A Tale Of Spinal Torment - Part 2 of 3

Ten years ago, my diagnosis was based on an X-ray. Now, I also had an MRI and an EMG, or electromyogram, where they shot electrical current through needles into my legs at various places and recorded what happened in the nerve roots. It wasn’t fun, but it could have been worse.

Dr. Sharma told me I had three treatment options: non-operative (medication and physical therapy), interventional (a steroid injection in the spine), or surgery. When I immediately opted for door number three, he suggested I rethink my choice. In my case, he said, “The likelihood is that the scar tissue will come back, so surgery probably wouldn’t have a long-term effect.” Plus, as Dr. Sharma so graphically put it, “Nerves in general don’t take a joke well, so the more you manipulate one, the more likely it is to have a more persistent dysfunction. If you had a big honking disc fragment causing the pain, we could have gone in again, but your imaging studies didn’t indicate anything other than some scar tissue and a slight herniation.”

So we started with anti-inflammatory medication and some aggressive physical therapy under the guidance of Debbie Bisaccia of Reforming Rehab in Harrison. Bisaccia gave me a vigorous core-strengthening regime to follow that included several different kinds of crunches, routines with the Swiss exercise ball, resistance bands, and Pilates reformer. The goal is to strengthen the complex net of muscles that surround the spine, reinforcing it and making it less susceptible to pain-inducing movement.

I got stronger, but the problems didn’t go away so I went for an epidural steroid injection, which is a cortisone shot like you might get for tendonitis. In this case, it goes into the spine while you lie wide awake and very, very still. I wasn’t worried, because the shot was administered by Dr. Maria Cabodevilla-Conn, the same angel with the needle who gave me the EMG, so I knew she had a steady hand. Believe it or not, the treatment hurt like hell for just a moment as the painkiller took effect, then was no more painful than a normal injection.

The epidural made a big, big difference. It looked like I wasn’t going to need surgery after all, but my leg and foot still acted up more often than I liked, so I started considering non-traditional options while I kept up my therapy routine at the gym (my generous insurance company refused to pay for further physical therapy, apparently because I no longer had one foot in the operating room).

My wife arranged a session for me with Toni Goodrich of the Yoga Center of Greenwich. She helped me into some Bikram Yoga poses and talked me through some stretches to open up the channels the nerves follow from the back, through the butt, and down the legs to the feet. When I told Dr. Sharma about the experience, he explained, “The sciatic nerve passes in and around the muscles in your buttocks and your legs. Those stretches keep those muscles from compressing and irritating those nerves.” Whatever. The yoga stretches really helped. I added them to my time at the gym and good things began to happen.

Part 2 of 3 (originally published in a slightly different version in Westchester Magazine)

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo

A Tale Of Spinal Torment - Part 1 of 3

The day I decided to have back surgery, I was in Seattle on a business trip. Just as I stepped into my hotel room’s shower, I sneezed, sending a bolt of pain down my leg that literally knocked me down. There I lay, hoping desperately the seizure would stop so I wouldn’t have to scream for help. I didn’t want the bellman to come into my room and find me writhing naked on the tile floor.

That episode was the culmination of years of back problems, debilitating muscle spasms from my neck to my butt, days when one of my arms was paralyzed, nights when I couldn’t turn over in bed and mornings when I couldn’t get out of it. When I collapsed to the bathroom floor in Seattle ten years ago, I had undergone months of treatment for a garden variety herniated disc—muscle relaxants, pain medication, physical therapy, bed rest, ice, heat, you name it, I’d tried it. The pain, primarily sciatica (a severe stabbing pain that shot from my lower back down my leg to my foot), came and went—but mostly it came—until the day it decided to stay.

Every case is different, of course, but according to the Annals of Internal Medicine, low back pain like mine is the second most frequent reason for physician visits, vying with sniffles and other symptoms of colds and flu for the top spot. Rumor (and educated opinion) has it that so many of us suffer from back problems because our bodies evolved to run on all fours across the savannah rather than walk around upright lugging golf clubs or shopping bags. There was also no notch on the evolutionary ladder that rewards sitting behind a desk pecking at a keyboard all day.

My herniated disc was L5-S1, a common problem area between the lowest lumbar vertebrate and the sacrum, or tailbone. The doctors I saw explained that a disc acts as a shock absorber sitting between the bones in your back. It looks kind of like a jelly donut. If you damage your back, either through a cumulative, repetitive injury over time or in an acute, one-time incident, some of the jelly stuff in the middle squirts out. When it pinches a nerve, you fall down naked on the floor.

