Update

Right now I'm in the mountains with Craig, Christopher and Gavin. Kathie injured her foot a couple of days ago and could not come. It is very warm here and the snow looks marginal. I guess that may be typical for spring skiing. I have decided not to even try to ski with my back bothering me so much.

I saw the neurosurgeon on Friday who looked at my MRI and said that I have spondylolisthesis (a slipped disk) that was causing a compression of the nerves at L4-L5. He suggested a conservative course of physical therapy and epidural steroid injections and to only think about surgery if this failed. If surgery were needed, the approach would be a laminectomy (to remove bone that is compressing the nerve) followed by a fusion of the lower vertebrae to realign and stabilize the spine. This is major surgery and takes a long time to recover from. I am going to start the conservative approach as soon as I get back to Sugar Land and will delay any decision about surgery for a while. I still plan to go to California in June and if all goes well, I will be ok for the summer and then tackle that issue in the fall.

The trip to Fredericksburg was quite wonderful. I have a few pictures posted here. We were most enthralled by Hamilton Pool, which is in the last several pictures.