What sophisticated word did one of America’s top neurosurgeons use to describe the bone, cyst and ligament that were compressing The Idiot’s spinal nerves and restricting his ability to walk around the Mediterranean Sea — and stand up straight?

“GUNK!”

The Idiot gives paparazzi a thumbs up when he’s rolled into the Stanford Hospital operating room for a bilateral lumbar laminotomy and decompression to eradicate severe spinal stenosis.
(Photo: Liz Chapin)

That’s right, GUNK. And that’s what surgeons removed when they performed a lumbar lamninotomy at the Stanford Medical Center to relieve severe spinal stenosis last Thursday. Although The Idiot is restricted to only three five-minute walks a day during the next two weeks, he’s expected to resume daily hikes exceeding twenty-five miles a day by the autumn.

In fact, improvement in his posture was noticeable just a few hours after surgery.

Patients afflicted with central spinal stenosis tend to slouch. But The Idiot regained proper posture within hours of surgery.
(Photo: Liz Chapin)

Although the minor incision used for the procedure did affect the aesthetics of The Idiot’s yin-yang tattoo/tramp stamp decorated with Mediterranean waves, it won’t be noticeable once it heals.

The incision in The Idiot’s lower back was barely visible.
(Photo: Kip Stratte-McClure)

Did, The Idiot wondered, his tattoo contribute to the development of severe spinal stenosis? Doctors say “No.”
(Photo:Liz Chapin)

Doctor’s pronounced the 90-minute procedure a success and within hours The Idiot received a “Get Well Soon” card from his brother and discussed the surgery over drinks at the Stanford Park Hotel, where he recuperated before returning to Redding, CA, to get back in shape.

“Get Well Soon.”
(Photo: Liz Chapin)

The Idiot was told that a slow recovery period was required to ensure a complete success. No bending, no lifting, no twisting, no sitting for more than 30 minutes.

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."