Spinal Fusion Surgery - Part III

Third time's the charm?   I sure hope so...

After many, many years of controlling my back pain through chiropractic care, exercise, stretching, etc. (including through three combat zone deployments to OIF/OEF), in January 2019 I finally retired to the mountains of Idaho, anticipating a renewal of my beloved muscle-powered outdoor activities including bicycling, hiking and wilderness backpacking.

Within mere months, it became evident that I needed a replacement hip joint and so I had surgery on my right hip in Sept 2019.  This solved that problem, but highlighted the back issues.  Years and years of chiropractic, exercise, stretching, etc.  just weren't cutting it anymore so I finally went ahead and had back surgery.  After several miserable months of waiting through the very inconvenient timing of the COVID pandemic, I finally had lumbar fusion surgery in June 2020, fusing the vertebrae from to L2 through S1. I wrote about that surgery here:

Spinal Fusion Surgery

In a nutshell, it was extremely successful and life-changing.  After a one-year recovery period, I enthusiastically resumed my outdoor activities.  To be fair to the surgeon, he explicitly warned me that every decision I made for the rest of my life regarding physical activities would be a decision about "how to invest my remaining cartilage."   I took that advice to heart, and I invested it.  Aggressively.  Starting in June 2021, I enjoyed several good years of wilderness backpacking and hikes up to alpine lakes, several of which I also wrote about here in my blog.   This photo is from my first trip in June 2021, through the Lemhi Range in south eastern Idaho:

And this photo is from my next trip, to the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness.  I scattered a portion of my dad's ashes at the fire lookout in this photo (the tiny little bump at the very top of the mountain.):

I enjoyed several more years of exploring Idaho on foot and by Jeep, but eventually began to run up against physical limitations again.  Medical imaging showed that I was now bone-on-bone between vertebrae L1 and L2, exactly the cartilage I'd been warned about "investing".  So it was time for spinal fusion #2.

They called this a "revision", as they extended it upwards. To do that,  they had to open up the entire previous incision to inspect the hardware, ensure that it would provide a good foundation for the revision, and replace the original rods with longer ones.  I wrote about that surgery here:

Spinal Fusion Surgery - Part II

This surgery, while technically successful, never had quite the same restorative results as the first one had done.   I continued to experience pain, and nothing the doctors could do would stop it reliably.  The most confounding aspect was that the pain was seemingly random, migrating around from place to place.  Some days it was in my back and ribs making it hard to move and breathe, other days it was in my feet, so that I couldn't put any weight on them- literally couldn't walk.  Sometimes it actually felt like someone was driving a nail into my ankle.  Physical therapy, various pain meds, TENS machine,  stretching - I did everything they told me to do, and it just wouldn't stop the pain reliably.  I'd have good days and bad days, and I could still do things, but I mostly could not hike anymore, and backpacking was out of the question.  I became a Jeep camper, driving around exploring the Idaho, Montana, and Washington backcountry in my Jeep, and "stealth camping" wherever I could find interesting places to stay.

Normally the one-year followup is the last one, but they scheduled an 18-month followup visit this time since my progress was sub-optimal.  When things still hadn't changed after 18 months, they ordered additional imaging to get a better look.  (I didn't want to waste any more time, so I had three MRIs - cervical spine, thoracic spine, and lumbar spine) plus two CT scans, all in a row in the same morning.  Trust me on this one - don't do that.  😂 

When I visited the surgeon to discuss the images, he pointed out that the top two screws (in T10) were loose - they had never successfully fused into bone like they were supposed to,  He said they were "aggressively loose", and "wobbling around every time I moved".   So there was a possible (likely?) cause of my persistent, transient, random pain.  In any case, the solution was another revision surgery.  I asked why they couldn't just do the medical equivalent of sticking in a few flat toothpicks and some Elmer's glue to get the screws to bite again, but I guess they don't reach that technique in medical school.  😉

I got onto the waiting list and did all the pre-surgical labs, etc.   I wasn't expecting to be able to get it done any sooner than late October at the earliest, but an opening came up on 22 September, so I jumped on it.

This was kind of a difficult decision, because my 50th High School reunion has been scheduled for 2-5 October, and I was planning to go.  I had been a little ambivalent about traveling, but decided it would be worth it and made the arrangements. But when the earlier surgery date became available, my main thought was "stop the pain, please".

So I sent my regrets to the organizers as well as my friends and teammates who are attending, and went ahead with the surgery. This  blog entry is dated on the date I started it, but today is actually Saturday Oct 3, so they are all there right now.   I am really super-bummed that I cannot be there, but I really hope that this will be worth it.

This third surgery (2nd revision)  involved going up two more vertebrae, so now I have screws in T8 and T9.   They weren't sure about T7 until they got in there, but he said they just put some bone material in between T7 and T8 to provide a "soft landing".  They did not replace the screws in T10 - they just took them out and filled in the holes.  They were also surprised to find that one of the screws in T11 was actually broken!  He said this was very unusual.  I asked if this would qualify it as a warranty claim, but I guess surgery doesn't work that way, lol. 

They then used what he called his "erector set" to connect some shorter rods to the existing ones and get the other vertebrae into line.  I hope it works - Teresa says I am already walking straighter than I was, which is a good start!

