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Over my first 42 years of working at WOBM I have never even come close to using the allotted time off we have for vacation, sickness or anything else.  I believe the most days I have been out sick at the same time was around 3 and that was about 20 years ago.

You may have noticed as a morning listener or reader that the Hometown View has been on hiatus for some two months and I imagine many of you figured it was discontinued or maybe I was a “thing of the past.”  Well by hearing my voice or reading this today you know that is not the case although I do owe you a brief explanation.

Since mid-summer I was dealing with back pain that I assumed was from something I knew would have to be addressed with surgery and the plan was to do that in January.  Well the pain got the point by Labor Day weekend that I could barely function and I ended up in the hospital.  An MRI revealed that this pain was not due to my original problem but rather part of a disk that has pressing directly on my sciatic nerve.  I was basically a “10” level pain 24/7 and the plan was to undergo surgery to relieve that ASAP.

Well that plan was delayed a bit when while undergoing a consultation in in late September with my surgeon I basically was so out of it he immediately had my wife and son take me to the ER at nearby New York Presbyterian Hospital.  When I got there my blood pressure was 80/50 and I was so dehydrated that I was looking at organ failure due to an infection of some kind.  I spent 3 days in the ICU and a full week there before being released and four weeks ago today had the surgery at Hospital For Special Surgery to relieve the pressure off my sciatic nerve.

I’m clearly not 100% and still experiencing what I will call soreness and not severe pain.  I lost more than 30 pounds and after working from home a bit have started coming in every day…for as long as I can.

Time will not allow for me to thank everyone who helped me through this odyssey from my surgeon Dr. James Dowdell and primary care physician Dr. Robert Scott to my friends, co-workers and others.  What I have learned is family is everything and I am truly blessed for my wife Jane who has gone way beyond what was promised in our wedding vows.  My children Brandon (his wife Jill) and Alex, brother and sister and 2 ½ year old grandson Carter have given my life more meaning than at any point in my 65 years.

I’m happy to be back…thanks for sharing the journey.

 

 

 

 

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