Thursday
morning, 01:00.... Obama vs. McCaine replay is
on CNN. It's been a long, hard day. I took the
red-eye from LAX to Toronto with a layover in
NJ and arrived at the convention center about
10"00 this morning. If you had asked me
on Monday morning, I would have said I was not
coming.
It's an expensive and time-consuming trip. I
have several very extreme cases I'm working on
and cannot pass up the opportunity to get these
cases in front of so many top surgeons, so I
relented. My assistant, Bari (the deal finder)
did her magic and found a great price for flight
and hotel. I had a center seat, but instead of
Bubba the linebacker next to me, I had a most
pleasant 8 year-old girl to chat with. Thanks
Ahnjali!
The
morning session covered "Improving Surgical Outcomes
with Postoperative Rehabilitation". An interesting
quote as this was being scientifically proven
with study data: "nicotine users not only generate
less bone mass,
but also
a
poorer
quality
of
bone. Cessation of smoking prior to fusion surgery
increases fusion odds."
James
Rainville, MD presented information about "Fear
Avoidance, Deconditioning and Reconditioning." I
usually bristle when hearing about psychosocial
aspects of chronic pain, but he presented some
very compelling ideas about how surgeons can
reduce the impact of the congnitive factors involved
in disability, central sensensitization, the
'chronic illness lifestyle', and a genetic component
of chronic pain.
There
is so much more to write, but I can't do more
now. Stay tuned!
Sincerely,
