At 5:50a.m. on Saturday I hauled myself out of bed to drive my Mom to her spine appointment. It was after 7 - which happened to be the time we planned to leave - when we finally left. We had a slight delay when Mom started talking about different routes to take. At long last we were underway. It was smooth sailing except for a few delays, in the form of roadwork.

We stopped in Madison (its 60 or so miles West of Milwaukee) for a lunch break. We had a delicious lunch at what looked like a small family run Italian Restaurant, I had an absolutely delicious mushroom and swiss omelete with fresh fruit on the side. My Mom got her usual - a cup of steaming black coffee and a bowl of oatmeal. Then up the road I had a delicious Caramel Frappé at a place called The Chocolate Barn. Upon hitting the road again there was a bit of indecision about which exit to take. We eventually settled on one which took us directly to Dr. T's office.

We arrived with time to spare which proved useful as we ended up having to wait an hour for some more X-Rays. The X-Rays didn't take too long, and My Mom and I were sent back upstairs to await the specialist. Waiting with anticipation I found that the specialist was a nice woman. She and my Mom discussed the pros and cons of the surgery and not having the surgery. They also talked about the complications that could arise. My Mom has already decided she's going to go "Under The Knife". We also met the Spine Nurse, a very nice lady by the name of Tina, she went over the surgical preparation, recovery periods and such. The procedure itself which is called Minimally Invasive Spine Fusion Technology is still in the early stages of development. This type of procedure uses a needle, which is inserted through small incisions in the back, and radiographic magnified images of the spine are then projected onto television screens in the operating room. Narrow surgical instruments are then inserted into the small (1 to 1 ½ cm) incisions to complete the operation. Pretty cool, huh? The nurse explained the goals of minimally invasive spine fusion surgery includes a reduction in postoperative pain, diminished blood loss, faster recovery and reduced hospital stay, and smaller scars.

The surgery is tentatively scheduled for late November 2008.

Leaving Madison we stopped for an early dinner of pizza. After that we drove to my sister's house and went over the whole days events, and had homemade chocolate cream pie with them. Then we drove back to Milwaukee since I had to be at work by 6p.m. I work at a small family owned Greek restaurant in the city (for those who were asking).