I really would rather tell you more about the beautiful time we spent in the mountains and at the lake but I promised to give you an up date, so here it is.
I went to the pain specialist at Hershey Medical Center today and they have referred me to an orthopedic surgeon.  I asked if an out patient procedure could be done.  After looking at my MRI report she said that my neck problem is to complicated for that and will require more invasive surgery.  I thought that perhaps even radio frequency ablation would help, but she explained that it works for arthritis but not for herniations or compressed spinal cords. She said this orthopedic doctor is very conservative and will not do surgery if he feels it will not help or may be to complicated.  Cervical stenosis is serious enough, if left go, it can cause serious problems, such as loss of bowl or bladder control and motor weakness and gait disturbance or paralysis.  So, as you can imagine, I am a little concerned.  She said that the physical therapy was good for the muscles, strengthening and stretching, but it did not change the compression problem.
Martha had a bit of an emergency yesterday as she fell into her stream and cut her big toe badly.  She waited to long to get stitches and was given a tetanus shot and antibiotics.  She is upset because it will ruin her summertime swimming.  But I bet it won't keep her down to long, knowing her love for aqua!