I'm a lucky guy.

Today as I did my daily walk to pick up the newspaper, I reflected on my journey and how incredibly fortunate I’ve been so far. This is my first blog post. And, this will probably be our last post for a while as my recovery continues to go smoothly and I don’t expect to have anything significant to report in the near future.

Let me start by saying that I am grateful for the patience and understanding that my co-workers and colleagues showed me as I had to quickly shift my schedule around in order to get to diagnostic appointments. I had to abandon my work with very little notice, but I appreciate everyone making this leave of absence easy for me.

I’m also so thankful to have had Dr. Sanai and his team, as well as the nurses and every single healthcare professional at Barrow Neurological Institute looking out for my wellbeing. Their care, compassion and professionalism were outstanding.

The days leading up to surgery and two weeks afterward were extremely challenging for me, which included three separate trips to the ER – one prior to surgery and two post-surgery. During this time I became completely dependent on my family, and mostly Aline, for my care. Aline was amazing. She focused on my every need and was with me minute-by-minute throughout the journey. I don’t know how I would have done this without her. I’m extremely lucky again to have such a loving partner and best friend by my side throughout this journey (and by the way, our 25th wedding anniversary was the day before my surgery).

I am also so grateful to my kids. Thankfully, they are on summer break, and have helped Aline and me tremendously by taking care of day-to-day needs around the house.

And finally, I’m so thankful for such great support from friends and colleagues. It’s truly been amazing to me how many people have reached out with cards, emails, phone calls, food, and flowers. The support and encouragement have had a very positive impact on my recovery.

I am happy with the progress I have made over the past month. I am feeling stronger and I’m looking forward to working with a trainer at the local gym to build back some strength and endurance as soon as I’m cleared to do so (10 more days!)

I do plan on coming back to work, but I am uncertain about the amount of time I need to fully recover – probably sometime in August.

Thank you for thinking about me. I’m feeling better and getting healthier every day.