Hey gardenerwantabe, good to hear from you again! Sorry about the back surgery, but I hope you will keep making good progress at a fast rate. No doubt you got behind in gardening AND car restoration during the summer! About halfway through my third year here. No wind damage, no door problems. My panels not shaded with Aluminet have clearly yellowed, but thankfully no signs so far of any holes or cracks that a few others have reported. Here is how my greenhouse looked in 2007 (click to enlarge) right after building the Aluminet screens to shade the four central panels on the south side. And here is a pic I snapped this morning of the same south side. The two unprotected panels have yellowed more than the others, especially towards the bottom. I remain a very happy camper in spite of the yellowing. If I have to replace some panels, IÂll still be money ahead with the HFGH. I am thankful that all the great info here gave me the courage to take the plunge. Without gardenerwantabe's and others posts, I am pretty certain I would never have experienced owning a greenhouse. Merry Christmas to all...!

Hi Mike, Thank you for taking out the time to help me. You know I really appreciate it :) I am walking around, and moving a little better but this last back surgery was probably the most invasive, major surgery I have ever had. Surgery was last January. They went in right above the top of the right leg. Surgery was to remove the artificial disc I had put in a few years ago. That was when you and Laura sent me that card, which I really appreciated! Anyhow, that artificial disc was the worst mistake I ever made. It just created more problems and pain. I also had 2 titanium screws break, that had to be removed from bone. So, they went in, and in order to get the disc out, they fractured my vertabrae. I bled out a lot, and they used my own blod to transfuse back into me. Because of that, they decided to postpone the rest of the surgery. They closed me up, and 4 days later, they reopened me. They got my fusion done with the first part of my surgery, so they put a new rod and cage in, And closed me up. I ended up being in the hospital for 5 days total. I went home pretty sore. I have had some nerve issues ever since. My right leg was numb from my toes up to my hip. Now, it is mostly my upper right thigh and a little on the back of the thigh. Ok now for my man o trees. I stupidly pruned my Ma ha Chinook over the winter. In response it started sending out tons of new growth. I lost it because the tree desperatly needed a new pot and repotting, and because I was recovering from surgery, I lost it :( I was really mad at myself Mike! That tree had bloomed once for me, and I am convinced it would have fruited this year! Grrrr! Not to mention that tree came from Hawaii and coat over $100! I still have my Carrie and it is going through a big growth flush. I am hoping it will bloom, but temps are cool here. We have had such a crappy summer here so are, I barely even had any inflos on my plumeria! My jades are doing pretty good. The ones we ordered from Germany are really doing good! I wanted to ask you about variegated Gollum, and Hob it jades. Any idea where I could find any? This has been a pretty busy week. After Tuesday morning things will slow down, and I will email you. Take care and enjoy your weekend! Andrew

Good responses and help here. First, you have convinced me to have a neurosurgeon, if I decide to have the surgery. The PM doctor mentioned the name of a doctor that he is well acquainted with and worked with when he was doing his residency. Problem there is he is not local, maybe 50 miles away. After your surgery did you need to go back to see your surgeon? I'm thinking that riding that distance could be a problem. Also, did you have MRIs before the surgery, or were CT scans sufficient? I have to admit my wimpiness here, because I don't like the idea of the MRI, and have never had one. I think I would feel claustrophobic. I know they use sedation, and the PM doctor said he would suggest Valium. I have never had Valium for anything. Hi, chemocurl, aka the other Sue. Your description of the disc bursting is how the PM doctor described it to me. He demonstrated it by putting his thumb and finger together and slowly tightening it. The idea of a treadmill is good especially considering bad weather. Wanda, when the problem hit me this time, the pain was like you said, worse than childbirth. I realized I had a problem one day when I was trying to get into a line of traffic from a parking lot, and I could not move my foot from the brake to the gas pedal. I had to wait it out til I finally got it done, and went straight home. Haven't driven since that day. (That was a "revolting development!") Haven't been able to walk much since then either. The odd thing though was that pain was in my right hip. It seems like all of you have had good results, and that is encouraging. I'm really "tough" when it comes to surgeries, which I've had several of, and have never needed help at home afterwards. I think the MRI thing is the problem I need to work on. Thanks to all of you. Any more suggestions will be welcome. (this) Sue

Aug. 2014 I had surgery for spinal stenosis in my neck. The C5 vertebrae was completely removed and replaced with a titanium cage. The many bone spurs were smoothed and three disks fused. Though PT was scheduled, I didn't really need it. I healed perfectly with full range of motion and no pain. Yea! My shoulders however were both torn after a Feb. 2013 tour of Southeast Asia carrying a heavy backpack. For some reason the neck surgery exacerbated the shoulder pain and I spent 9 months going through PT. The pain from the tears was incredible making sleep nearly impossible since I couldn't sleep on my back so soon after neck surgery. I lucked out and found an incredible physical therapists who re-evaluated me each and every visit. He explained to me why, after a year of resting my shoulders (before the neck surgery and PT), they were not getting any better. After asking me a ton of questions he explained why I wasn't getting better and taught me not only exercises, which I half heartedly engaged, but also how to properly hold my body to allow my shoulders to rest and heal. I think this is the secret to a good therapist. I learned more about body mechanics in those months of PT than all the rest of my 62 years of life.