back in the bush where we all belong.

Congratulations on the new lease on life! Give it the time it takes to heal properly. You'll look back at those off days as a great investment when you're hoisting that "Old Toad" leopard up for a picture

"Bionic-cewe" has a ring to it!

I reckon the guy doing my cremation will be making some bucks on scrap metal...

Just get well. The hunts will still be there, and you want to make sure that you are available and healthy.

Cewe- Canceling hunts is the absolute pits. Hope everything works out for you. And, for the rest of you, go hunt every chance you have; you don't know what's around the corner. I too had to cancel a Wyoming deer & antelope hunt this month due to a medical scare. Just got the results yesterday on lab work and CT scan for prostate cancer testing. Turned out everything OK. But, my primary care doc was concerned about some urinary bleeding. I was going to go anyway but the other half of the corp. nixed it, even though I was taking her with me. Thankfully this was nit last year before our trip to Namibia. Turns out this episode was a false alrm. I am going up to Juneau to hunt goats in about 10 days. I had already determined that I was going on that hunt come hell or high water. I will be hunting with Bruce Parker, anyone here know him? I met him a couple of times at SCI Shows in Reno and had heard good things about him.

olguy: Nice hearing that it was only a scare. Today I´m having coffee with my brother, he was dg:ed with toncillary carcinoma a year ago and has been sick for a year now. He´s keeping his spirits up though and he actually shot a whitetail 2 weeks ago!

Sometimes I start thinking about what might be arround the corner...then I just quit ´cause ain´t nothin good comin´ out of that.