Not wanting that to happen any more, I underwent a discectomy, where the surgeon cuts away a little bit of bone and ligament in the affected area, moves the nerve—gently, please—out of the way, then scrapes away the offending hernia so it no longer bothers the nerve. Instant relief.

Except…there was some numbness in my right foot and a little tingling in that leg from time to time. It wasn’t much though, and the surgeon said it would probably go away with time. I gratefully learned to live with it—it wasn’t pain.

Fast-forward ten years. I started having severe cramps in my legs and greater numbness in my foot. The spasms bothered me first at night, then during the day if I sat for long periods, finally even while I was walking around. I went to my family physician, Dr. Robert Fusco, who eliminated as many possible causes as he could and sent me to a back specialist.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Krishn Sharma of NY-Conn Orthopedic in West Harrison explains what had happened in the ten years since my back operation: “Anytime you do surgery, scar tissue forms. If we take away some ligament and bone in your back, your body will fill in with a fibrous, scar-like material. That can trap the nerve root and cause you to have some new symptoms, especially if you re-aggravate it.” My pain moved from my back, which doesn’t hurt at all most of the time, to my legs.

Part 1 of 3 (originally published in a slightly different version in Westchester Magazine)

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo

Support For Library Book Sales

Library book sales are one life's great opportunities. They're usually sponsored by friends' groups or other non-profit organizations who use them to raise money for programs and other special library events that enrich our communities. Almost invariably, they're operated by volunteers and depend entirely on donated books from library patrons for inventory, so nearly every dollar spent at a library book sale goes toward the library itself. You gotta love 'em!

Unfortunately, library book sales are also often poorly publicized. That's where a new online service comes into play. It's BookSalesManager.com, a simple yet promising directory of library book stores and book sales recently launched to supply book lovers with an easy source of information on sales near them. The site is still in beta stage, so the volume of listings is in growth stage, but it looks like the service has great potential.

Listings are free, as is use of the site by book buyers looking for sales to attend. You can search for sites by state, zip code, and date, and also set up your own calendar to save sales you've spotted that you don't want to miss. It should be a boon to book lovers everywhere and hopefully help library supporters hold even more successful sales.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo

A Sobering Love Song For Africa

Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles
by Richard Dowden

As an author and activist, I am generally optimistic about Africa's future, but Richard Dowden tempered my hope with a sobering dose of reality based on his decades of reporting on the continent. His powerful guide to sub-Saharan Africa is a must-read for anyone who hopes to understand why Africa is the mess it is.

Dowden is the director of the Royal African Society and spent two decades as Africa editor of the Independent and the Economist. His book is filled with both studied thoughts on the forces that have shaped Africa's history and pertinent personal tales of his experiences there. His message is ultimately fairly simple: Africa's problems can only be solved by African people.

The depressing counterweight to that conclusion that I drew from Dowden's accounts is that corruption is so ingrained throughout the power structure of most nations in Africa that it is unlikely that solutions can ever be implemented.

Having set my latest novel in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I was particularly interested in his conclusions about that beleaguered nation:

"In December 2005 a new constitution was confirmed by a referendum and elections were held in July 2006. The assumption of outsiders was that, forced to govern together, the warlords would check each other's theft and violence. The opposite happened. They keep the country divided, cut deals with each other and filled their pockets."

Dowden makes another observation which mirrors my own experience:

"Despite the politics of theft, violence and patronage, Congo still inspires great patriotism among its long-suffering citizens. They may have little loyalty to institutions or a ruler, but Congolese believe desperately in the Congolese nation and a few are prepared to fight its looting bosses."

Africa - Altered States, Ordinary Miracles reveals Dowden's great love for the continent he has spent his life discovering. It is no dewy-eyed romance, however. He reveals all his lover's warts and blemishes, bad breath and occasional frequent bouts of ill-temper in a paean to her beautiful potential.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo.

Elston Howard - A Strong Reminder

Elston and Me: The Story of the First Black Yankee (Sports and American Culture Series)

by Arlene Howard with Ralph Wimbish

The story of Elston Howard serves as a great reminder to us all that racial prejudice did not end when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Howard's unsuccessful quest to become a major league manager also isn't ancient history; it happened well within our lifetime and should be a part of our collective memory of how fine, good men can be mistreated based on the color of their skin.

