[mmglobal]

I can't believe I'm back here in Bavaria. Before this year, my last trip to Europe was in 2012, when I did Bogen, Leipzig, Bonn. Since then, my dear friend Dr. Zeegers has passed. I really miss our friendship. Dr. Baumbach has retired, but he still lives in Munich. Diane and I have gotten to see him on our trips here this year.

I'm here in Bogen with the client who got me out of retirement. 3rd trip this year. He had 3 level cervical in June. We are back here now for a series of complex lumbar surgeries that will make for an amazing story. Bertagnoli is still absolutely incredible and offers options that are not possible anywhere else. Please note that I'm not blogging his surgery and will not answer questions at this time. When the patient is ready, he'll come and post.

Diane is still doing great. Grandkids are now 12, 4, 4 and 3. Remember that when Diane went for her surgery with Bertagnoli in 2008, Zoey was not yet 1! It looks like toddler Zoey is still my avatar here on ispine.

This is just a quick hello. I hope to post more details about many different things. I don't know if I'll have the capacity to keep things rolling here like I did in the past. One thing I've been asked to do is to get all the old folks to come here and post their decades updates. That'll be really interesting to see how everyone has fared. I don't know what format they should take... freeform or are there specific questions that should be answered? I'm open to suggestions.

So many of the members here are cherished old friends and I look forward to reconnecting with those I've lost track of.

It'll be interesting trying to fire up the forum again. Years ago, I got tired of dealing with the robots posting marketing material and disallowed new users. I'll get things turned back on as soon as I can so new people can come and post.

Pain-free vibes going out to all!

Mark