Here are photos of my new hardware:

Lateral view

Anterior View

Now it's another year of recovery, starting out with extremeley limited activities and gradually progressing.  I know the drill by now.

So far I'm 100% on the bone growth stimulator, and  intend to keep it that way:

This is the app that tracks the Orthofix PEMF generator.  According to the doctor, it's purpose is to "fool my body into thinking I'm 15", so my bones will grow back together.

Mood:  Painful but optimistic

Music: Garmsen, "Wo Bin Ich" ("Where am I?)

Thoughts on 9/11 - Looking at Europe

Can it really have been almost entire year since I created a new blog entry?  Apparently so...

This entry is a duplicate of a Facebook post I made for 9/11.  I am putting it here not just to add it to my blog, but also as experiment, because the original post got a significantly lower number of views than my posts usually do (somewhere between 5% and 10% of the usual number).

It's not as though I have a lot of followers, but the difference was significant enough that it makes me wonder if the post was somehow suppressed or masked due to the content (it contained a link to a YouTube music video that FB might consider objectionable, as well as references to AfD and Antifa).    So I am posting the exact same content here, and will then post a link to it on my Facebook feed to see what happens there.  

The only differences between this and my original Facebook post are that I've included links to the Michael Smith and Clayton Wood posts that I only referenced before, and that I am including a graphic of the AfD logo so it shows as representing the post.  I have also modified two of the song descriptions based on having looked up some idioms and seen the written lyrics on YouTube (these modifications are in my comments on the Facebook post).  So I guess it's not a completely scientific, controlled experiment as I have changed some variables.  But I'm interested, so here goes:  

(Later edit:   The results for number of views on Facebook for the post containing this blog entry were almost identical to those for the original post.  So either the same restrictions were triggered, or else the post just isn't that interesting for most people.  Probably the latter, lol). 

The text is below, and the link is at the end under "music".

Original Facebook post:

======================

On this 25th anniversary of the attacks on 9/11, both Michael Smith and Clayton Wood have written very detailed and insightful posts about the situation in the USA, each of which is very well worth reading, and to which I have no need to add. Instead, I will look outward. I wrote yesterday that Europe seems to be waking up to the threat of Islam and the general assault on Western Civilization. I’d like to highlight some of the evidence I've seen for that awakening.

First of all, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). I have supported AfD ever since 2016, when I attended a "meet the candidates" event at a local Gasthaus in Sindelfingen, Germany while I was stationed there in the Army. The three or four candidates and AfD representatives I met there were well-educated, well-spoken, and had well-thought-out positions on issues of serious concern to normal German citizens. The twenty or thirty people who attended (I was the only American) were polite, attentive, and asked articulate and pointed questions about the issues.

That evening, I began to notice a lot of parallels between Germany and the USA. I had no idea at the time that Trump would win the US presidential election, but in retrospect I see a lot of similarities between the rise of AfD in Germany and that of the MAGA movement here. Like any political party or movement, there are things to like and things not to like, but on balance I think that they, like the people who support the MAGA movement, see the decline of their nation and want to reverse it. Like MAGA, AfD is routinely and unfairly maligned, mischaracterized, caricatured, and smeared by the entrenched political parties, especially by the organized Left.

Personally, I see the rise of AfD as a positive thing for Germany. Either they will take power in the government and enact reforms, or else the existing parties will have to do a better job of listening to the people if they want to stay in power. The one thing that I do not like about AfD and the wider resistance movement that I see in Germany is their affinity for Russia. I think this is misguided and dangerous. It is also understandable given the ridiculous, destructive “wokeness” prevalent in other Western nations as well as Putin’s deliberate campaign to position Russia as a defender of traditional values. I don’t think it’s an accident that AfD is strongest in the former East German states, although I do find it surprising as an old Cold Warrior that the people there would have a positive view of Russia. Perhaps it’s a generational thing. But there’s a lot I don’t really understand about the various cultural currents in contemporary Germany. I would welcome any comments and insights from my German friends that might help me have a better understanding.

The other evidence that I see is a rise in German nationalism, cultural pride, and resistance to the Left, Islamization, and “woke” cultural trends. Given Germany’s past, one could find this alarming - “Deutschland Erwacht” has indelibly ominous historical implications. But again, I think it’s understandable. There are entire generations of Germans born since WWII who had nothing to do with the depredations and crimes of the Nazis. They feel that they are unfairly burdened by this history, and that pride in their nation and its strengths should not be equated with or unduly tainted by this history. They draw a sharp distinction between the crimes and ideology of the Nazis and the patriotism, military prowess, and heroism of their ancestors who fought for their Fatherland, albeit under an evil regime and for evil ends. I see some parallels to those in the USA who take pride in their ancestors who fought for the Confederacy during our own civil war.

There is an interesting strain (genre? sub-genre?) of German music that seems to represent this movement. Some artists and their works evoke Teutonic and Nordic mythology, and others are straight-out political protests against the existing political powers. The album that I have linked here is one such that I found really interesting.

