Commercial Floor Rep

[highup]

Well, that was a weird test. They placed surface "probes" on several spots on my hand and lower arm and passed an electrical current through very specific areas and took measurements via computer connections to the probes. Then on my upper arm and neck they actually put needles, like acupuncture needles into several of the muscles and measure the electrical impulses that my own body was sending through the nerves. They would put three jolts through each spot. Each jolt was a little stronger than the previous one. They also upped the juice the further away they got from my hand. Nothing crazy but enough to make you twitch or jump.

He gave me the diagnosis right then and there as the test is pretty straight forward. I have three nerves with "damage" from the compression. One of the nerves is lower (C7) than they though and so that probably means they will need to do a bit "more" than they thought when they go in because I still have spurs and bulging discs that they will have to fix at C5. But, that's why they wanted this test, to make sure he didn't do too much or too little when he does the surgery. I want them to measure twice and cut once.

He thinks I have a fair chance of getting everything back after surgery but no guarantees.

The test is also sophisticated enough that it can tell if the damage is old damage or new damage. I'm a mixture. Some old some new which fits in with the whole "final straw" scenario. Pretty crazy that they can tell all that from a little jolt in the nerve or muscle.

Now, I see the surgeon on Tuesday next week and they'll give me the game plan and get everything scheduled.

The last zap in the neck muscle got me a bit and I'm a kind of sore from it but the rest were no problem just felt pretty odd. Felt like that frog in biology class that's dead and you make his leg jump with a battery.

Back at my office with an ice bag on my neck and one on my arm. Hopefully it'll calm back down here in a bit.

Thanks for all the well wishes. They're appreciated. I'll keep you posted if I get anymore news.

We're going to have to nickname you, Froggy.

 

[Floorist]

I was putting carpet in a very nice new house, owner was the "GC". I was working upstairs when I realized that he was using mullti-purpose to glue ceramic to plywood in the kitchen. I just kept my mouth shut.

 

[Mark Brown]

I gotta remember that one

 

[Commercial Floor Rep]

I had one where the local high school building trades instructor decided to show his students how to install ceramic in the shower....with wall mastic....did I mention it was in the shower...directly over drywall....IN THE SHOWER.

The school system would actually foot the bill to build a house and the kids in the program, along with the instructor(s) who would oversee everything and incorporate help from other local builders and subs to teach and then they would sell the house at the end of the school year and take the money and do it again. Several builders participated financially as well to encourage building trades. They also got to know the kids and hopefully get them into a after they graduated.

The guy was a friend so I have no idea why he didn't reach out to somebody. The people who bought the house were pissed because a couple months after they bought the house the tile started falling off and water started getting into the walls and subfloor. It was a mess and it was a pretty expensive repair. Kind of gave the school a black eye with the program too. Another friend and customer ended up doing the replacement. Several thousand dollar mistake over something so simple. I hated it for him because here's a guy trying to get kids interested in the trades and he pulls a boneheaded move and catches hell.

I'll have to change my tag line to ribbit ribbit.

 

[Floorist]

I had one where the local high school building trades instructor decided to show his students how to install ceramic in the shower....with wall mastic....did I mention it was in the shower...directly over drywall....IN THE SHOWER.

The school system would actually foot the bill to build a house and the kids in the program, along with the instructor(s) who would oversee everything and incorporate help from other local builders and subs to teach and then they would sell the house at the end of the school year and take the money and do it again. Several builders participated financially as well to encourage building trades. They also got to know the kids and hopefully get them into a after they graduated.

The guy was a friend so I have no idea why he didn't reach out to somebody. The people who bought the house were pissed because a couple months after they bought the house the tile started falling off and water started getting into the walls and subfloor. It was a mess and it was a pretty expensive repair. Kind of gave the school a black eye with the program too. Another friend and customer ended up doing the replacement. Several thousand dollar mistake over something so simple. I hated it for him because here's a guy trying to get kids interested in the trades and he pulls a boneheaded move and catches hell.

I'll have to change my tag line to ribbit ribbit.

