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I recently read a quote from Studs Terkel that perfectly sums up my life lately…

“To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us.”

For those of you who don’t know the details (which would be most people), I’ve been in the land of the walking wounded for the better part of six months.

My degenerative disc condition has made an unwelcome appearance in the top of my spine, manifesting itself in three herniated discs in my neck that are impinging the blood flow to my brain, causing pain and headaches – all day, every day.

It hurts to talk and it hurts to think (which is pretty much how I make a living). And it has, of late, kept me largely confined to a five mile radius of my house.

My focus each day has simply been to survive. And really, that’s an awful way to live your life.

So, tomorrow I am having surgery…and it’s a doozy. It’s a decision I have not made lightly or without first trying about a dozen other options.

[caption id="attachment_4671" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Goodbye scar-less neck."][/caption]

The surgery is a cervical fusion (No, I’m not talking about my lady parts, but the cervical vertebrae – that’s what the parts of your spine are called way up top). Basically, the neurosurgeon will be fusing the discs in my neck via a hole he’ll cut in my throat.

Because he will be moving things around near my voice box and working very closely to my brain, there is a chance that this surgery could have some consequences for my public speaking career and my life. But at this point, that’s really all out of my hands.

I’ve gone through this before (a lumbar fusion -- a much more brutal procedure -- in 2007) so I know the drill. But that doesn’t make having surgery any less unpleasant.

However, I also know that a little pain isn't going stop me from doing anything in life.

I plan to be back in action soon, doing what I love. (Just don't be surprised to see me rocking a series of turtlenecks while I'm doing it). In the meantime, my fabulous colleague, Kary, will be holding down the fort.

I'm not so naive as to think this whole situation is under my control, though. So...

• If you’re the praying kind, I’d appreciate your prayers.
• If you’re the new-agey kind, I’d appreciate you sending some good energy my way.
• If you’re the voodoo-in kind, I’d appreciate you er… chanting over a chicken for me or whatever else it is that voodoo people do.

Thanks. See you soon.