Great News From Spine Surgeon Guy Lee, MD - Poem: A Simple Man

It was just like old times but now Guy Lee works for The Rothman Institute, capitalizing on what many consider the best place for restoring movement of various limbs.

There were a few changes since I was last there in 2013 checking out my protruding disk, after having sciatica surgery in 2011.

I carried around this iPad and answered questions about my current condition - painful left leg - and other conditions, whether or not I smoked, used recreational drugs, how many steps to get into my house, how many floors my house has, which floor my bedroom is on, and what are my favorite Netflix films.

My occupation? I had to type that in. I could not quite remember how to spell Psychotherapist on this particular instrument.

I arrived an hour early BY ACCIDENT.

And could not find Maryland Avenue. Well, I did but then it strayed away and I was driving around in circles trying to find it.

Scott gave me an important landmark: Across the street from NRB, or something with three initials. CAB, BAR, HIT.

That's just me practicing using my mind.

Guy and I hugged and proclaimed neither had changed. He thought he looked older and I said absolutely not. He said the same about me.

I'd wrin an article about him on Patch.com and someone recently read it and commented on it. We both agreed that Time has no meaning, when you're grown up.

I complained to Nurse Caitlyn I wouldn't have any time to read. But I did. A new book from the Hatboro Lib. called HUNDREDS OF INTERLACED FINGERS by Vanessa Grubbs, MD.

Subtitled A Kidney Doctor's Search for the Perfect Match. Her BF in real life had been on dialysis for four long years.

 I peek into the X-ray room above. I had an X-Ray for some reason. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Have camera, will photograph!

C'est moi. Hey, my butt doesn't look so fat, does it? See above.

 The lumbar spine above. A piece of my disk is protruding, like a jelly donut where the jelly touches a nerve that causes pain. I rated my pain level from Zero to Eight.

 Front view. Guy showed me some arthritis on my lower left hip? Pelvis? Hey, I'll bet Rich Fleisher could read this, former radiologist. What dyou think, Rich?

Guy wrote me an electronic Rx for physical therapy. I'll see Margaret Fitzpatrick, who both Guy and I think is Z greatest!

He told me that usually these bulging disks go right back where they belong within 6 to 9 months. Without surgery!

"Get back in here where you belong, you dodo-bird!"

"Hell, I just wanted to see what it was like on the outside. Not so great but I'm not quite ready to come back in."

Days pass.

Margaret Fitzpatrick takes charge.

"Give that protruding lumbar a good run for its money," she says, handing me one of those green rubber stretchy ropes.

Peeking through the dense foliage, reminding myself of watching Night No. Three of Ken Burns' The Vietnam War, I saw not rice paddies, women with pointed straw hats, and burning down peasants' huts, not to mention emptying out their canvas bags of rice - what would they eat??? - I saw instead the Best Western Hotel.

I love the color GREY but the building is none too pretty. Perhaps Lenin designed it. Albert Speer?

 This Smart Car above has a Rubics cube design.

 And when I pulled into DQ I was stunned by this Geico Car.

It was terribly hot outside. Late 80s I'd say.

I'm celebrating, I told Pauline.

We tried to figure out what my passion is. Finally got this. Quite good. Caramel. Pecans. Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream and of course those cute little Geicos.

Testing my courage, I walked/crawled up the hill behind DQ to eat my treat sitting down on the side of the hill, savoring every bite.  See my car below?  

Guy Lee and his band, Rose's Cross - his wife's name - are in demand, raising money for charity events.  New siding for my house?

View it here.



Rose's Cross Band.

If I'm not mistaken, the Temptations or Persuasions took a pic like this bc their voices echoed on the stairwell.

A SIMPLE MAN

Inexhaustible, we think,
but who really knows the
makings of this man.

Movie-star handsome in
his white lab coat
black pompadour proclaiming
James Dean intensity

The Almighty bestowed
him with healing hands
his patients walked in
bent over, howling in
pain

He made the crooked straight
God is good, so good.

He took a liking to the
guitar. Practiced in
the basement. "Enter the
Sandman" by Metallica.
Raw and peaceful all at once.
Plays it during surgery. 

The luck of the Irish is
with Guy Lee, MD. Married
to Rose, three healthy
children, and a rock band
Rose's Cross, that thrills
the audience and heals their
souls.

He makes the crooked straight
gets them out of their wheelchairs
the old and the young, the rich
and the poor.
Of course he does!
He's Guy Lee, MD.
"What for dinner, sweetheart?"