Update

My mom had her surgery today and everything went as well as could be expected. She had one fuse instead of several. The nerve was hidden and bent under the disc they removed, so that was kind of tricky. The Dr. explained it like this. Hold your arm straight out at your side. That is what your nerve is supposed to look like. Now, bend your arm and tuck it in beside your body. That was my mom's nerve.

He also had a bit of a surprise. When he removed the disc, spinal fluid started flowing. She had two tiny tears from the disc fragmentation that he had to repair. I won't tell you how I think this happened. Okay, so maybe I will. Do I think the Dr. did this? nyah. I think it was self-inflicted. Why?

Do you see this shiny red car? It is my mom's "baby". There was some dirt on the throw rugs she has laying on the floor and she felt the need to go clean them with a canister vaccum. She lugged this across the room, out on the porch and down three stairs, across the sidewalk, down that step you see in the photo and to the car. While she was using the hose, her back hurt, so she sat down and finished it. When she stood up, she was dizzy. She called me once she lugged the vaccum back up into the house.

"What were you doing when you got dizzy?"

I won't go into all the explatives I used when she told me what she was doing. So, fast-forward to today. "Heather, will losing spinal fluid make you dizzy?"
"Doh!"

I could still shake her.

My grandmother was her classic self. She didn't embarrass me though, so chalk it up to a semi-good day. I didn't get any writing done. There's no room in this story for her, if there had been...