Arlene Howard and Ralph Wimbish did a fine job of showing all sides of Elston Howard--the athlete, the father, the coach, and the husband. The book contains great accounts of the highlights--and the low--of his tremendous career in baseball. I particularly enjoyed the reminiscences of Yogi Berra, a man who played a number of roles in Howard's life.

The authors had longtime personal ties to Elston Howard, of course, which lends even greater authenticity and authority to the book.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo

Inventions For The Family Business

The electric light bulb transformed civilization. And if some family business owners had the chance to release their inner Thomas Edison, they’d come up with their own bright ideas to make managing a family firm a lot easier.

Joe Stone of Systems & Methods Inc. in Carrolton, Ga., would like to have consultations on demand with his father, Bob, who founded the company in the family’s living room in 1971 and retired in 2003.

“I’d like to have a talking portrait of him on the wall,” says Joe, now the CEO of Systems & Methods, which handles data processing for government offices in several states. “A lot of our company culture is built around what he stood for -- and what he still stands for.”

Today, the third generation is beginning to take its place at Stone’s company.

“We have everything from in-laws to outlaws to ex-laws,” he says.

He says he’d like to leave the next generation a time capsule containing a message that his father passed on to him:

“Keep an open mind and a broad sense of humor. You’ve got to approach every day just like that.”

Chris Combe, president and CEO of Combe Inc. in White Plains, N.Y., likes the idea of another kind of capsule -- one that might be swallowed.

“I love the energy and fun of creative meetings,” he says. “How about a capsule that keeps innovation at top of mind 24/7?”

Combe’s company was founded by his father, Ivan, whose innovative personal-care ideas spawned Just For Men hair color, Odor-Eaters, Lanacane skin-care products and Cepacol oral-care remedies.

In addition, Combe says,

“Please invent the genie that will grant each of our 621 worldwide employees passion for his or her work every day!”

L.R. Gardner, who works for his father running their chain of 22 Crackerbox Convenience Stores in Arkansas, would appreciate a father-son communications device.

“I got promoted once and didn’t know about it until I got new business cards,” he relates cheerfully. “They said I was vice president. I wondered if that would show up on my paycheck, but it didn’t. At least I got new business cards.”

Having a management position in the family business means multi-tasking, according to Gardner, which would make a dial-up “how-to” database nice to have.

“I found out I’m the IT director here,” he says. “How did I find that out? If something breaks and everybody screams at you to come fix it, you’re the IT director. I’ve got about 17 hats and one salary.”

Speaking of salary, Gardner says,

“If my father were talking about my salary, he’d have some illustrations and maybe a pie chart.”

He figures his father doesn’t need any inventions to explain it any more clearly than that.

This article originally appeared in Family Business Magazine


Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo

Heart of Diamonds Reading At Chappaqua Library

Earlier this year, the Chappaqua (NY) Library invited me to speak about current events in the Congo and read from Heart of Diamonds. One of the great features of the library's speaking events is that they record them on video, making the programs available online and on DVD as part of the library's collection. You can see the entire program I did by visiting http://www.ncctv.org/index.php?option=com_expose&Itemid=37&album=5 and choosing the program labeled "Congo" in the album strip at the bottom of the page.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo.

Another View Of Aid To Africa

Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa

Dead Aid is an interesting, provocative look at the foreign aid industry and its effects on Africa. Dambisa Moyo, who formerly worked for Goldman Sachs and the World Bank, draws a conclusion not unknown to others in the field: development aid (as differentiated from humanitarian aid) has not only done little good for the nations of Africa but has indeed caused great harm. While I don't necessarily disagree with her conclusion, I didn't find her arguments particularly convincing.

There is no question that much of the aid intended to build economies in Africa has been grossly wasted, stolen, and misused. There is little to show for the trillions of dollars that have been poured into the continent--a failure with numerous causes. But Moyo's main premise is that aid itself is the cause, that it creates a culture dependent on foreign handouts and rife with corruption that, according to the author, apparently wouldn't exist if aid weren't available. I find both arguments hard to swallow, especially since they are based mostly on the logical premise of cum hoc ergo propter hoc (with this, therefore because of this). In this thinking, when aid is given, the recipients don't develop other resources, therefore aid causes them to not try. It's the same argument that's been used for years to oppose welfare programs applied in this instance not to individuals, but to entire nations. I find that a little facile. I suspect aid fails more often because it is poorly structured and managed, an argument that Moyo essentially dismisses out of hand.

