Last night was a game changer. Good friends Rusty Scoven and Rick McKnight brought dinner and a movie down to our home and their significant others treated Jill to dinner and a movie in town. By the time Rick and Rusty got down here, I was in raging pain. White knuckling, cold sweating, tooth-grinding pain.

They came in with bags of food, a cooler of beer and a couple of DVDs. Before Jill left for town, she pointed her finger at the bridge of my nose and with her most convincing cradle-Episcopal-come-to-Jesus look, she said, “Take your pain medication!”

I’ll confess that I haven’t taken the pain meds like I should have and as a result, I have spent some blocks of time in more pain that I should have had to endure. So, while the boys were in my kitchen cooking, I took another pill and writhed around while I waited for it to kick in. Since last night, I am now fully onboard with the pain medications. I’m taking them on a schedule, not according to how I feel.

Last night I got nine heavenly hours of sleep. Today I felt well enough to go to the office for an hour or so and we had a follow up visit with my rock star neurosurgeon, Dr. Mike Gorum. We have referred so many friends to Mike and he has taken such good care of them.

One of our dear Eufaula friends had a herniated cervical disc and she is thrilled with the care she received from Dr. Gorum, his physician’s assistant, Henry Aucoin and their exceptionally friendly, professional staff. That office runs like a well oiled machine. And the best thing about all of them is that they’re just so damned nice. Not quite nice enough to make a man forget he’s had spine surgery, but really nice. We’re fortunate to have a team of neurosurgeons like Drs. Gorum, Goldman and Elshihabi in our area.

I got a great report from Dr. Gorum today. They peeled all the steri-strips from my incisions and sufficiently scolded me for trying to be a tough guy and grind through the pain. For the remainder of this week I’ll try to stay on a restful course and do as much walking as I can. My plan is to be back at the office for half days, starting on Monday and we’ll also be seeing Dr. Pippas next week to discuss next steps.

Jill and I appreciate all the kind gestures we’ve received from so many people. Food, cards, phone calls, emails and Facebook messages have sustained us during the scary, scary time. I’ve lost 11 pounds, by the way. Hell of way to diet though.

I hope I’ll sleep tonight.