I had a really great time in Chicago today.

I got to observe a surgery that I had never seen before. All of the procedures I've seen have been on the lower to mid portion of the spine, but today's was fusing a 73 year old woman's neck. (This has to do with the job change that I'm involved in. The products and surgeons that I'll now be working with are all related to the upper portion of the spine.)

The O.R. had a great setup where a zoom-lens camera was overhead, and I could watch what was happening on a monitor. Occasionally Dr. G would call me up next to him so that I could get a better look as he explained what he was doing at the moment.

He called me up just as he lifted off the back portion of the patient's spinal column (the bony ridges that you can feel on the back of your neck), and totally exposed a four inch section of her spinal cord. The whole room got silent and watched the monitor as he did it - it was amazing.

He had shown me her MRI films before the case, and you could see that her discs had degenerated so badly and shifted the position of her vertebral bodies, so that the same portion of cord he was going to expose was completely pinched off. This had caused her intense pain and neurological impairment (trouble walking, bent over double, looking as if she was drunk all the time.)

By removing the back portion of the spine, he freed up the spinal cord. Amazingly, her symptoms should completely disappear.

The final part of the procedure was when he put metal implants in to help fuse the vertebral bodies together. This was the competitive product that I was referring to yesterday. He told the competitive rep that I was in the training/education department at my company and that I was only there to learn so that I could be more informed when I put meetings together. Heh. Liar, liar, pants on fire.

The rep was kind of a dope, so I doubt he's going to last much longer there anyway. Dr. G rolled his eyes at him more times than I could count.

I encountered my first sunshine in two weeks when Dr. G and I ate some lunch afterwards at an outdoor restaurant in Little Italy. It was so perfect, I could've sat there for hours.

Excuse me a second.

[rant]
Dear Mr. Passengenger In The Next Seat:

There are three seats in this row, with an arm divider separating each one. I realize that you got a raw deal and are stuck with the middle seat, but that's not my problem. What IS my problem, is the fact that your fucking elbow keeps rubbing my G*D* arm! Yes, I see you typing on your computer. I am too. See how my arms are folded neatly to my sides, within the confines of the arm dividers? Do the Same!! And is it completely fucking necessary for both your elbows to fly out past your side when you eat your smelly sandwich? Just lift and eat. It's not that difficult.

Love, The Bitch Who's About To Claw Your Eyes Out.
[/rant]

I don't even care if he can read this.

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, how content I was feeling. Heh.

Later on I was sitting at the O'Hare Airport realizing that it had been five days since I heard from Tom. Granted I haven't checked my email yet, but there were no calls on my cell phone, and when I called in to get my voicemail at work there was nothing there either.

To be honest, I didn't really care all that much that we hadn't talked. I did get a little bristly when I realized he hadn't even left a voice mail, but that was just pride. It wasn't really missing him.

I had an hour to kill so I gave him a ring - besides, I still needed to find out about his trip to NJ next week. He, too, was sitting at an airport. We talked for a bit but I kept getting irritated with him for one reason or another. Either he would get another call and leave me on hold, or he'd be typing some message away on his Blackberry to send. I realized that there was nothing really to talk about anyway, so I told him that I would let him go.

One good thing came out of the conversation - I found out that the meeting he has in New Jersey is cancelled. So the issue of whether he should stay in town an extra day or not is a moot point.

Actually, I may not even have to see him for a WHILE now. Maybe this can just die a slow death, without having to have a "talk", or make an issue about it. It kind of makes me sad, but only in the sense that we used to be really good friends, and now I'm just exhausted with the whole thing.

They just came on and reported the current weather conditions in New Jersey.

Anyone? Anyone?

Thaaaat's right! It's rain! Hooray!

feeling... holy cow, tomorrow's wednesday?
listening to... king of yesterday -- jude
miss something?
goodbye my friend - 2005-04-29
out of the loop - 2005-04-09
a quest for clarity - part 1 - 2004-08-30
no plan for a sequel - 2004-08-27
slacker of the month - 2004-08-26