Pars Defect

Went to the pain management doctor this morning. He will be the one to actually do the spinal injections. There will be a series of three injections. One this coming Wednesday - April 1 – and then every other week for 2 more weeks – a total of 3 injections.
To better explain what is going on – I have what is known as a “Pars Defect” in my lower L5 vertebrae causing ‘spondylolysis’. It is a defect in the spine that occurs in only three to six percent of the population. This defect can cause instability in the vertebra, much like a loose hinge in a door.

Now what that means is – I have a defect of the L5 vertebrae that over time has fractured on my left side. A stress fracture. This causes the spinal canal to narrowed because the fracture effectively flattens the canal and pinches the nerves running through them when in motion. The first picture I posted is from the cat scan I had on Monday and is showing the L5 vertebrae. You can see the ‘void’ on the left side of the vertebrae (which is actually on the right side of the picture) and this is the fracture and where all of my pain is coming from. The right side is normal. The second picture is from an x-ray with an arrow pointing to the “pars defect” which gives you a better idea of where this is located in relation to the rest of your body – and where all of my pain is radiating from.
This pain is in the hips or upper legs and is often confused with “sciatica” which is what most people think of when they hear of pinched nerves – usually from a slipped disc. This is not my issue.

Oh my aching back...and knee...and hip...

It's not everyday that you visit the dr and he tells you that you have a broken back!! And I never thought it would happen to me.
Well - I have a broken bone in my back - a stress fracture - which has slid the spine forward. Have to get a cat scan this afternoon. Once the cat scan results are in, I have to have injections directly into the fracture – a concoction of pain meds; anti-inflammatory and some “stuff” that helps promote bone healing. That all will begin this Thursday.
I also have to go physical therapy twice a week starting tomorrow. They will then re-evaluate the back in 6 weeks. If not improved, the option may be to do spine surgery to fuse the fracture.
And as for the knee – will probably have to have surgery on that very very soon. As soon as next month I think. I have 2 bone fragments floating around impacting my knee cap and tears on both sides of the meniscus.
How did all of this happen!!! Well - The spine dr. said that actually this all began when I was a kid - and is found in mostly men over the height of 6'2". Our bodies when we are younger grow faster than our spine during growth spurts in tall men causing weak spots to develop. As we get older and abuse our bodies - these weak spots can sometimes fracture - which mine has.
so while not COMMON by any stretch - it's not RARE either. It's mainly in men (women are build differently you know) and the dr. didn't seem that concerned about it and said there is a great chance all of my pain could be gone in 6 weeks with the shots and physical therapy.
fingers crossed...
updates as they occur.

Where Are the Beatles Reissues?

In an era of declining music sales and rapid technological advancement, it’s still hard to fathom the sorry lot of the Beatles canon. Not only is the catalog of rock music’s most successful and influential act still not available for legal digital download, for the most part it hasn’t received even the basic remastering afforded pop music acts with a fraction of the Fab Four’s historical importance and consumer clout. Thus the Beatles catalog continues to be represented by thin-sounding, now two-decade-old digital mastering accomplished at the dawn of the CD era.

Worse, the culprits for the Beatle catalog’s perpetually sorry state of affairs seem to be the surviving band members and the heirs of John Lennon and George Harrison themselves. As partners in the band’s Apple company, they have final say as to what product music distributor EMI is allowed to issue — which, outside of the Anthology series a decade ago and the recent Love collaboration with Cirque du Soleil — hasn’t been much over the course of the 40 years since the band dissolved. Even more inexplicable is the fact that the Apple principles hired a veteran label exec two years ago specifically to develop a reissue program.

Typical of the situation were last year’s rumors — purportedly floated by an EMI insider — that the band was preparing a deluxe 40th anniversary edition of their monumental White Album. Instead, eager fans were eventually directed to the band’s official website, where they were offered a commemorative White Album fountain pen — for $395. And while the upcoming Beatles edition of Rock Band should please video gamers, what of the basic catalog of epochal recordings that inspired it?

Some Fabs fans already know that comprehensive sets of Beatles reissues are already available — they’re just not legally authorized. While an already sizable trove of leaked Beatles outtakes continues to grow (the latest, a radically expanded early version of “Revolution,” surfaced just last month, a cadre of more industrious — if legally unsanctioned — fans strives to preserve the band’s recorded legacy in other ways.

At least three different entities have now issued sonically upgraded versions of the Beatles catalog, usually using pristine vintage vinyl editions as source material for their digital upgrades. The most ambitious is a virtual “label” known as “Purple Chick” (the moniker is part wordplay on two notorious bootleg labels, Great Dane and Yellow Dog), which issues continually upgraded editions of each original Beatles album that include not only its officially released mono/stereo mixes and period singles, but every available alternate mix and studio outtake as well. Some PC editions are only two CDs in length, while their White Album sprawls over a dozen virtual discs.

When the separated master four-track recordings of a handful of Sgt. Pepper’s tracks surfaced in late 2007, Purple Chick quickly added yet another volume to its already comprehensive chronicle of the album. It can do so quickly because its releases are virtual, shared on the Internet via torrent, blogs and file sharing services, many of which are difficult to police at best. Then there’s the disclaimer the label adds to the equally accomplished artwork provided with its releases: “Fan Created..NEVER FOR SALE!!!”

The virtual label’s most ambitious project was A/B Road, an 83-volume set chronicling the Beatles’ January, 1969 sessions that eventually yielded Let It Be. Painstakingly assembled from a jumble of film sound outtakes and other sources, the set took a full year to complete. PC has also tackled other personal music obsessions, like the Beach Boys lost Smile sessions and, most recently, an exhaustive, 10-volume chronicle of Buddy Holly’s career.

So if/when September 26 rolls around this year and there’s no official, remastered 40th anniversary edition of Abbey Road available — or, worse, a $395 commemorative fountain pen instead — be advised that Purple Chick already has a version available (three discs worth, in fact) somewhere in cyberspace.

Lists

I love lists. There is a strange comfort that I get out of putting in order the seemingly random. I can remember my mom always buying “The Book of Lists” series of books. I’m sure that’s where my own fascination with lists springs from.
My other passion is music. So of course a list involving music is downright orgasmic.
I am currently listening to the “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die” list. (You can follow along on the music blog I contribute to where I am reviewing each record). I compiled each album into nice and neat folders on a hard drive that I have hooked up into my computer.
I have also compiled the “500 Best Albums Of All Time” list from Rolling Stone magazine – as well as their “500 Best Songs Of All Time”.
I recently added “VH1’s 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs” as well as “VH1’s 40 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs”.
I then put together a collection of every “Album Of The Year” Grammy award winner.
I have really enjoyed putting together these lists of music – although it has taken a lot of time. It’s more than just compiling and downloading the music – it’s organizing and properly tagging, etc. that takes all of the time – but it is nice to see a list get filled up and completed.
I just added a few list spreadsheets to my collection which are my next project. A series of books by Martin Popoff. They are “The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time” and “The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time”.
Let the downloading and tagging madness begin!