Back Surgery successful

Well my back surgery number 3 was successful. I was scheduled for a possible Lumbar fusion and also a discectomy and Dr. Reichman only had to do the discectomy which is great news. That means less time in the hospital, I'm home now (well at my parents for the time being) and that means I'll make it to Grandpa's funeral. It also means a shorter recovery period although I can't bend, twist or lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk for a month. This is going to make athletic training challenging and my student trainers from BYU are going to get a lot of hands on experience because I won't be able to. My sports start the 3 for soccer, the 10th for football and volleyball with school starting the 20th. Hopefully I'll be back by then 100%.

Thank you to you all who have said prayers on my behalf and have wished me well. I really appreciate it for my surgery as well as the loss of my Grandpa.

Grandpa--A wonderful man in my life. I'll miss you!

H. Neil Welling
H. Neil Welling 1923 ~ 2009 "The mass of men worry themselves into nameless graves while here and there a great unselfish soul forgets himself into immortality." -- Emerson Neil Welling was called home Sunday Morning, July 12, 2009. Horace Neil Welling was born May 21, 1923 to parents Horace Welling and Annie Josephine Nielsen in Salt Lake City, the youngest of three siblings. His family soon relocated to Garland, and then Farmington, Utah where, during his formative years, his values were forged in rural Davis County during the Great Depression. Neil enrolled as a freshman at Brigham Young University in 1941, earning his undergraduate degree in accounting and winning national notoriety as guard on the BYU basketball team. With graduation in 1945 came acceptance at both the Harvard School of Business and dental school at the University of Oregon; typical of Neil's eagerness to be moving forward, he chose dentistry primarily because the program at the University of Oregon started a few weeks before Harvard. He completed his graduate studies in 1948, earning a Doctorate of Medical Dentistry. World War II interrupted Neil's academic and career plans only briefly, with his planned service in the Marine Air Corps cut short by physical disqualification. During the Korean conflict, however, he was called up in a medical draft as a dentist in the Army, serving at Camp Chaffee in Fort Smith, Arkansas from 1953 to 1955 before receiving an honorable discharge. On October 30, 1946, Neil wed Carolyn Olsen in the Salt Lake Temple. Their union was blessed with five daughters and (later) five grateful sons-in-law. Neil set up private practice in the Tribune Building in Salt Lake City in 1953, where he practiced 42 years, caring for (and beloved by) his patients. During this time, the governor named him to the Utah State Board of Dental Examiners, where he served faithfully for three terms. Neil's service to his profession and patients was exceeded only by his fierce commitment to his faith. During his adult life, Neil served in several LDS bishoprics, was the first bishop of the University of Utah Tenth Ward (even while serving as president of the BYU Cougar Club) from 1962 to 1972, and second and then first counselor to the Stake President of the Salt Lake Hillside Stake from 1972 to 1987. Upon retirement, Neil and Carolyn accepted two mission calls: the first to England - Leeds from 1989 to 1991, and the second to Scotland - Edinburgh from 1996 to 1997. Neil is survived by Carolyn, daughters Claudia Bailey (Carl), Kristen Beckstead (Robert), Anne Deaver (Thomas), Janice Rampton (Vincent), and Jennifer Hunter (Matthew). At his passing, Neil and Carolyn are blessed by 29 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren, with two more in production. His parents, his brother, Adam and his sister, Beth Callaway preceded him in death. His memory as wise and devoted husband, selfless patriarch, patient teacher and loving father will be cherished always. Services will be held Saturday, July 18, 2009 at the Colonial Hills Ward, 1455 South 1700 East, Salt Lake City, Utah commencing at 12:00 noon. Friends are invited to visit prior to the service between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Interment will be in the Farmington City Cemetery. Funeral Directors, Russon Brothers. Online guestbook at www.russonmortuary.com I will miss Grandpa Welling but am so grateful for his love an example and the memories I have with him throughout my life. I'm glad he's out of pain now and I know he's working hard on the other side and having great reunions with loved ones one before. I love you Grandpa!

Back surgery #3

First, thank you to all of you who have sent all of their well wishes to me via my mom. I really appreciate it. I wanted to update you/explain what was going on with my back.

About a month ago I turned over in bed and felt a pop in my back. It hurt for a couple of days and then while I was in Israel it felt better, in fact it didn't bother me at all for about 2 weeks. Just before we came home from Israel it started hurting again and has progressively getting worse. I went swimming with my family on the 4th, hoping that would make it feel better, which it did while I was in the water, but it started hurting worse after the fact and when I got a shower afterwards and went to shave my legs, my shin was numb. l couldn't feel the razor. I rode with Molly to pick up my parents for the 4th of July party at Janices, and the pain got so bad in my back and hip that I couldn't sit and by the time we got there I had tears streaming down my face. I laid on my parents bed with some ice packs and sent them off to the party to see if I'd get feeling better. I wasn't so my parents came home from the party and we spend the rest of the 4th in the ER (We did get to see some of the Stadium of Fire fireworks from the waiting room since we spent 2 hours there).

Right now, when I am standing or laying down I am the most comfortable. Sitting is very difficult for me. When I sit it sends an intense achy feeling into my hip and it makes all of the muscles in my left leg go into muscle spasms/cramps. It's like getting a calf cramp but in every muscle in my leg at the same time....quads, hamstrings, adductors and calf muscles. The inside of my shin also stings and feels like a have a really bad sunburn on it and that is combined with the numbness to the touch. It's quite the contradictory sensations. The medications the doctor game me are helping much more today so hopefully that will continue to improve.