Letzte Rettung (“Last Rescue”) AS has a number of albums and singles out, most of which are hard rock and many of which feature a sort of hoarse, screaming vocal style that I don’t care for. (Maybe that’s why the label is named “AS” (Atonales Stahlgewitter, or “Atonal Storm of Steel”). This album is different from some of the others in that it has reasonably musical, intelligible vocals. It also has a definite message. The Youtube link below is for the entire album. As far as I know, each of the songs is also available there individually. I think it’s really worth listening to, even if you don’t understand German. You can hear the passion and earnestness in the vocals, and I like the music in its own right, independent of the message.

The album is called “Heuchler” (Hypocrites). Here is a list of the songs, with my own very short interpretation of each:

===============

“Heuchler” (Hypocrites) - Addressed to the politicians and activists of the Left. “You’re all just rotten little hypocrites, without knowledge or a plan.”

“Unserdemocraten” (Our democrats) - Complains about the lack of democratic practices among those who claim to support democracy.

“Gegen den Strom” (Against the Current) - “We are the ones who swim upstream” (against prevailing cultural trends).

“Mag die Welt in Trümmer Gehen” (Even if the World Falls to Ruins) - We’ll continue to fight, we won’t let them see our fear.

“Sturm 119” (Storm 119) - I don’t understand this reference. A “Sturm” was a unit of military or paramilitary troops (as in “storm troopers”). But the only reference I can find to the significance of 119 is that is refers to a particular category of German retirees. So perhaps it implies that the older generations will save Germany (?), but that doesn’t seem to make sense. I’d love for someone to explain this one to me.

“Ratatouille” (Ratatouille) - Another puzzling one. The lyrics start out as an actual list of ingredients for Ratatouille. There is a reference in there somewhere to Antifa, so I know there is a connection - perhaps it’s a metaphor for the bizarre agglomeration of deviants, weirdos, and misfits that make up the Left. But I don’t really know. (Later edit:  just watched the YouTube version of "Ratatouille", and also looked up a term in it that I had not understood while listening to just the audio version. And - WOW. This is perhaps the most radical song on the album. The song begins with a list of ingredients, and then it says "but don't forget the secret ingredient - blue beans". I had never heard of blue beans, and had meant to look it up after hearing it in the audio version. "Blaue Bohnen" is German slang for "bullets" (!) Once I understood this, the song made much more sense, because it goes on to talk about how it is a special "Gericht" cooked up just for the Left. "Gericht' can be translated as "dish" but also as "court". The lyrics repeat "Ratatoulle" over and over, like this: "Ratatouille, Ratatouille, Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tata-touille..." I've heard it many times, but seeing it printed out on the screen brought to mind the written "rat-ta-tat-tat" sound made by machineguns in my old Sergeant Rock and GI Combat comic books. Interestingly, I had never thought of this until I understood the "blaue Bohnen" reference. "Gericht mit treffender Wirkung" could not be more explicit, once this is understood. The song ends with repetitions of this theme and reminders about the secret ingredient, as well as "Wir retten die Nation" (We're rescuing/will rescue the nation). So - this song is a very explicit warning to the Left.).

“Problemponys” (Problem Ponies) - A direct slam against the Left. “They don’t come from Iceland, or the Shetland Islands. They’re not Arabian, even though they act like it. They love to cluster around the feed trough, expecting someone else to fill it. They are problem ponies”. etc.

“Nägel mit Köpfen” (Nails with Heads) - Another reference I don’t understand. The lyrics talk about how “they” are making nails with heads, so perhaps it’s another metaphor, referring to ordinary citizens being hammered down or something. Someone please explain this to me. (Later edit: "Nägel mit Köpfen " is another one where looking up a German idiom clarified the meaning. I had this one backwards - according to Google AI: "In German culture and language, the significance of nails with heads comes from the popular idiom Nägel mit Köpfen machen, which means to take decisive action, do a thorough job, and finish what you started without shortcuts." This make sense in the context of the rest of the song, which is all about the media being unreliable, establishment authorities being full of BS, and telling them it's time to shut their mouths. It's another warning that "we" have had enough and we're about to shut you up. It brings to mind the phrase "Drain the swamp".  )

“Tutti Frutti Antifa” - Just what it sounds like - a slam against Antifa.

“Stahlbeton im Winter” (Reinforced Concrete in Winter) - This one is a sad lament, recalling the joys of the Christmas markets and how they’ve become concrete-and-steel fortresses because of the terrorists. “Where is my old Germany? I want it back now.”

“Die Liebe Meines Lebens” (The Love of My Life). This seems to be a straight-up love song. I’ve listened to it over and over, searching for some hint of a metaphorical reference to Germany as the object of that love. I have found no such explicit reference, but it could still be taken that way due to it’s context within the rest of the album.

“Neues Deutschland” (New Germany) - This one describes Germany in ruins due to the destructive policies of the Left and other politicians, and the New Germany that will arise strong and proud, if Germans will just fight for it. An optimistic conclusion to the album.

===============

All in all, a very moving and revealing glimpse into a deeply-felt sense of grievance against the decline of Germany, and the determination of at least some Germans to fight against it for a resurgence of German strength and pride. I am unaware of any comparable music like this in the USA. I think if it was to be found anywhere, if would be in the country and western genre, but some of this also reminds me of the protest music during the Vietnam War.

