Phillip Sherwood

I didn’t realize it’s been a week since my last post so here goes an attempt to capture the highlights. The International Utility Helicopter Conference at the Opryland hotel went very well last week and the hospitality of the hotel staff made the stay very enjoyable. One of the highlights of the trip was to share a night of friendship with many friends I’ve known for several years from both near and far away places aboard the General Jackson showboat. The Delta section where my “Penthouse” room was located had recently laid fresh new plush red carpet in the hallways and the chair I brought was the Transformer Manual Stander that is not the most suitable for this type of flooring and the ergos are not quite setup for the maximum push position. By the end of the week, I was getting better and stronger at negotiating the red version of the Le Brea Tar Pits but little did I realize it was taking a toll on my bad shoulder. By today I felt the cortisone injected right shoulder had run its course and was no longer suppressing the debilitating AC joint pain. Another by-product of the very long days and nights during the conference combined with the work needed to be done throughout this weekend to prepare my simulation program took an additional toll on depleting my Duracels that today I left work at noon and decided I needed to take the rest of the week off on vacation.

I received a call from the Surgeon’s nurse today advising me that my surgery to implant the baclofen pump is scheduled for November 17th. I go in at 12:30 that afternoon to get “marked” then proceed on to Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Huntsville. I never knew they even had OR’s there. I will most likely be off work the rest of next week as well. I went by the house yesterday to see the progress and was a little disappointed in what little was done during the week. There’s only 6½ weeks to go and it seems like there’s still so much left to do. I’ve begun ordering the hardware needed for my “smart home” so things in this area are also beginning to roll.