Dr Tollesson talked me through my MRI scan results, showing me where the bone was protruding on my spinal cord. He then performed some physical tests on me. Seems I have very poor grip strength which is common for the injury I have.

He noted that I'd need one of two types of surgeries. One being more pleasant than the other.

=>> Pleasant one:
Remove a disc or two and replace with artificial ones and I'd move better than ever before. Pretty good recovery.

=>> Less Pleasant one:
Remove a disc or two, insert a cage with screws and likely hip bone graft to fuse my neck. Not great movement and much longer recovery.

He gave me a booklet (click on the link below) to see a PDF of the surgery.
https://rb.gy/t3gvka

He then wrote out a slip for a CT and Xray to get finer detail on my situation and to determine which approach is best.

He said to wear a stiff neck collar to stop the movement of my neck. The movement was causing the bone to be scraping on the spinal cord and this is exacerbating the pain. I alternate between the soft and stiff collar. [See the photos below!]. One feels way better than the other. The other is way better at keeping me still. Apparantly I'm a very animated conversationalist... stiff collar better for that haha

He'd said to return in 2 weeks to discuss the best surgical approach. Until then to liaise with Dr Reece on pain management as my allergies were complex and he noted Dr Reece better placed to help me with this.

Upon discussion with the admin team I was informed I needed to wait 5 weeks as he was overseas for a bit and then double booked thereafter. I was booked for 5pm Friday 10th November.

As you could imagine, I was gutted as this would set me back on my ability to move forward with the Neuro on my muscle testing... let alone dealing with the pain until then (would be over 3 months on no sleep). It was also a major setback to my NDIS reapplication being able to be done.

I was grateful to be returning to Brie & Chris's for a night of pizza and cards with Grady. The perfect distraction from a tough day. So fortunate to have such good friends and the ability to share in their lives and spend time with the kids. I think this night will go down in history at the Harris household for so many reasons left offline.... but as a memory recall - the night of Lennie, the Queen of Hearts, Ace of Spades, the new opiod taken wrong, and not a lot of sleep hahaha