I invite my German and German-speaking friends to have a listen, tell me your thoughts, correct me where I may have gone wrong in my interpretations, and let me know your own opinions about this very interesting cultural trend.

Poland and Hungary have been right all along, Sweden is getting a clue, Germany seems to be waking up, Ireland is about to explode, and the UK is lost. I hope it’s not too late for the USA.

Mood: Curious

Music: Heuchler (Letzte Rettung AS)

My Birthday Present

Hint: It's not a magic ring.  But we wants it, precious, we WANTS it!  😂

My birthday present to myself this year is a rifle I’ve been looking for for at least 15 years. I was deployed overseas when the last batch of Bavarian Police carbines were returned to the U.S. and offered for sale through the CMP. I didn’t have an address to which I could have them delivered, so I missed out. In a nice coincidence, a very good example came up for sale just last week. I spent a couple days checking references and refreshing my memory about the history, markings, etc. and asking the seller some questions. When I was satisfied it was genuine, I pulled the trigger and bought it.

The WWII U.S. Carbine, Caliber .30, is a special interest of mine, and I have a modest collection of them. This particular one is a two-fer, as it fills two gaps in my collection at once. In the first place (and the part that initially got my interest), it is marked “Bavaria Forestry Police”. In the years immediately following WWII, various German police agencies were re-formed and re-armed with U.S. weapons, both to keep internal order as well as to help counteract the growing threat from Russia as the Cold War intensified. People who know me will understand my special interest in Bavaria, forests and forestry in general and the Bavarian forest in particular, and especially the Cold War. All these aspects made a Bavarian Forestry Police carbine an article of special interest and desirability to me. They don’t come up for sale very often, and I had not yet seen a desirable one for sale at a time and place when it was feasible for me to buy it. So that was point one.

Point two: This is a very desirable, extremely early-production carbine from August 1942, the third month of production. Out of a total production of over six million U.S M1 carbines between 1942 and 1945, this carbine has a four-digit serial number (!). It has the original July 1942 barrel and mostly original features of the early Model 1942 carbines, with some of the expected late- or post-war modifications made to almost all the early carbines that remained in service after the war (the adjustable rear sight and rotating safety being the most obvious). The later model replacement wooden stock is also not uncommon, but I can live with that as I know that this carbine is in the exact configuration in which it was returned to the U.S. from the Austrian police agency (another part of the history) from which it came. It has an Austrian Police-marked trigger group and includes the Austrian leather sling and cleaning kit marked with the town in which it was in service (Ebreichsdorf). It is also in extremely good condition, especially for such an early example.

A beautiful example of an early-production WWII M1 Carbine. One of my very favorite rifles.

It would originally have had a high-wood stock with an I-cut slot for the oiler, so this is a later replacement stock.

Inland Manufacturing Division, General Motors, barrel dated 7-42. Finished carbine assembled and delivered in August 1942.

The post-war marking I’ve been looking for.

Landes Gendarmerie Kommando Nieder Österrreich (State Gendarmerie Command of Lower Austria)

The cleaning kit and sling have additional markings helping to pin down the post-war history of this carbine.

I love these German and Austrian cleaning kits - added bonus that it is included!

Today I sent the cashier’s check via certified mail, and should have the carbine in my possession in a week or ten days. Then I can tear it down to look at the internals, catalog the parts, and fire a few rounds through it before it goes on display with my others.

This one will never be a regular “shooter”. It is too valuable for that, as it is a remarkable artifact that tells a lot about an important chapter in our history, for those who know how to read the record contained in its markings. For the history geeks like me, here is some information on the history of the “occupation carbines”:

http://www.bavarianm1carbines.com/

Happy Birthday to Me!

Music:  Silence

Mood:  Happy

ARI, OCON, and ARU

I just returned from the annual Objectivist conference (OCON) organized by the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI).  I have meant to write about ARI and ARU (Ayn Rand University) for a long time, but have not yet done so (although I think I once put in a "placeholder entry" about ARU, which I never went back to flesh out).  While I am fired up in the afterglow of OCON and before I get overtaken by events of daily life, it seems like a good time to write about all three, at least in an introductory way.

The Ayn Rand Institute (hereinafter "ARI") was founded in 1985, as the Center for Advancing Objectivism.  In a nutshell, Objectivism is the philosophy of Ayn Rand, which upholds the existence of objective reality and advocates Reason, Egoism, and Capitalism.  Since first reading Atlas Shrugged in 1983, I have held Objectivism as my personal philosophy and have done my best to learn everything I can about it and to do everything I can to help to advance it in the culture.

When I got out of the Army in 1985, I went to the University of Michigan to get my MBA.  There I met two other Objectivists - Darryl Wright and Janet Wich (now Westphal).  Together we founded a student campus club called the University of Michigan Students of Objectivism.  We took taped lecture courses, held discussions, and invited Objectivist speakers to the campus.  It was an exciting time!  ARI was in its infancy, but I remember that they helped us with some funding and also with getting speakers to come to campus.  So in this way, I have been "involved with" ARI almost from the very beginning.   

