It’s Saturday, Oct 10, and my update is again going to be a little late this week. You may find this to be slightly hypocritical that I’m able to type this, but not able to actually get the comic posted… This is because my posture is entirely different when I type from when I’m working on graphics.

My condition is getting worse, but there is hope. I’ve recently seen a doctor who will perform the surgery. Oddly he, like the others, seems hesitant. They all agree, the surgery yields about a 90% permanent success rate, so as to why they push that non-surgical treatment makes me somewhat curious. It breaks down like this:

Non-surgical: About a 60-80% chance of recovery, but there’s also a somewhat high rate of recurrence later on… Well, you can always opt for surgery later.

Surgical: 90-95% chance of success. Recurrence is virtually unheard of. Downsides? There’s a 5-10% chance of a not-so-favorable outcome, and of course there is no going back.

So what would you do? Would you take the non-surgical approach where you wait six to twelve weeks for results that may unexpectedly undo itself in a single afternoon?

After five (5) months of ever increasing pain, and having tried the non-surgical route once already, I’m ready to take the risk. I want to get this over with so I can get on with my life. If the surgeon botches the job, I suppose I’ll have to deal with the consequences, but I’m optimistic that I’ll be in the majority.