I remember when…

As I sit on the medical bench. I look down to my hands and realize how coarse they are. I look to my right hand and remember the damage that I once did to my pinky. The funny part about me damaging my pinky was that I not only do it once, but twice on two separate occasions. The first time I damage the pinky was when I dislocated the knuckle. I was about 12 years old (and an idiot) and I had gotten into a fistfight with another person. As I threw a punch, the person ducked and I happened to hit a non-moveable object behind him, called a door (Technically I lost the fight).

The second time I dislocated my pinky was when I was playing softball and was playing center field. As I was running towards the infield to grab the ground ball, I thought it would be quicker to pick up the ball and throw it to the second baseman in one motion. Basically, I did not use the glove to pick up the ball. I ended up dragging my pinky on the ground and snapped it at the second joint by 90 degrees. I decided to not seek medical help; however I did snap my pinky back in place. To this day, I cannot close my hand properly. My pinky flares out when I close my right hand.

I shift my sight to my left hand and focus on the circular tungsten metal that is wrapped around my wedding finger. I am reminded of my wedding day and how my wife walked down the aisle in her beautiful wedding gown. Funny look back, I also remember getting frustrated at the fact that I was unable to see my wife initially. The church that we got married in was too small to have a center aisle. So she had to walk around the church pews and I was blinded by our guest. So I had to wait until she came around the corner of people to finally get a full view of my wife.

I look to my left wrist and notice my watch. I’ve had this Citizen watch for over 5 years. It is a really a good watch. I haven't needed to replace the battery yet because it’s has a Citizen Eco-Drive® that is fueled by light, any light, so it never needs a battery (http://amzn.com/B000EQR6H0). The glass has some scratches that were generated over the years. The bezel is a stainless steel metal with a watch dial background of black with white letters. The wristband is an olive green color, similar to my military watch when I was in the service. I've changed the band twice since I have had this watch.

As I sit in the examination room, watching the seconds tick away, I notice a small spec of dirt wedged between the band and watch bezel. The dirt is orange in color. I realized that it is paint residue that has dried to a crisp from when I had played paintball a couple of weeks ago. It feels like months since when my watch got hit by a paintball. It's the reason why I'm in this office, getting my back reevaluated and remembering my past. Well, I shouldn't say that it's totally paintballs fault that I'm in this office for my pre-operation physical. But paintball certainly didn't help.

Today is EDAY+40, the days since my last entry has been a complete blur. The world continues to move in a rapid speed while I had to slow things down. It's only been about 2.5 weeks since my last entry and yet it feels like it's has been months. On EDAY+24 - I had visited the surgeon office to discuss my MRI results. I remember limping into the office and as I sat in the office chair to fill out the required paperwork, I realized that the seat was the worst. Funny for a place that promotes having healthy backs, they had horrible seats. I felt like I was sitting in the emergency wheelchair again. After about 10 minutes, I was close to being in the same posture as on EDAY+0.

I was finally called in to see the doctor when he informs me that I have a ruptured disk and needed it to be fixed. The rupture disk is the cause of me having lost all feeling down my left leg. He provided two options to that would help relieve the pain. Have a shot that may or may not work for a couple of months and then possibly return to get another one (Sounded like a band-aid fix). Basically, it would numb the area for a short period of time.

The second option was to actually cut into my back from my neck down to the back of my knee and conduct a complete extraction of my spine. It would then be replaced with a plastic spine with a bunch of screws holding everything in place. Below is a picture of one of the segments for my new spine.

OK, that wasn't what he actually said, but, to be honest, that was the image I got into my head as my doctor was providing details and statistics about my type of surgery. Plus the doctor’s office had all of these scary models with metal bands that were screwed into the model spine in his office that didn't help ease my mind. So now I truly know what the problem is and what the plan going forward will be. But does that provide any comfort? No, not really. Besides stressing over the fact that someone is going into your back to remove a chunk of pain. Still not feeling easy about it, although the upside = no more pain... The downside = someone is putting their paws in my back.

The good news is that I’ve spoken with several people that have had this type of surgery and had nothing but positive reviews. Thus, there is hope. The surgery is scheduled for August 3, 2015, or EDAY+50. So now what do we do until our surgery date?

Well, we keep busy by focusing our depleted energy to upping our Vignetting Photography game. Vignetting Photography is so dynamic with so many little projects that we need to define each project with a separate category. We have a total of five categories: Website, Promotional items, Square Register, Shootproof, and Wedding Wire.