Over the next few years after I graduated and entered the business world, I stayed in contact with the club and also went to several Objectivist conferences (although they were not called "OCON" at the time.  Eventually, I got wrapped up in raising a family and earning a living, and the last conference I attended was in San Francisco in 1996.  But starting in the late 1980s when I got my first job after the Army, I began contributing to ARI, and have been a contributor more or less continuously since that time, even though I was not actively involved.

Fast forward to the late 2010s, when I was wrapping up my second stint in the Army as a mobilized reservist.  I had re-engaged with Objectivism while deployed overseas, and had once again started paying closer attention to what ARI was doing.  I was amazed at the progress they had made in delivering intellectual content via their website and other activities, and began to step up my contributions as well as to consume more content (online courses, etc.)  But for many years I did not go to conferences or really talk to anyone, I just sort of lurked in the background as a silent admirer, albeit with some contact from donor services.

Finally, in 2023, I went to OCON and I was blown away by the quality and scale of what they had accomplished and what they had planned for the future.  I went to OCON 2024, again this year, and am already registered for next year!  Part of why I have not written about it before now is the level of engagement that I've had with Ayn Rand University (ARU).

Update 6 October 2025

Once again, I see I got busy and never finished this entry.   Jeez.   I suppose when I was deployed this was one of the only things I had to do in my free time.  I can't believe the elapsed time since I started this.

I'm going to write the entry I came to do, and think about what to do here later.

Two Days at the Range

With the exception of instructing at a Project Appleseed event, I can't remember the last time I went to the shooting range on two successive days.  I bet if I looked in my notebooks, I'd find that it was the last time I competed at Camp Perry, which was in 2017.  But whenever that might have been, yesterday and today were both range days, and it felt good to get out there.  I only recently started going regularly again, as my recovery from back surgery has been much harder than I anticipated (I see this is my first blog entry since the one about my surgery - q.e.d.)

Because today is June 6 (D-Day+81), I'm going to write about the days in reverse order so that the D-Day photo becomes the signature photo for this entry.  Like many other activities, it has been ages since I fired my M1 Garand, so I decided today was the day to dust it off and give it a little exercise in honor of those who went to war to help keep us free.

My M1 Garand on the mat and ready to ring some steel in honor of D-Day+81 years.

Having shot thousands of rounds through this rifle (it's on its third barrel), I know it very well, so I didn't take any targets, just planned to "ring steel" for awhile.  This refers to hitting the steel plates that are permanently installed on our range at 100, 200, 300, and 400 yards.  When a bullet hits the steel, there is a very satisfying "thwack" to confirm the hit.  With the exception of the 100 yard range, the sound of the rifle firing and the sound coming back from the target are separated by enough time that you can actually hear the bullet's impact.  At 100 yards I found it a little harder to separate the sounds.  But since .30-06 is powerful enough to move even the larger steel plates, I was able to confirm that I'd hit just by looking to see if the plate was swinging.   Shooting steel is fun, and I really didn't want to be walking downrange to check targets anyway - I am not quite ready to walk that far.

I've spent a lot of time down on the mat behind this rifle, so it was with great anticipation that I knelt down to "loop up" in the sling.  I had decided to modify the configuration of my sling from the way I'd used it in competition for years, and set it up the way the Army taught it when the M1 was in service.  Their way is slightly less stable than the modified competition setup I had learned to use, but has the advantage of being quick to get in and out of while still being able to carry the rifle by the sling if needed. Since I don't shoot in competition anymore, I just felt like being more historically accurate.  When I looked into it, I found that the setup is almost identical except for the placement of one keeper (the little leather loop), so it would actually be very easy to go back and forth between the two configurations if I wanted to.

As it turned out, getting into the prone position was much harder than I'd expected.  I didn't expect it to be easy, since my spine is now fused from T10-S1, but it wasn't just my back - my whole body protested.  I just haven't been physically active enough yet to have regained flexibility, and motions that used to feel like slipping into my favorite easy chair (with similar feelings of relaxation and contentment) were physically demanding and painful.  It turned out to be a very good thing that I was on the rifle range all by myself, as anybody listening to me would probably have called 911, lol!

I did eventually manage to contort myself into a reasonable prone position, sling and all, and fire a clip (eight rounds) at the 100-yard gongs (there were two, one large and one smaller).  I got 8/8 hits, four at each. This was very encouraging and felt good to do after all this time.  

I applied my known come-up from 100-200 yards (2 clicks elevation, i.e. 2 MOA), and shifted my aim to the 200 yard line.  Unfortunately, the hanging steel plates were not visible from the prone position, due to the height of the intervening 100-yard berm.  I guess most people at our club shoot from the bench, which is what I did.  I got up from the mat and set up to shoot from the bench.  Even sitting up, the larger of the plates was almost invisible as it was painted white, and I don't think I hit at all.  After four shots, I switched to the smaller one and got two very satisfying hits and one probable, the fourth simply kicking up dust with no "thwack!"

