Re: Good Luck

[Rich Thompson <richt2@us.ibm.com>]

Thanks to all of you for the wishes
extended my way regarding the recent surgery. The surgeon commented after
the surgery that the disc herniation was more involved with the nerve than
he had expected, but that he had been able to deal with it all cleanly.
I ended up rooming with the man who followed me in the same operating room
and he commented about having been delayed an hour due to the previous
surgery running long. The pain that had been going down my left leg has
disappeared and with it the discomfort for almost all positions one can
imagine putting your body in. I do currently have pain related to the incision,
but it is rapidly disappearing and my taking of pain killers disappearing
with it. I am becoming more aware of how much this had impacted my ability
to focus mentally since this first became an issue in early May, but hope
to be able to focus and make good progress on many fronts now that I am
in the recovery mode.

I currently have an interesting set
of restrictions designed to encourage rapid healing. I am confined to the
house until the end of this week and only allowed to be a passenger for
short car rides for a couple of weeks after that. The last week of July
will allow me to drive short distances and August should then be back to
normal with regards to driving. Attendance at the F2F was Dr approved provided
appropriately upgraded air transportation is used. I would like to publically
thank Charlie for his support that will result in IBM supplying what is
needed. Other restrictions I have involve frequent walks (every 30-60 minutes)
and no bending, twisting or lifting over 4 lbs. I suspect this will mean
I am a more frequent user of our allowance for people to get up and move
around as they need to while discussion is happening. I may also have need
at times to request people to do things like pick up objects for me. I
hope all will understand that my desire to avoid any repeat of this procedure
will cause me to adhere rather strictly with the Dr's guidelines.

Thanks again for your support and I
look forward to seeing many of you in Reading!

Rich