Website-Vignetting Photography updated our packages to include Event packages that focus on birthday and family gatherings. Additionally, we added A'la Carte products page that provide separate descriptions for each service and/or product that Vignetting Photography provides. Within our shop, new products were added that include new Graduation cards, Christmas Cards, Wedding announcements, Save the Date cards, and Thank you cards. Vignetting Photography also added some stickers and magnets as part of our new list of products.

Promotional Items- created new business cards and also updated out Wedding Kit Magazine to fix some errors and also update wedding contract. New Thank you cards were also created so that Vignetting Photography can send out to vendors and clients. Additionally, a new email address was created.

Square Register- Vignetting Photography started using the Square Register to facilitate payments via credit cards a couple of weeks ago. Vignetting Photography can now send out invoices so that our clients can easily pay their bills online securely. This improvement allows for quicker processing of our clients products.

Vignetting Photography has partnered with ShootProof to allow our clients to gain direct access to their photos which allows our clients to order their prints directly and have their prints drop-shipped directly to them. This has allowed an ease of transfer of prints and/or digital files. ShootProof has recently streamlined their interface and also created some new and exciting modules that would help create better communications with our clients. So we've been getting up to speed on all the new and thrilling tools that ShootProof is now offering.

Vignetting Photography's partnership with Wedding Wire was established over the last month or so. We've been slowly updating our Storefront to help present out vision. Additionally, Wedding Wire has offered new tools that allow clients to manage their special day. So client’s contracts, questionnaires, and vendor management are located all in one place. This is a wonderful tool for newlyweds. But this allows Vignetting Photography to provide quicker responses and keep track of what information has been providing to potential clients. Wedding Wire has also allowed Vignetting Photography to capture our client reviews in one central location. The tools that Wedding Wire offers are endless and Vignetting Photography has been busy trying to learn all of the new interfaces and modules that Wedding Wire offers.

Also, let us not forget Vignetting Photography was responsible for capturing the Hyde's wedding and also Moreno's Graduation photos. Thanks to a wonderful Vignetting Photography team (Britta and Evan), our clients have been extremely pleased with our recent services.

Evan

Britta

Thank you so much to all that have been helping me during this daunting time. My family and I truly appreciate the support and prayers. Until next time…

Why do we fall…

As I walked onto the playing field, I felt pumped and ready for anything. My heart was racing at an easy pace. My nerves were relaxed and ready for the attack that my team was about to conduct. I had looked to my right and saw my nephew and my cousins’ son, aka, Bravo Team. I had instructed them directions as to how I wanted them to move in the woods towards the castle on the other side of the playing field. I had explained that I want them to move further over to the right from our position and come in hard and fast to outflank the opponent. That Will and I, aka, Alpha Team, were going to move straight towards the opponents’ castle to draw their fire.

I was instantly reminded of how I was the fearless young adult that once wore the green military fatigues. My plan was simple; storm the castle, the opponents will fire on us and hopefully get antsy and withdraw from their positions. Then Bravo Team would come into their flank and hopefully take them out. Basically, Alpha Team would be the guinea pigs or the suppressing fire time on this operation. However this time, we were out to have some fun and laughs while we stormed the castle. The war games we were playing were nothing more than paintballs flying through the air.

When the referee blew the whistle, we instantly ran into our positions and commenced our attack onto the fortress. The enemy or opposition force was really my other nephew and some of his friends. I have to admit, Alpha Team was a little too aggressive in our movement. When Will moved, I would provide covering fire. When I moved, Will would provide covering fire. We followed this technique until we were less than 20 meters or about 65 feet from our target. We commence firing and the opposition force was pinned down. They had not moved out of their castle. The opposition team decided to stand behind the structure for protection.

Because of Alpha teams aggressive approach towards the castle, I remember yelling to Bravo team to hurry up on their offensive. We had moved too quickly for Bravo Team. The plan worked flawlessly, my platoon sergeant would have been proud in our Fire and Movement techniques. After the opposition force realized that we were attacking from the front, they thought it would be a good idea to try to move out of their death trap.

I was correct; the opposition force had moved out of their positions to attack us. They had exposed their left side which was open for Bravo Teams advance. Bravo Team was able to take out the opposition force because they left their positions.