Whether you agree with Moyo's reasoning or not, you have to seriously question the solutions she proposes. While outlining a litany of worthwhile approaches to economic development including micro-lending, opening markets in the developed world to African products, and more foreign direct investment (FDI), her silver bullet is a solution only an investment banker could love: the bond market. Somehow, Moyo expects the magic of the free market financial system to end corruption in Africa, stop wasteful spending, and power the continent out of poverty. I react to that proposal the same way Jaime Talon, one of the lead characters in my novel, Heart of Diamonds, did when confronted by a similar argument about a panhandler in New York: "What matters is that right now--today--that man over there is hungry. Somebody needs to do something about that, not just ignore it and hope the holy and all-powerful market economy will provide a solution."

I have to ask, given the brilliant performance of Wall Street and Fleet Street in providing structured finance for America and Europe, how can we expect them to solve the problems of Africa? These are the people who brought us sub-sub-prime mortgages wrapped in gilt-edged bond ratings and called gold. Their ability to assess risk and police wasteful government spending in Kinshasa is rather suspect, at least to me. I also fail to see how corrupt leaders and their minions will be any less likely to steal funds from private lenders than they are from the World Bank. Perhaps my most significant objection, though is when Moyo says the developing nations will be better served paying ten percent interest (the rate she quotes for emerging market debt in 2007) than the 0.75% they are charged by the World Bank. How does that work to anyone's advantage other than the investment bankers?

Don't misunderstand my review. I agree with many of Moyos' conclusions and her objections to the current approach to foreign aid. Mandating the purchase of American products with American aid dollars, for example, is enormously wasteful, self-serving, and undoubtedly harms the African farmers and manufacturers such aid could help. She's also dead on when she calls for an improved business climate in Africa so that direct investment, both foreign and local, stands a better chance to succeed.

Pulling Africa out of the swamp of poverty is a complex operation. I applaud Dambisa Moyo for presenting a provocative set of arguments in clear, understandable layman's prose. Dead Aid brings an important subject into the public eye.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo.

WBAI-FM Features Heart of Diamonds

Heart of Diamonds will be featured on AfroBeat Radio at 2:30 PM, Saturday, May 16. Listeners can hear it on WBAI FM 99.5 or http://wbai.org streaming online.

AfroBeat Radio host Wuyi Jacobs has been examining many aspects of the Congo crisis for several weeks, talking to activists and writers such as myself. During our interview, I'll talk about how the very real war over the Congo's mineral wealth shaped my novel Heart of Diamonds. We'll also discuss some of the DRC's unfortunate history and, on a more positive note, what I see needs to be done so the country can achieve its wonderful potential.

Listeners will also have an opportunity to get a copy of Heart of Diamonds as a premium during WBAI's fund-drive.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo.

Sahsa Cooke's Moving Recital

It isn't often a performance moves me, but it happened during mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke's recent appearance with the Orchestra Of St. Luke's at Alice Tully Hall. The occasion was The Irene Diamond Concert, an annual benefit for Young Concert Artists. Ms. Cooke was one of three honorees. Her smooth, powerful voice was the perfect instrument for four of the six melodies in Hector Berlioz's Les nuits d'ete, Op.7.

The tonal perfection of Ms. Cooke's voice didn't surprise me since I've heard her before. The range of emotion she achieved was truly remarkable, however. The first piece, Villanelle, was brimful of happiness. In the second, Le spectre de la rose, she dominated the orchestra despite the softness of her voice. L'ile inconnu, the fourth selection, was a tonal conversation perfectly delivered. It was in the third piece, Sur les lagunes, however, where Ms. Cooke achieved a depth of sadness that needed no translation. Vivien Schweitzer's NY Times review the next day said tears were on Ms. Cooke's face and I can believe it, having felt them swell up in my eyes as well.

Opening the program that evening was harpist Emmanuel Ceysoon, who performed Reinhold Gliere's Concerto. Op. 74. The piece is a series of variations on a theme, but this interpretation made them all of one continuum, which was quite pleasing.

Pianist Jean-Frederic Neuburger closed the program with Camille Saint-Saens Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22. He successfully balanced the many different themes in the work--some capricious, some thundering--with technical and dynamic proficiency.

The Young Concert Artists is a nonprofit organization that has promoted musicians like Emanuel Ax and Murray Perahia. Unfortunately, director Susan Wadsworth said that evening that this will be the last concert in the series until economic conditions change and the donations which make it possible pick up again.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo