Mission Overland 
Hello everyone, It has been a while. I wanted to talk about a few things that have happened in 2019 and what is to come in 2020.
1. If you have followed me for a bit, you will know that I had my second spinal fusion in October of 2019. The recovery for that is still ongoing but I have to say that I am doing really well. I am able to do most things with minimal pain although there are a few ailments that just may never go away. Time will tell but I am very happy with the results.
2. Many of you may know that my family and I live smack dab in the middle of the US in Oklahoma City. Well, that is going to be changing in the very near future. We will be picking up and moving to the East Coast where we have both found new jobs.
This will offer a few opportunities. First, I will be able to explore a new environment of Overlanding. Other than the Continental Divide Trip (LINK) I have stayed pretty well in the central US. Places like Oklahoma (OK Adventure Trail), Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, etc. Well now I will have a new area to explore and new adventures to take you along on.
3. Because I am moving East, I figure I’m already half way to the West so I will also be taking trips out West until I leave Oklahoma. Stay tuned.
4. I have been working on something in the background that you should be hearing more about over the next few months. I don’t want to give too much away but it is requiring me to do a LOT of traveling through National Forests. More about that soon.
That is it for now. Here’s to a great 2020!
This week has been a different experience every single day. A week out I’m feeling really good. My first surgery was an L5-S1 fusion which gave me a TON of pain in my tailbone that lasted for months. I have none of that pain with this surgery and that makes the pain much more manageable. I feel much more mobile and have more energy than the first time. I really don’t know why that is but I did correct a few mistakes I made the last time, like weaning off the pain meds too quickly, that may have something to do with feeling better this time around.
Day 3 started at 4am when I was ready for my first pain pill of the day. I decided to make it my time to get up and stretch and get some exercise by taking care of some daily tasks like brushing my teeth and making my coffee.
Pro tip: keeping regular, if you know what I mean, is extremely important because the last thing you want to be doing is stressing on the toilet in an attempt to feel better. Pain meds have a really bad habit of stopping you up so make sure you are doing everything you an to keep it moving.
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Day 2 was really pretty simple, I sat around waiting for things to happen that would lead to my release. More and more I started spending more time awake than passed out and focused on keeping on top of the pain meds.
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My intent is to have a play-by-play of what happens during the surgery and recovery from the person going through it. I will be very detailed for those who might go through this in the future. This is my second time going through this procedure so I will make sure to point out the things that I thought were very important this time around.
If this is not your thing, no problem. Keep checking back for some more interesting things I have dove into recently that should lead to some great overlanding trips once I move further down the recovery road.
For those of you who have come to my page to see what a fusion surgery may be like, feel free to use the contact link to ask any questions you may have. There is no reason why you should not know EXACTLY what you are getting into when it comes to a spinal fusion.
Now that that is over, onward to Day 1…
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