After the attack, I had to admit, I was a little too exhausted. I remember thinking, man I’m 40 years old and I’m running like I’m 21 again. We had played about 6-8 rounds of paintball games up to this point and it was starting to catch up to me. I remember having my left leg feel a little numb. But with the entire army of epinephrine or adrenaline racing through my body, I seriously felt no pain. So I decided to sit the next game out. However, I also decided to take a couple of action shots of the next couple of games as my nephews continue to play paintball.

Once the day was completed, I had gone home to shower and get some rest. The following morning, I awoke to have my leg feel like it was on fire. I remember thinking that I’ve completely lost all feeling in my leg when I walked. I initially thought that I was just sore from play paintball from the day before. I had decided to relax for the day and ice my leg. It wasn’t until about 8 pm that I realized something was extremely wrong. I had decided to shower before going to bed. The shower was extremely brisk but thorough, due to the pain. As I was getting out of the shower, I realized that the pressure on my leg was too much. The pain was unbearable, the numbness had taken over my entire body and my leg could no longer withstand my weight. I had fallen to the floor in pain with a loud thud. My wife entered the room in a panic. I was naked and defeated. I was later admitted into the emergency room that night. We will mark this day EDay+0.

Funny as you sit in a wheelchair, you instantly realize extremely quickly how uncomfortable they are and even sillier in how you look trying to not sit on your left butt cheek. I was sitting sideways trying to stay off my left side. I remember the nurse saying that the hospital was extremely busy on this day and that beds were limited. She then proceeded to scold me when I offered to slouch on the floor. So I sat awkwardly for several long growling minutes while I waited for a hospital bed to be free.

At about 1:30 am the doctor enters my room and tells me that I have muscle fatigue. Basically that my thigh is overworked and needs rest. She had recommended that I take some ibuprofen to help reduce the pain. As I sat in the waiting room for my wife to move the car closer to the door, the thought crosses my mind, what did I do. How did I get here? Basically, what did I do at the paintball game that made me feel so old? I instantly notice a kid, about 8 years old with no care in the world walking by me. He accidently hit my foot that sends shockwaves through my entire left side of my body. I was paralyzed with pain. The father of the child notices my reaction and had a stern talking to the boy. I was able to gather myself up and walked limply towards the car.

EDay+2, the pain continued to terrorize my body. I had decided to visit the walk-in clinic. The pumped up dosage of the Ibuprofen was not working and the pain continued to haunt me. The fire from within my left leg had continued to consume my entire body. I need to find liberation from the throbbing. Cutting the leg and cauterizing the end was an option but was way too radical. I wasn’t able to secure a visit with my doctor until later in the week (EDay+5). At the walk in clinic, I was provided with a prescription that didn’t help either. My best bet was to deal with the pain and wait for my doctor’s appointment.

Sleeping during the nights prior to my doctor’s appointment was a complete blur. Depending on the position I was in, the relief would be brief, but after several minutes, I would instantly awake with sheer terror as the needles of pain would puncture my legs. The nights were dreadful.

EDay+5, I had been wheeled into the doctors’ office. My sitting position was similar to that as the emergency room back on EDay+0. Other patients noticed my agony. I had explained my situation to my doctor. I was relieved to hear that everything would be ok. However, I would possibly need surgery, that I’ve possibly ruptured a disk. Instantly a thought entered my head, “You are no longer 21, dude, it’s official you are old.”

EDay+8, I am finally able to sleep through the night thanks to the new prescription. But the battle to survive the pain is still ongoing. I was able to slowly walk into my doctors’ office for a follow-up exam. The story is that I possibly have a pinched nerve.

EDay+11, after my MRI, I receive a call from my doctors’ office. The prognosis is not good. I have a fragmented bone that is pinching a nerve. After further discussion, I have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon on EDay+23, which is tomorrow…

So you ask since I have been “out of order” what have I’ve been doing?

“So why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.”  ~Batman Begins movie quote.

I have been lying in bed trying to recuperate. Thanks to some close dear friends, I have been able to continue to provide the excellent Vignetting Photography services with no delays. Also, I have been able to get a start on my Christmas card, Save the Date card, Graduation cards and Thank You card designs and online catalog. They are currently available for sale on the website. Additionally, I’ve been able to redesign my business cards and finalized some behind the scene issues. The company also has a new email address. Visit my website for more information.

www.vignetphoto.com

vignetphoto@gmail.com

Thank you to all of the wonderful friends and family members that have been helping me out during this turbulent time. God knows that I’ve needed it. But I will certainly get back on my feet with no pain very soon. I’m not sure who said this below quote, but I find it nice and fitting..

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or even a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it will last forever.”

Well until next time…