Since I could clearly see the 300-yard steel plates, I switched back to the mat and went prone for another 8-round clip.  After two shots, I decided that shooting prone is still just too hard for me (each successive line of targets requires that the rifle be aimed a little higher, and my body just doesn't bend that way yet!)  So I switched to the bench, topped off the 8-round clip with loose rounds, and fired from there.  3/4 hits on the larger plate encouraged me to try for the smaller one. I don't' think I hit it, but was never really sure.  

The preceding targets had finally used up the last of my M2 Ball ammunition head-stamped TW-56 (Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant, 1956 production).  This was the last of my regular practice ammo that was older than me - from now on I'll be shooting M2 Ball from Lake City (LC-66, -67, -69, or -72).  I had to break into one of my wooden cases to get a can of Lake City to take with me today, and now it was time to start shooting it.

Except it wasn't.  I repeatedly lose track and need to be reminded of just how much the healing process has taken out of me, and just how much work I have to do to regain my stamina.  Today was no exception, and I realized I was just *done*.  I did still have three clips and one loose round of some miscellaneous test reloads I had prepared years ago and just never shot up.   I decided those would be fun to shoot standing, semi-rapid fire, at the 100-yard steel plates.  Of the three eight-round clips, I hit the gong 7/8, 6/8, and 3/8 times, so it was clear I was tired and it was time to leave.

I packed up and drove back out past Fernan Lake, a beautiful drive that is a treat every time I go to and from the range.  Rather than turn to go home, I decided to keep driving straight on Sherman to Schmidty's for lunch.  They make the most decadent, delicious BBQ Bacon Cheddar Burger I have ever had - it never disappoints.  So my final act in honor of D-Day was to enjoy a red-blooded American meal - bacon cheeseburger, onion rings, and a Coke (well, Dr. Pepper, but who's checking?)

Schmidty's BBQ Bacon Cheddar Burger is absolutely amazing.  I've never gotten such thick bacon on a burger anywhere else.   

Thursday, 5 June, 2025

I am desperately in need of pistol practice, so I took exactly the same pistols to the range this week as I had the week before.  My performance last week was dismal, and did not merit any photos (nor any publicity, lol).  Hence the need for practice.

I shot at Project Appleseed Large Pistol Drill Targets at seven yards, the standard distance for our pistol clinics.  I started off with a warm-up by shooting my CZ-75 with Kadet .22LR conversion kit. I fired one box of 50 rounds, two magazines of ten rounds two-handed, then ten rounds left-hand-only and ten rounds right-hand-only.  My left-hand-only shooting was so awful that I decided I needed more practice, and fired the last ten rounds left-handed, five at a time (the same as the Appleseed Pistol Qualification Target).  

My .22LR Targets.  The notebook (photo below) shows the scores for successive strings of ten shots.  Some were fired on the same target.

I then switched to my Heckler & Koch P7M8, my preferred EDC gun for the last 40(+) years.  I shot my standard practice load for this pistol: 4.0 grains of WIN 231, 124 gr. Berry's plated truncated cone bullet, and Winchester small pistol primers.  After a five-round magazine to warm up and settle in with the different gun, I started firing ten-round strings, rapid fire with a magazine change (six rounds in the first magazine, four in the second, picked up from the bench just like an Appleseed PQT).  I didn't use my shot timer. The PQT allows 15 seconds for these strings of fire, but I was practicing for muscle memory and focus so I left the time element out and just tried not to lollygag.  (Humorous aside - one of the Girl Scouts at last week's Project Appleseed rifle clinic wore a t-shirt that said "Hang on while I overthink this". 🙂)

After doing this a few times, I switched to one-handed practice.  I had intended to fire two targets left-handed and two targets right-handed, but my left-handed shooting was so bad that I fired at the two right-side targets left-handed instead.  It was worthwhile, because I improved markedly on those last two.  Practice makes perfect, and I need a *lot* more of it!

At this point I had exhausted that batch of practice ammo (32-2).  I brought along a can of the next batch (32-3), but this batch used different brass that had not been shot as many times.  I segregate my brass according to how many times it's been fired, so that when the cases start to fail (either by splitting or by failing to extract because the rims are so beaten up) I can simply discard the entire batch. This meant I had to pick up my expended brass before shooting any of the other batch.   By the time I'd done that, I was ready to go.  

(Photos to follow later - suddenly Google has freaked out and won't copy them in) (Later edit - figured it out - Google doesn't like iPhone "Live" photos.  I need to turn that feature off.  I'm sure it takes more storage, anyway.)

My HK P7M8 ready for shooting.  Six-round mags on the left, four-round mags on the right.

The seven yard targets seem closer in real life than in the photo.  

Two-handed shooting, rapid fire with magazine changes.

More two-handed shooting, with relatively consistent performance.  More practice will help keep them all in the black.  

Initially I intended to shoot two targets left-handed and two right-handed, so the first two left-handed targets are on the left, top and bottom.  They were so bad that I fired the other two left-handed as well, with marked improvement by #4 (bottom right).

A typical page from my pistol notebook.  I have kept notes like this for every shooting session since October 1998.  It really helps to be able to go back and look at data for guns that I haven't shot in a long time, to track ammo usage and round count per gun, and to gauge my progress (or lack thereof!)

All in all a good day at the range, followed by another good day at the range.  (I checked, and yes, the last time I did that was at Camp Perry in July 2017).