Our high school building trades builds a new house and it takes two years. And yes the flooring is usually poorly installed.

 

[C.J.]

My dad n I went to a new burger joint for lunch today. I was inspecting the ceiling and noticing how out of rack and stair stepped the decorative ceiling tiles were. Reminded me of when I was 16 and wanted to redo my bedroom. I put up ceiling tiles and did tongue n groove on the walls. I didn’t know **** so I just started in one corner and worked my way to the other side. Walls weren’t square. Who knew. Ceiling wasn’t square. Who knew. I didn’t know about starting in the middle and working out both ways, didn’t know how to finish when I got to the corners and didn’t know all kinds of other stuff but I do now. Hopefully those hacked up houses the schools build lead to the kids knowing better later on in life.

Another thing that took me back in time was my buddy n I went to a fish fry at one of the local churches. The kids were taking orders and the adults were in the kitchen. The girl that took our order messed up and my buddy was getting pissed until he stopped and caught himself. Wait a minute, she’s 13. This is the time in life she’s supposed to be making mistakes and learning so when she’s older she knows better. We both took a couple deep breaths and got over ourselves. It’s ok to mess up sometimes and if you learn from it sometimes it’s worth it in the end.

 

[Floorist]

My dad n I went to a new burger joint for lunch today. I was inspecting the ceiling and noticing how out of rack and stair stepped the decorative ceiling tiles were. Reminded me of when I was 16 and wanted to redo my bedroom. I put up ceiling tiles and did tongue n groove on the walls. I didn’t know **** so I just started in one corner and worked my way to the other side. Walls weren’t square. Who knew. Ceiling wasn’t square. Who knew. I didn’t know about starting in the middle and working out both ways, didn’t know how to finish when I got to the corners and didn’t know all kinds of other stuff but I do now. Hopefully those hacked up houses the schools build lead to the kids knowing better later on in life.

Another thing that took me back in time was my buddy n I went to a fish fry at one of the local churches. The kids were taking orders and the adults were in the kitchen. The girl that took our order messed up and my buddy was getting pissed until he stopped and caught himself. Wait a minute, she’s 13. This is the time in life she’s supposed to be making mistakes and learning so when she’s older she knows better. We both took a couple deep breaths and got over ourselves. It’s ok to mess up sometimes and if you learn from it sometimes it’s worth it in the end.

If those were the stamped metal tiles, they were probably made here. The W F Norman company has made them in their factory using the original stamps since the 1880s. My stepson worked there for a while. They are usually 3 years behind on orders. They ship them all over the world. Even the used ones are pricey.

 

[C.J.]

I do like the stamped ones that get nailed up. These looked like the stamped ones but they were actually styrofoam. I’m sure if they were done decently and painted one would have a hard time telling them apart aside from getting up close and checking them out.

I’m sure it was a DIY and prolly looked better than whatever the ceiling looked like before they were put up. I did a job at the beach that had many of the restaurant employees doing much of the simpler remodeling work so they could still make a paycheck while the restaurant was shut down. I’ll give them a pass for that.

 

[Commercial Floor Rep]

Good to see we still make things here.

 

[Floorist]

https://wfnorman.com/

 

[Commercial Floor Rep]

We celebrated our 100th year in business in 2019. We actually opened the doors in 1911 but they didn't incorporate until 1919 so that's the date we go by. Our company used to be in automotive distribution and it was started by a blacksmith who saw the advent of the automobile putting him out of business.

Here's a few of the old ads from our local newspaper and other media that they published in back in the 1920's:

 

[Commercial Floor Rep]

So, I had my consult with the spine doc today. Not as good as originally thought. Instead of two vertebrae there are actually 4 that will have to be addressed and fused, C4-C7. The official diagnosis are, cervical stenosis of spine (spinal canal is too small for the spinal cord), cervical radiculopathy (nerves are pinched where they branch from the spinal cord), cervical myelopathy (compression of the spinal cord), and hyperreflexia (hyper sensitive reflexes generally caused by a spinal cord injury).

