where have I been.....also knows as "When medical issues rear their ugly head".......and the Fall Movie Preview

So, I haven’t done much writing on here for a while, but I have a good reason for not being active. To tell the story, I have to go back in time all the way to January of this year. I woke up one morning with what felt like a pinched nerve in my neck. No big deal…..right…..wrong….over the next week I had numbness starting in my shoulder, it proceeded to move down my arm, eventually reaching all the way to my hand. Let me tell you folks, when you hold something in your hand, and you can’t feel it, it is a strange situation. In February I had an MRI done, and then met with my Primary care doctor in April. Well the MRI showed my Cervical discs at levels C4 to C7(three disks) were pressing against my spinal column, and the nerve tree going down the left side.

The next step was a consult with a Neurosurgeon, at the local Civilian hospital, which occurred in June. By mutual agreement, the best course of action would be surgery, Now this would be the first Major surgery I would have since I was a very young child. So on August 7th, I checked into the hospital for what is known as an ACDF procedure. ACDF stands for Anterior Cervical Discectomy & Fusion. basically they would cut a hole in the front of my neck, move my vocal cords and other structures to the side, and then remove the discs and replace them with other Media, than use a plate and screws to keep everything in place. This is how I looked prior to surgery:

The surgery itself took about 6 hours from start to finish, so it definitely set a record for me for time being unconscious not counting sleep. When I woke up, I looked like this

The tube in my neck was for wound drainage, the cool part was since I was bedridden, I had a sequential pressure leg machine on my calves, which inflated on each leg alternately to pump the blood from my calves back to my heart, and avoid getting clots in my legs. By the time I was discharged, I wanted to take the machine with me, it felt so good on my legs. I have to wear either the Hard Collar or a soft collar at all times, and I cannot drive with the collar on, so my wife gets to play driver for me. I also have a walker to use so I do not over stress my body as I heal. My first post op appointment is the middle of September and I am hoping I can ditch the collar at that time. Here is what the scar looks like after a few weeks:

Now I haven’t decided if I will get a tattoo on my neck or not, but the surgical site is healing well. Now you may ask, how has this affected me Vis A Vie Geekykool.com….Well I had to decide to skip DragonCon this year, as being in a car for 10 hours driving to Atlanta, was NOT on the menu of “good things to do”. So missing the biggest Con on the Southeast coast, was something that had to be done. However I will be covering Nightmare Weekend in Richmond, VA in mid October.

Now with the fall season coming up, here are the movies that I am looking forward to:

We can start on September 6th with the long awaited sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 2024AD

We can follow that up with the Prequel installment to the Transformers series, Transformer One:

Also coming out on September 2oth is the Brad Pitt/George Clooney team-up called Wolfs:

September 20th is a full day of movie releases as the Demi Moore Body Horror film, The Substance also comes out:

On September 27th we get Megalopolis staring Adam Driver and directed by Francis Ford Coppola in possibly his final film.

Also coming out on September 27th is the animated film The Wild Robot

Moving into October, on the 4th we get the much anticipated sequel to Joker with Joker:Folie A Deux

October 11 brings us the next Lego Movie about Pharrell Williams life called Piece by Piece

October 25th we get the final movie in the Venom Trilogy: Venom Last Dance

On November 8th we get a movie that is definitely NOT “Geeky”, but I am interested to watch it, the Ralph Fiennes Roman Catholic church film, Conclave. I have had the opportunity to be in the presence of 1 pope in my life, Pope John Paul in 1986, and while I am Jewish, a movie about how they “pick the next Pope” is interesting to me. Also staring John Lithgow and Stanley Tucci, it has STAR POWER and Best Picture written all over it.

What do John Cena and Dwayne “Rock” Johnson have to do with Christmas….Find out on November 15th in Red One, Santa has been Kidnapped and its up to the Rock(head of security), and Cena(the worlds most notorious bounty hunter) to find him.

November 22nd give us Gladiator 2, yep Maximus is STILL DEAD, but this film will follow Lucius, the young boy from the first movie, who is the son of Lucilla (Connie Nelson), He has fallen out of favor and become a slave. If that sounds a bit like the first movie…..it is….

Also on November 22nd we get the movie version of the successful Broadway Musical Wicked…..well we get Wicked Part 1, Universal is so confident in this film, they have split the play into 2 parts.

November 27th, brings us the sequel to the Disney hit Moana, with Moana 2. Dwayne Johnson returns as the Demigod Maui. This looks like another hit for Disney.

On December 13, we get the next movie from Middle Earth. The Lord of the Rings:The War of Rohirrem. This movie give us the backstory on Helm Hammerhand, and the building of Helms Deep.

Also on December 13th we get the latest in the SONY “Spiderverse” with Kraven The Hunter staring Arron Taylor Johnson as the title villain. Of course this is another Spiderman villain movie, without Spiderman.

December 20th gives us 2 movies that are going to go toe to toe for the biggest movie box office in the fall season, from Paramount Pictures we get Sonic The Hedgehog 3 going up against Disney’s live action Lion King Prequel Mufasa. With Sonic 3 bringing even more of the SEGA game into the franchise with Keanu Reeves playing Shadow, and Mufasa learning he is an orphan, and Taka(Scar in the lion king) getting a sympathetic backstory, this will be one of the biggest weekends for movies.