Mood: Happy and Reflective

Music:  Wind in the trees and birds singing

Spinal Fusion Surgery - Part II

On 4-5 June 2020, I had spinal fusion surgery in my lower lumbar spine (L2-S1).  I wrote extensively about that surgery during my recovery:

Brad's Excellent Adventure: Spinal Fusion Surgery

The results of that surgery were excellent.  It was painful for a few weeks, and I had to undergo physical therapy for several months to retrain my body to adapt to the new spinal configuration and regain function.  It took a full year to recover completely, meaning that the bones were completely fused and I was able to resume all normal activities.  

At one of my last post-operative follow-up visits, the PA told me that because all of the mobility (thus the stress and pressure) formerly spread across my entire lower lumbar spine had now been transferred to the joint between L1 and L2,  every activity that I engaged in from that point forward would constitute a decision on "how to invest my remaining cartilage."  

I understood the message, and I knew just how I intended to make that investment.  Almost exactly a year after the surgery, I was once again backpacking in the wilderness, as I had dreamed of doing for years:

Brad's Excellent Adventure: Backpacking in the Lemhi Range, Idaho

Since that time I have had four wonderful years of activities I would have been completely unable to engage in before the surgery, including many trips into the remote backcountry of Idaho and the surrounding states.  It made the surgery totally worth the initial pain and the enforced discipline of limited activity during my recovery. 

During 2024, the time came to pay the price for these activities, as I began to feel increasing pain in my lower back.  I went back to the same person who did my first surgery - Dr. Daniel Blizzard at Axis Spine Center in Coeur d'Alene.  I am tremendously fortunate to have such an advanced medical practice with top-tier doctors located so close to my home.

X-rays and MRIs confirmed that the disk between L1 and L2 was essentially gone, and my movement in that joint was bone-on-bone (I could feel the grinding).  The doctor told me that surgery at that point was optional, but certainly indicated, and that it would eventually become necessary in order to prevent permanent nerve damage.  I elected to do it sooner rather than later, hoping that a surgery early in the year would enable me to recover sufficiently to have at least some capabilities during the summer of 2025, although I knew full recovery would again take a year. So we scheduled it for January.

In these cases, rather than simply fuse the next one or two vertebrae, their procedure is to fuse the rest of the lumbar spine and the first few vertebrae in the thoracic spine.  The reasoning is that transferring all the motion from L1-L2 upwards to the disk between T12-L1 would simply result in a repeat a few years later.  By fusing T10-L2, they extend the fusion upwards into the thoracic spine, where the vertebrae are further stabilized by their connection to the rib cage.

I was told that in the end, I should not lose much flexibility in terms of bending, but that I will lose a great deal of rotational flexibility, as my entire lumbar spine will now be one big bone, all fused together.  This seemed to me a small price to pay, with no other real alternative that would allow for continued outdoor activity. 

They also did one other procedure at the same time, fusing my sacroiliac (SI) joints.  This was not strictly necessary now, but could well have become necessary in the future.  I thought "Why go through all of this twice?", and elected to have them do that operation as well, all at the same time.

Unlike the first surgery, they did not have to go through my abdomen.  They made one incision on my right side to insert a spacer between L1 and L2, just as they had previously done for L2-L3 and L3-L4.

The really invasive and painful part of the surgery was that they had to open up my entire back, both to inspect the previous fusion and hardware to ensure that it could serve as a solid foundation for the extended fusion, as well as to insert the screws into T10-L1.   As it turned out, the bone fusion was good and all of the previous screws were solidly in place.  So they removed the rods that went through the existing screws, and then inserted longer rods that would continue to stabilize the previous fusion and also extend it upwards to T10.

Now my spine looks like this:

Anterior X-ray view of my T10-S1 Revision.  You can also see the long screws angling up from each side at the bottom, stabilizing my fused SI joints. 

Lateral X-ray view of the T10-S1 Revision

The most painful aspect of this surgery has been due to the fact that they had to stretch the heck out of my back muscles and ribs to get them out of the way.  The doctor told me to expect it to "hurt a lot for several weeks".  So far he's been right.  Although I am starting to feel better, I am definitely quite sore and don't expect that to change too much for awhile.

I was very happy to take the full dose of the prescribed narcotic pain medication (Oxycodone), but have started to wean myself off of it, as I really do not like the mental fog that it produces.  I want to be able to concentrate better so that I can do the readings and participate in the classes I am auditing at ARU (separate post later on that topic).

Now that the pain and swelling from the incision is subsiding, one of the hardest parts is the pain in my lower rib cage, especially on the right side.  They told me they wouldn't know until they got in there whether they'd have to cut my rib out of the way or perhaps even enter my chest cavity.  As it turned out, they did not have to penetrate the chest, and they only retracted the rib out of the way ("We don't think we broke it, but it's going to hurt.")  This has made wearing the back brace they gave me fairly uncomfortable.

