July 26th was the date scheduled for my back surgery. There wasn't much time to prepare mentally - but I was ready. The past few months had been very painful. I had sharp pains in my hamstrings when I tried to get out of a chair. Sitting on a toilet seat was like sitting on a bed of nails. I woke up several times  a night with numbness in my right leg. As scary as the surgery sounded, I could not go on much longer in the state I was in.

I had to meet with my urologist, my cardiologist, my general practitioner and get their approvals.
Angie drove me to St Francis Hospital early in the morning of the 26th. My daughter Lisa came down and stayed the whole day with Angie. My daughter Heather met them for lunch.

The level of support I got in the days leading up to the 26th was amazing - I think it helped me to gain strength to face the challenge - spine surgery is very serious. The surgery lasted over 5 hours. During the surgery they cleaned out a diseased vertebra, repaired a cracked vertebra, and fused everything together with 4 rods.