Please to someone shooting me? Please???

no guns here, sorry.

Steph, when you had your back surgery, what did they do and what was your injury? If I may be so bold as to ask?

They shaved her bones!

He's not wrong.

My injury was that the bottom 2 discs of my vertebrae were herniated (a herniated disc is different from a "slipped" disc, or bulging disc, in that the herniated disc is more severe -- a bulging disc, as the name implies, bulges out beyond the boundaries of the vertebral bone; a herniated disc is where the wall of the disc ruptures and some of the squooshy material inside the disc -- think of it as a breast implant that sprung a leak -- leaks out towards the nerves and so forth).

Anyway. My discs had herniated so badly that they were compressing my sciatic nerve on the left side, which ended up causing so much pain that I couldn't sit and could barely walk. All the pain was down the back of my left leg, and not in my back.

I had a laminectomy and discectomy to fix me up. A laminectomy involves shaving/grinding off part of the vertebral bone -- NOT the vertebrae themselves; the "prong-y" things that stick off to the sides of the spine -- so that the doctor can get to the discs that are being problematic. Apparently he had to take off part of 3 of my laminae.

The discectomy, as the name implies, is where the doctor removes the disc material that squooshed out, and then they stuck something -- a needle, I assume -- into the 2 offending discs to teach them a lesson to remove a little more of the disc material, which is supposed to greatly reduce the chances of re-herniating.

They *did* leave me with some disc at both locations, though, which means I did NOT have to have a spinal fusion. Booyah.

My injury was, they tell me, pretty severe, and that's why I have a 6-inch scar -- they had to get the squooshed-out disc material from a lot of places. My co-worker, who had the same surgery about 5 years ago, has an itty-bitty teeny-tiny scar that I'm totally jealous of.

If I may be so bold as to ask?

Surely you've learned by now that, given any opening, I will happily natter on at length about my surgery.

Are you having back problems?

the "prong-y" things that stick off to the sides of the spine

What do those things do, anyway?

(1) non-teaching job, in which I work closely with the new Principle and, hopefully, we get on well. This would give me a good overview of how to make the school work, and it would be valuable down the line if I'm going for positions of responsibility within the school...but I can't think how we can stretch it out for a whole year. Huh. (2) Move back to Britain and get Supply Work, leaving behind friends, social life, cat etc.

Is there anyway you could combine 1 and 2, where you find Supply Work in Cairo after the school building with the new Principal runs out of work things? You sounded so thrilled to be working in Egypt, it seems a shame to give that up.

the "prong-y" things that stick off to the sides of the spine

What do those things do, anyway?

They're like a marimba for your white blood cells.

Nah, I figure they're just extra protection for the old spinal cord.

What do those things do, anyway?

Dunno, but since they were put there by an Intelligent Designer, must be something.

Just back from my doctor, the Jolly Fat Man Who Agrees That Weight Loss Is Good But Hard. I have a presecription for Lexapro, to try and cut my anxiety levels. Who's been on it, what should I expect, what are the odds of my murdering the adorable cherub and his free-spirited siblings next door?

It also includes alcohol , tea and chocolate

I have a presecription for Lexapro, to try and cut my anxiety levels. Who's been on it, what should I expect, what are the odds of my murdering the adorable cherub and his free-spirited siblings next door?

I went on it during the whole breaking up with Zach & moving out phase. When they finally kicked in, I felt a little mellower than I probably would have. I ended up going off of them for some reason I can't remember - probably just not wanting to see that particular shrink anymore and not wanting to find a new one.