Here’s a comment from Aunt Robi,
Robi says:
If you ask me almost everything I find at Nordys is practical! If ya don’t believe me I can show you my credit card bill – hehe! Love that place! Ross is real good for jeans tho.
I think most women agree with her!
Yesterday we left for Vail around 9:30. By the time we arrived we ran a few errands for my work and then made it to the doctor at 1pm. We spent about an hour and a half with Dr. Corenman (Don) who explained in detail just what condition the misses is in and what the options are. He reviewed all the tests from the doctors down here that he knows very well. He then showed us a video of an actual surgery like Lori needs so we can see what will happen. He produces these as teaching tools for doctors like the guy we’ve been seeing in Denver. Don is usually booked out months in advance but after talking to him he said he’d see if he could squeeze the misses in. I immedeatly called the doctor in Denver and left a message (you can never get doctors on the phone!) to cancel the surgery on the 26th and stop the insurance authorization.  So even though we were scheduled with the doc in Denver, we’re now having Don do the surgery. By the time we arrived back in Denver, Lori had a voice mail saying they could get her in on the 22nd meaning next Friday! This is great news as he’s literally recognized as the best there is. He’s done about 15 C2 C3 fusions which is more than anybody in the country and maybe the World. You see most fusions are 5/6 or 6/7. It’s a bit more delicate as there are nerves that high up that you need to really be careful around. In fact Dr. Don always has an ENT (ear nose and throat surgeon) assist him when working that high up in the neck. That was the hold up to getting her in as he had to check with Dr. Strahan to see when he was available. After a call from Don, Dr. Strahan agreed to come in on his day off (next Friday) to help out. How’s that for great treatment. Apparently Dr. Strahan too is tops in the country for people that have throat cancer and really bad things going on up there. He’s there to primarily watch the nerves and other things in her throat. I guess if you damage this one nerve, you can’t hit the high notes if you’re singing! He asked Lori if she was a singer and she said only in the shower or on the treadmill. So we’re back up in Vail tomorrow to see Dr. Strahan for a pre-op appointment and then the only thing that can stop us is insurance or money. The insurance authorization should be ok according to the doctors office. What we don’t know is how much we’re going to have to come up with in 8 days. What I do know, from previous experience with my knee operation, is that the hospital does require some payment before you go in, uggh. We also were texting back and forth with our friend Heidi who is an anesthesiologist up there and she’s rearranging her schedule so she can take care of the misses during the operation. You might remember Heidi as she took care of me in my knee surgery and also helped out when Andrea Bocelli’s kid had an infection in his foot when they were here last June. So we’re really happy we went up to see Don and that he agreed to get us in. I’m sure the doc down here would like to do the surgery but we can’t mess around with her neck. I had told the Denver doc all along to send every record to Don (they know each other) as we were going up to see him and he was our friend for over 10 years. Don is just more thorough and experienced. We learned a bunch more stuff about the actual procedure from Don that we didn’t learn down here. For one thing they’re going to take a bone from Lori’s hip to use in her neck. Apparently you have a 97% chance of the graft healing faster and better with your own bone verses a 92% with a cadaver bone. Plus Lori was worried that she’d get some creepy guys bone in her neck. The doc in Denver didn’t tell her this or give her a choice. He also wasn’t going to have another surgeon that specializes in the throat in with him. On top of it all, Don has been a friend and doctor of  Lori’s for about 12 years now. We first met him in 2001 when I did a wine dinner at his home and then a few years later we put together a surprise 50th birthday party for him with a chef, winemaker and sit down dinner for 50 people. So we go way back and just have a sense of comfort with him plus he literally recognized as the best at what he does, bar none. There you have it, 8 days and counting.
When we arrived home Uncle T was dropping off the boys as he was nice enough to pick them up from school for us. Jag had wanted to go to Elways Restaurant for dinner and I had been trying to get down there to see the wine buyer for some time, so off we went. The four of us had a great time and had great food and they’re now putting on a bunch of my wines on their list. I had just arranged for the wine buyers dad and mom to visit the Simcic estate in Slovenia where they had a great time.
This morning Lori and her friend are off to our friends spa for facials and nail jobs or whatever you call them. I have a meeting at the distributor at 10 and then will be home working on the computer. So lots going on, Ty has a basketball game tonight and then a musical performance at school tomorrow night.
Hope everyone is well, take care and God Bless.