Long story short, I was seen by the doctor, he did some sensation tests and strength tests on me and pain tests and decided that I needed an MRI which required calling the staff in. They gave me pain killers through an IV and also when I had the MRI they did a contrast through the IV as well. Finally the doctor came in and told me that I had a disc herniation at L3-4, a level higher than where I had my last surgery (for those of you who don't know I've already had back surgery twice) and it needs surgery soon, although he didn't feel that it needed to happen that night. He sent me home with a prescription for some pain killers and a steroid to control the inflammation, and a referral to Dr. Reichman.

I had originally scheduled an appointment with Dr. Peterson, my neurosurgeon, and Dr. Reichman, the neurosurgeon down here in Utah County. The reason I had done both was that if I could wait a little longer, without permanent neurological damage, I wanted Dr. Peterson to perform the surgery since he knows my medical history. The problem is that he's out of the state until the 15th. I saw Dr. Reichman today and he was able to do the surgery on the 15th and one of the other issue that I have is that school is starting in a month and a half and I have all of my sports starting in less than a month so I need recovery time to be sooner rather than later.

I decided to do the surgery on the 15th with Dr. Reichman rather than waiting for Dr. Peterson. He is planning on doing a fusion right now because he is concerned that the vertebrae are shifting on each other and deteriorating quickly. If he gets in there and the vertebrae are stable then he'll just do the discectomy.

Last Day in Israel--Bethlehem

The morning of the day we flew home, we took a cab over to Bethlehem and went to the Church of the Nativity.



Nuns entering the Church of the Nativity



Mosaic floor in the Church of the Nativity. I love mosaics!



Front of the Church of the Nativity. The people seated in the chairs were waiting for a priest who was down in the grotto. We thought it was a wedding at first, but found out that they were there for a Mass of some sort. You can see all of the incense lanterns hanging from the ceiling.



The Grotto of the Nativity. The star marks the spot believed to be be where Christ was born.



Stained glass window in St. Catherine's Church



Church of the Nativity




The Wall dividing the West Bank. We had to drive through a checkpoint in the wall to get back to Jerusalem from Bethlehem.



The view we have each Saturday, during church, of the Old City. This is from the auditorium, which double as the chapel on Sabbath.

We had an incredible time in Jerusalem and I am so glad that I was able to go with mom and dad!

Ben Yehuda; Ramparts Walk Jaffa to Damascus; Lion's Gate; St. Anne's Church; Ecce Homo Arch; Old City Walking; Garden Tomb; Omar's

A wall where Bonkers bagels, my favorite bagel shop in Jerusalem, used to be. We thought the grafitti on the cut-outs was interesting.



Kipa collection in a shop on Ben Yehuda. See if you can find the following kipa's: Obama, Yankees; Manchester United, Michigan, Elmo.



Looking up David's Street from the top of Jaffa Gate.



Dad on the Ramparts Walk heading north towards Ben Yehuda.



The new electric rail system that they're installing in Jerusalem. It will be similar to Trax and was supposed to be done 2 years ago. From what we saw, it looks like it's another 2 years out.



Garbage in an alley on the Old City. Unfortunately, this is a common site. There is garbage everywhere. I commented to Dad that the students could try cleaning an area up for a service project. The problem is it would take forever for them to clean certain areas up and they'd probably just fill back up.



On the ramparts, looking east towards the center, down Suleman street. The green balls are lights that are strung along the ramparts for Jerusalem's light celebration.



An interesting wall extension. The holes looked like clay pots with the bottoms knocked out.



The minaret by the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the 7 Arches hotel and the Jewish cemetery as seen from the Ramparts.



Top of Damascus Gate, probably the most ornate portion of ramparts around the Old City.



A fun teeter-totter we saw while walking around the Ramparts. This was on the roof of one of the buildings.



Looking down on Damascus Gate, the northern entrance to the Old City.



Boys pushing carts just inside Damascus gate. The carts have small tires tied to them and they stand on them and slide down the roads and jump on the tire as a brake. They control them amazingly well, especially for how overloaded they are.



Looking down on the street just inside Damascus gate. You can see the traditional dress of the Muslim women.



Gordon's Golgotha from the Ramparts. You can see the bus garage that it is over and the cemetery on top.



Fun benches!



View of the Jerusalem Center from the Ramparts.



Absalom's Tomb



Gethsemane (small trees in the middle) next to the Church of All Nations. The muslim cemetary on the east side of the Old City is seen in the bottom left corner.



Our home for 2 1/2 weeks, BYU's Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies.



A close up of the lions on Lions/Stephens gate.



Stephen's/Lions gate



Dad sitting in St. Anne's church. He started to sing, in the volume a little louder than a whisper, and I thought it was a priest downstairs. The acoustics are incredible in this church.



The "Pools of Bethesda"



Cistern area in the "Pools of Bethesda" It is about 25 feet deep so it would hold quite a large amount of water.



Ecce Homo arch on the Via Dolorosa, one of the stations of the cross. It has been used in a few paintings of Christ.



A side street in the Old City. The ramps are used to push carts up the stairs in the city and they slide down them standing on the tires attached to them.



Typical shops in the Old City



A pyramid made out of spices in a shop in the Old City.



Candy bins in a candy store in the Old City. These are abundant in the Old City but I have never bought candy from them. There's something about them being open to everyone and everything that has prevented me.



Heading toward Damascus Gate.



Damascus Gate



Mosaic Lion up by City Hall



Mosaic light pole stand up by Ben Yehuda. I thought these were very nice and a fun way to decorate a light pole post.



Garden Tomb






Gordon's Golgotha. Remember that Golgotha means, "the place of the skull." It really does look like a skull.



Another view of a Palestinian open air shop. Fruit and vegetable like this are a common site.