The treatment is posterior cervical decompression and fusion.

They'll basically go in through an incision about 6" long on the back of my neck and remove a piece on the back of each vertebrae to make them horseshoe shaped instead of donut shaped. They will also clean up any other issues with the discs and bone spurs that need addressed. They will then put in the special titanium screws and rods to lock the vertebrae in place. After they finish with that they will take the pieces they removed and use them along with some donor material and bone marrow and stems cells that they will withdraw from my hip during the procedure. They will graft the bone along the sides of those vertebrae with using the donor material and my bone marrow and stems cells. They they close me up.

I'll have a drain in there for a day or two. They'll keep me in the hospital for 2.5 days. I'll be on bed rest for 1 week after surgery. They'll have me come in at one week post op to check the incision, adjust my meds or address anything else. Then I'll be on bed rest to light duty (working from home) for 2-3 weeks. I'll go back in after two weeks and have the sutures removed. after 3 weeks they will assess me for PT and if I'm tolerating pain ok then I can start 8-12 weeks of PT and rehab. I won't be able to lift over 5 lbs. until they tell me I can. I can't go up and down staircases. I can go up and down a couple of stairs to go in and out of the house.

I attached a couple of files that show the laminectomy steps and then one of a neck model that they showed me in the office when they were going over everything. The only difference is that the neck model still shows the vertebrae fully intact. They will actually remove the piece of bone between the screws.

At any rate, I still have some stuff to get done. They have to do a complete physical and some lab tests to make sure I'm in good enough shape to handle the surgery (they do that once you hit fifty). That should be no problem and then they have to get all the pre-approvals from my insurance company. Once all that is done THEN they will schedule me for the surgery. Probably looking at mid-late October. In the meantime I get to live with this lovely pain that ranges from a mild toothache to feeling like I've been stabbed with a pickaxe. And of course along with the pain I get random numbness and weakness in various body parts. My left thumb and index finger have been numb since this all started but I've had random numbness in my left pinky finger, my left forefinger, my left forearm, my left shoulder, the right side of my face, and weakness and loss of fine motor skills in my feet and legs.

I'm getting so used to sleeping with my neck and arm on ice I feel like a prize tuna in a Chinese fish market!

Oh well, one more step to getting it dealt with. The light at the end of the tunnel is still a ways off but I've made it this far, I suppose I can handle a few more days.

 

[Floorist]

Good luck.

 

[Mark Brown]

Duuuuuuuude
.... thats gross! Not to mention terrible and a whole lot of no fun. You go and get through this and I wish you well.
Remind me not to live past 45 k?

 

[Commercial Floor Rep]

Damn @Mark Brown, I thought you were older than me!

Well, I guess it's just me, @DarisMulkin , & @Jon that are the old buggers trying to hang in there with you young guys! Oh well, at least I'm in great company!

The really eerie thing is that I actually watched this procedure get done during my ortho rotation when I was in nursing school a long time ago. Back then though they didn't have all the fancy stuff that they do today. They will actually have 3 teams of docs. The surgeon and his partner in the practice will be assisting, a team that will monitor the impulses in my spine to make sure that no damage was done during the procedure, and a team that will apply a head stabilizer (a big surgical halo) to make sure that I don't somehow move during the procedure. They didn't have all that when I was in school, just the surgeon.

Glad I got insurance.

It ought to be even more fun getting through security at the airport. I already set the darn thing off with the piece of mesh in my gut from hernia surgery.

 

[Floorist]

Daris retired like I did.

 

[Mark Brown]

I'm retired in mind if not body.
And Chuck, you just though I was older than you because I am crusty and a grump. I can see how one would be confused, im only 37 for God sake.

 

[DarisMulkin]

Daris retired like I did.

Just from installing.

 

[Floorist]

Just from installing.

I am doing my other job again. I'm back in the wood shop.

 

[C.J.]

Remind me not to live past 45

45 is when things finally start to get good. Lol. You’re old enough to say no but still young enough to do stuff.