I thought I’d do a brief update for anyone that is still reading my site:

Not a day goes by without me thanking the late Nick Boeree for my back!  I’ve sent my scans off to his successor, Mr. Christopher Dare, to make sure everything is going well in there.  It’s been over a week and I haven’t heard anything back yet.  To my untrained eye though, it looks to be unchanged from my 6 month xrays.  I’ll update this post when I officially get word.  I wasn’t sure what Nick’s former patients should be doing going forward with the closing of the Spine Clinic in Eastleigh, but it sounds as though Mr. Dare will still be operating out of the same facility, with a new clinic name/branding.  If it doesn’t work out with Mr. Dare, I think I’ll contact Dr. Zeegers out of Germany to do my follow-ups.

I was officially denied by our government healthcare system after taking it all the way to the Health Minister and the Overseas Health Services Committee in Alberta.  At least I tried!  I got a little back from Alberta Health and Wellness for the regular hospital stay and some more back from income tax… so all was not lost.  After all is said and done, I’d say I got back ~$8000 out of $30000.

Interestingly, I’ve also been officially barred from seeing my local ortho surgeon, Dr. Bouchard, because I had surgery overseas.  I was a little taken aback by this, as I was assured beforehand that I would have access to a surgeon on the Canuck side when I got back, if needed.  I really just wanted him to see my follow-up xrays going forward with the loss of Mr. Boeree.  I’m going back to the triage doc to have a chat on the 25th of October.  I’m pretty sure this might violate the Canada Health Act.

I’m still playing hockey, though I sprained my left MCL in a crease scramble when another dude’s skate got caught on my pads!  I should be back on the ice in a couple of weeks.  I’ve been able to do pretty much everything else I wasn’t able to do pre-op.  I’ve even inherited a hand-me-down road bike to start riding next season.  That flexion position made my feet go numb instantly pre-op and now there is 0 discomfort on the bike.

We’ve decided to sell our house to find a better family home and in part, to pay off the rest of my back debt.  A house move should be a pretty stringent test for my little M6-L.  I don’t really lift heavy things any more and am still tremendously aware of my movements to avoid any further injury.  I might hire packers and movers this time around, instead of just movers. 🙂

I hope the rest of your are doing well and wish you all the best.

Edit #1: Still nothing back on my x-rays, but on Tuesday, I took part in my first yoga formal yoga class since August, 2010.  I took it very easy and did a lot of “child’s resting pose”, but it sure felt good!

Edit #2: Mr. Dare just wrote me back…

You will be pleased to know that your xrays are perfect, no migration, subsidence of the the disc which is functioning well. Essentially at this stage you can engage in all activites without restriction.

I’m relieved to hear this and still feel great!  I really hope it stays this way!

Our house has finally sold and we move out the burbs on the 26th.  🙂

-Brett