I was prescribed the same electronic bone growth stimulator as last time, and will use it for two hours daily for the next year: 

 Orthofix SpinalStim

The back brace they gave me, however, is different than last time, as it has to extend further upwards to stabilize my entire back rather than just my lower lumbar spine:

Aspen 456 Adjustable Back Brace

I had this back brace fitted before my surgery,  and could tell that it would be very effective.  The central panel on the back is stiff, and the backpack straps help to keep it pulled tight against your back and keep you upright without bending while the bones heal.  I am supposed to wear this at all times when I am up and around, for something like the first three months.   I thought it was great, until the first time I put it on after my surgery.  A look at my back will give an indication of why:

The incision on my back, with the sterile dressing.  The small patch of gauze is where they had inserted the tube to drain the blood for the first few days.  They kept me in the hospital for one extra day until the bleeding subsided, then removed the drain and let me come home.

My incision after removing the dressing.  The shorter scars from my previous fusion are visible on either side.  The doctor said it would look like I'd been clawed by a bear. 🙂

They used staples instead of surgical thread, purportedly because they had to cut through a bunch of scar tissue from the first surgery to inspect the hardware. Apparently staples hold and heal better under those circumstaances.  It feels like a zipper!  Next week I get them taken out. One at a time. With pliers. Yay.

So that is the state of my back. Even just sitting in a chair or laying down in bed was very painful, despite the fact that we have a completely adjustable Tempur-Pedic bed with a memory foam mattress. (In the hospital they had intravenous pain drugs in addition to the Oxycodone, but they didn't let me bring any of those home, lol).

Teresa had very thoughtfully bought me a mattress pad made of open-cell foam, thinking that it would help me to be more comfortable sitting on the couch.  It turned out to be a bit awkward to try to use it that way, but it made excellent raw material for some additional padding.   The first thing I did with it was to try to find a way to keep pressure off of the incision (or at least minimize it) by putting some sort of pad on either side.   I tried a couple different approaches, which finally evolved into this:

I cut out a sort of "collar" of open-cell foam and taped it to the inside of a t-shirt using "100 mile an hour tape".

Turned right-side-out and worn over another t-shirt, this provided enough stand-off distance to reduce pressure on my incision and allow me to sleep and sit in a chair with less discomfort.  Later on, it also turned out to be excellent at holding an ice pack in place.

Once I was getting up and out of bed for more than a few minutes at a time, I tried the back brace.  I knew immediately that it would not work for me as-designed.  It puts *all* the pressure directly on the incision, which produced burning, searing pain (I have a pretty high pain threshhold, but this was extraordinary).  Although the padded t-shirt works well at helping to keep pressure from a flat surface off the incision, I also had to put some additional padding on the back brace, since it fits right into that gap:

Back brace padding, version 1.0

Back view

Side view showing additional padding where it presses on the incision.

This worked well, and I wore it constantly during the first couple of days that I spent out of bed.  But by the third day, the pressure on my rib cage from the side panels really started to hurt, and I had to add even more padding:

The additional padding across the bottom helps to relieve the pressure on my ribs from the side panels.   I also made one other modification - like many backpacks, this brace has a sternum strap to pull the shoulder straps tight across your chest.  But also like many backpacks, these straps are poorly-designed and do not stay in place - they migrate upwards to the point where they are choking you right across the throat.  So I added a loop of 100 mile an hour tape to each side to hold them in place.

Back view showing how the pad is secured to the straps. 

I sent these photos and description to the person who fitted the brace initially, and I plan to talk about it with the surgeon's people next week at my post-op appointment.  There are much more advanced materials available, and it seems as though they could have had some kind of temporary additional auxiliary padding to alleviate the pressure on these areas.  I should not have had to struggle with this, especially during my first few days home when I was in the worst pain, had the least range of motion, and was loopy from 24-hour-a-day maximum doses of my pain medicine. 

My other important accessories are several reacher-grabber tools placed strategically around the house, my dad's walking stick (it is not a "cane" - it had to be a "walking stick" for me to get him to agree to use it, lol), and a memory foam pillow recommended by a friend that relieves the pressure on my sacrum when sitting.  It just came yesterday and I love it, so I plan to order more of them so that I don't have to carry it around from room to room. They have different configurations and materials for different kinds of chairs, including car seats.

My dad's antler-handled walking stick and my new Everlasting Comfort cushion.

So that's the story - I am now at home recovering, going through the same kind of process as last time.  I am able to get around pretty well and am staying up out of bed all day, but am only able to focus and concentrate for a few hours from late morning to mid-afternoon.  The rest of the time I sit and watch TV, read some light fiction, play a game, or just sort of zone out.  I have started going for walks outside, as the streets are dry and clear despite the cold (I wouldn't dare do it if there were ice or snow on the pavement).  The poor dog is confused because I can't take her along, since I cannot bend over to clean up after her.

I am looking forward to being done with this recovery.  If all goes well I should be able to drive again in a few weeks, and perhaps even do some Jeep camping by mid-summer. But I probably won't be able to carry any kind of a backpack (even a light day pack) until the full year's recovery is complete.   I intend to follow the doctor's instructions to the letter, and hope to have similarly successful results and years of pain-free activity thereafter.

Mood:  Optimistic

Music:  Rammstein: Rammlied  ("Wer wartet mit Besonnenheit, der wird belohnt zur rechten Zeit...")