Well that zipper tat I am planning can now go all the way up.
I went and saw my pain doc today, and I hope he is wrong, I'll know for sure when I see my surgeon on the 15th, but he thinks this is the cause of all of my pain.
Click for bigger.
This is a slice cross scan of my neck.
My vertebrae from C2 -C4, are fused together and compressing on my spinal cord.
That's not a good thing.
He thinks it will require surgery to fix, and Doc M will be the one who decides all that.
The compression is actually called stenosis, and what it is is seriously crushing my spinal cord.
I know it's kind of hard to see, but my spinal cord is being squished pretty bad.
Doc R thinks this explains why I have so much pain in my neck, shoulder, and pretty much my whole left side.
I really don't want to have another surgery, but if it comes to that, I'll have no choice.
The stenosis is at such a level that ignoring this could mean some really bad things, and I'm not even going to get into all of that.
I can't let my mind go there.
I've been dealing with this since I got home today at 1pm, and I did my crying and screaming, and now I've moved on to the let's deal with this part.
I have to go in for an MRI of my left scapula tomorrow, back to Doc R's on Thursday, and then to my surgeon Doc M on the 15th.
So that's my update for now, I need to go make dinner for the teens, and then find something else to do.
I'm not going to dwell on this bad news, Doc R could be wrong, so I'm not going to think about it until I really have to.
Comments
Even though its not what you wanted to hear, its nice that they are at least trying to finally figure out what is wrong. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Posted by: Lisa | July 1, 2008 6:13 PM
I hope they can't find another way besides surgery to help you. You've been through enough. :(
Posted by: Charlotte | July 1, 2008 6:37 PM
Oh man! I hope it turns out okay. We got bad news from our son's surgeon, too. We go in for a CT scan next week. The hooks at the bottom of his fusion are not within the fusion and she knew about it in May 2007 and never told us. THe new doc just told us now and showed us on the x-ray. I hope it all works out for you and you don't need another surgery.
Posted by: Laurie | July 1, 2008 7:33 PM
Kat. On one hand, I am glad you finally know what is causing your pain. But, on the other hand...
it's just always something. This is something I have been struggling with personally for the last several months. Why is it that there are certain people who float through life without a care in the world, no health problems, financial worries, etc. and then there's the rest of us. Not that I begrudge these folks their seemingly charmed existence but I don't get it. You've been through so much. Your boys have been through so much and I just wish you could catch a bloody break.
Posted by: Brandi | July 2, 2008 8:19 AM
Oh man Kat, that looks painful. And reading about what you've been going through I can only imagine how badly you must be feeling.
For me it's tough getting a dx that no one in their right mind wants but it's the knowing part that at least stops.
Maybe you won't need surgery. I'll keep reading to see what's going on.
Posted by: Connie | July 3, 2008 1:17 AM