Well it's official going back under the knife on the 6th of january and the 13th of that same month, this is to repair a broken back injury in "99". You see i used to be an Irowworker, you know the guys who build steel structure buildings. Well i was a connectior on this job when it happened....i fell one story below. Thank god i was working on the inside primitior or that would have been 4 floors down and death. Well not only having the broken back, i also broke 3 ribs, broken wrist, stitches in the side of head above my ear. Oh yeah, a concussion. I never passed out, but i don't remember the fall. It turned out that i had a compression fraction of the 1st lumbar w/a large chipped off and a nasty looking crack in my 2nd lumbar.

Well i had surgey that night. Stablisation of the lumbar and to move the spine back to where it should have been and to remove the bits & pieces. They did a bone graft cut from my hip to support the damaged vertebrae to fill in the gaps and to re-enforce. This was all backed-up with the support of some metal work, bolts and rods with a cross beam. Looks like a titanium scafolding :-) :-) :-)

A year of rehabilitation and counseling for emotionl support.

Seems that everythings falling apart back there and i've been putting this off the last year and a half. The only thing keeping me on my feet are my med's. Strong med's, Lortab's 100mg and Oxycodone 5/325. So there's your answer as to" what the hell is he talking about"
:-) :-) :-) Anyhow the Doc says it's time to get of the med's as they are addicting. I have been taking them for almost 2 years. I know i;m going to need help with this also.

Holy cow did i go on, time to

Good Luck with your upcoming surgery...sounds like it can only get better for you. Maybe it's caused by the weight of all that skin art yer carrying around? Did ya ever think of that? As for the medications, if you want me to help, here's my address, mail em' to me and i'll dole em' out to you when I think you "REALLY" need them. all kidding aside, real pain is only treated by real pain medicines....so take what you need to....better to have a doctor that understand your pain and helps you control it instead of one that dosen't believe in pain management....morphine is a good treatment for chronic back pain....it dosent really "mess" you up as much as it helps to cover the pain. again bro, goodluck

Merry Christmas Mom...



(:-)

The 6th & the 13th!?!? holy crap man. Well as I told you on the phone, we're pullin' for ya. I'll be sure to call you again before the day, & then again when you're ready for some chatting. Merry, merry to your tribe, bro!
Rob

Hang in there Joe. They can do some neat things these days. We are all praying for a speedy recovery and remember it will be all right.

About the Lortabs, I was on those for a couple of years also. You will come off them just fine. You will be amazed at how much clearer things will be in time once you are off them. Keep the faith Bro.

Get well good man. I can't even stand a sore back from shoveling the driveway. I guess I won't be such a whiner now.

Wishing you the best of luck Joe ! I'm sure you will come out better for this. But just in case, I will be praying for you.

And you and yours have a very Merry Christmas (:-)

Garry

Joe,
I'll be sure to keep you in my prayers as well. I hope I never have to go through something like that. If the pain killers get to be too much, you always have a friend on this end to chat with...those things are butt kickers...I see it all the time...

Good luck Mother, remember that Drugs numb the pain but don't cure the injury. Once the injury is fixed, you don't need the drugs ( well, not for the pain anyway ) Best to get off the drugs as soon as you can.

I'll mark the 6th and 13th on my calendar ( Oh boy, surgery on the 13th... )

Good luck
Henk

Good luck Joseph. I wish all will go well.radical surgical solutions always better than medication.

Man -that's a laundry list of ouchies from one accident. That's unfair.
One good thing - they fixed you once, they can fix you a second time.

My thoughts are out there for you. I hope all goes well and you get back to modeling soon.

Take care.