Help eden come back from Christian's back surgery

Hello everyone, it's Christian here, and I'm asking for your help as I have had to close our Wilkes-Barre location for an extended time as I recover from a much needed major back surgery.

I had surgery on Wednesday, January 10th, to reconstruct the discs in my lower back at four levels, clean out other spinal issues including opening up space for the severely pinched nerve roots, and with me out of commission for a longer than I had hoped for time frame, I have had no choice but to close eden Wilkes-Barre until such time as I am ready to be back to doing all the many things I do, in and out of the kitchen, to make it happen.

It was way back in September, 2022 when I had a very bad flare up from these back issues, that caused intense sciatica nerve pain on my entire left side, radiating from my left buttock all the way down my leg and into my foot. For several months the doctors tried many different things to help alleviate that pain to no avail, and I just kept working through the pain and it was rough.

Finally, the week of Christmas 2022, I met with an Orthopedic Surgeon who told me I needed surgery, and until I was ready for that he would try to help manage my pain, and he got me on a nerve drug that helped relieve that pain greatly.

Once the sciatica pain subsided, I started to feel the muscular pain in my lower back a lot more. It was somewhat manageable, so I pressed on and kept working through it.

Over the course of 2023, the pain started moving into my hips, groin, thighs, calves and feet. I kept working in the kitchen, kept the shop running, going to the restaurant supply stores and bakeries, and doing everything I do to run my and your beloved eden-a vegan cafe.

The pain continued to get worse. I have to be honest, I sometimes think I am Superman, and I just push through and keep going, but there were many times over these past 16 months where I would sit in the back kitchen after a shift and just weep. It hurt so much. I was limping around everywhere, holding onto prep tables to balance and take the pressure off my aching back and legs. When shopping, the carts were my saving grace because I needed them to hold onto. Carrying heavy items into my vehicle and around the shop was difficult, but I did what I had to do and eden kept running without fail. I cried at night, in the car, even in the kitchen, and then wiped my face and continued on daily for all of 2023.

Looking back it sounds crazy, but I have always felt such a responsibility to eden, it's customers, and what it represents in doing it's part to make the world a better place by turning people onto plant-based comfort food. I may have been a fraction of my whole self, but I kept going because I had no quit in me as my passion for veganism and my customers and staff is more important to me than anything I might be feeling physically myself.

But at some point I had to face the fact that I needed to have surgery. When I first met with the surgeon a year ago, we talked about replacing the disc at the L5/S1 area. A year later, in December 2023, it was much worse. We were now looking at replacing discs from L3, L4, L5-S1, among other issues that needed to be addressed on my spine. I had no choice but to schedule the surgery.

It was originally scheduled for February 5, 2024, but then they were able to move it up to January 10th, which was a true blessing, because I was hurting so bad and didn't know how I was going to make it. I was doing every self-care thing possible before and after work, stretching, light yoga, Epsom salt baths, grounding mats, over the counter pain medication, massage, a better mattress for sleep, new shoes, even using a walker at home, and sometimes in the back kitchen at eden as well. It was pretty nuts, but I kept going and going and going so I could serve our customers.

So back to where this story began, January 10th I had major back surgery. I was under anesthesia for 5 hours, intubated and breathing through a machine, as they sliced my back open with a 6 inch incision, scraped out the bits of discs left at 4 levels of my spine, inserted metal spacers, bone grafts, rods and screws, cut away bone and other material to open up space for the nerve roots, and sewed me back up. It was pretty intense. I stayed in the hospital for three days as I had a blodd drain from the incision site that continued to flow as it didn't clot as quickly as hoped, I had breathing exercises to regain strength in my lungs, physical therapy to get even minimal strength in my legs, and then was discharged with all sorts of meds and orders that were the beginning of my road to recovery.

I was given doctor's orders not to drive until at least after a followup appointment on January 23rd. I cannot bend, lift, or twist for at least several weeks. I should not do even light housework for a mimimum of 4 weeks. Someone working a desk job shouldn't return to work for 4-6 weeks, and anything more strenuous than that would be a mimimum of 3 months.

I have to allow this time for my back to recover correctly, or I risk needing another surgery. I do not want that. I want to get back to work as soon as possible, and before surgery, I was saying I'd be back after a week, I'd have help from staff, it would work, we'd be fine, etc. Well, I'm able to now admit that everyone around me was right, I was absolutely out of my mind to think that. This is going to be a much longer and harder road than I expected. I'm not Superman after all, and I just cannot push through this.

Honestly, all the pushing through I did for 16 months prior to finally getting the surgery really did make it a lot worse than it was at first. But I regret nothing, because I was there to serve New American Vegan Comfort Food to so many of our customer friends and supporters during that entire time.

I gave and gave and gave until I couldn't anymore, and now I'm humbly and gratefully asking you to give back if you can. If you can donate, no amount is too small, any donation is meaningful and helpful. If you can share this campaign with others, that means so much. Spreading the word is powerful. I believe my story and eden's story is one that can capture the hearts of many, because it is truly heartfelt.

I have given my blood, sweat, tears, and now major parts of my back and spine to this business and this cause for all things vegan and plant-based, for the betterment of the world, from my small stage in Northeastern Pennsylvania, for for than 15 years now, and I'm asking with thankfulness and gratitude for a little bit back to help me and eden through this.

We navigated and survived the pandemic. These past few years have been particularly hard times, and on the heels of all of that I am now dealing with this. The bills don't stop coming because we have to be closed for a while. Our Scranton shop is still operating of course, and please, if you can, get some delicious grub from that shop, that also helps a lot.

We have more than 20,000 followers over our social media channels, and if everyone gave even just a dollar or two, that would see us through this difficult time, and it would certainly be a wonderful story that would create good vibes that branch out in so many ways that it would benefit us all with a good, positive feeling, for a very good positive cause, and the type of one that is much needed these days.

I thank you so much for reading all of this, it is truly straight from my heart, one take (I reread it quick once for typos sorry if I missed any) and I again, very humbly and gratefully, ask you to help in any way that you can. I'll be back in the kitchen as soon as I possibly can, and I appreciate your help in lifting me up. Peace and love to all y'all. ✌️