Sometimes it's good to get more and sometimes it isn't. We know that infomercials always have that tag line no matter what they're selling, at least it seems that way to me. You really don't want to hear it from a dcotor trying to soften the blow of what they found on the CT scans anmd X Rays. I could hear that line going through my head while I was at the surgeon's office yesterday. So for the news I had been dreading C2,3,4 and 5 have damage. Not a lot, yet. Some bulging but no complete herniation of them . It was harder to see C6 and down from something called beam hardening. Apparently it is a normal thing when doing cervical CT scans. There are also multiple bone spurs. Yippie. I just me some bone spurs. Those pesky little suckers that are causing so much pain in my lumbar region. So the big surprise to me was that they now want an MRI. I had thought my days of being stuck in that tight fitting tube were over. Nope, apparently I have Titanium rods and sccrews. Makes me feel like a terminator ! "I'll be back !" or maybe a better phrase with me "The pain will be back !" So I will be heading over soon to get an MRI and some nerve testing on both legs and my right arm. That is so much fun. First getting shoved into that coffin like tube for a while then having pins stuck in me to see how bad the nerve damage is and if it is permanent.
When I have my MRI and the nerve test done it is back to my surgeon to hear what he wants to do. The PA who did my exam, let me stop for a second here. I have blasted PAs left and right at my pain management clinic but this one was different. She actually conducted an exam. A pretty thorough exam actually and explained all my test results so far and answered my questions. WOW what a difference when someone in the medical field actually cares about their job. SO she answered all of my questions and gave me an idea of what is to come. For the cervical it may be surgery. This will depend on a few things. A) how much nerve damage there is and how permanent it is and B) How much of a pain it is to me. In other words can I put up with the pain it causes and for how long. As for the lumbar region she is making no bets on that. We will see after the MRI and then the surgeon will have to decide what he can do. With all of the damage and those pesky bone spurs she wasn't sure what he could do and what he would want to do so I will have to wait until May 14th to see the surgeon and find out what is on his mind.
The hits just seem to keep on coming. I hate the fact that my spine seems to want to destroy itself and while doing that cause me pain. I'm scared that he will want to do the cervical and the upper lumbar / thoracic region, by that I mean fuse both areas. What is really worrying me is my lower lumbar which has been fused already. What can I do if he says there is nothing to be done about all those bone spurs that are causing me so much pain or even what will I do if he says he wants to go in and grind them down ? SO many options and surgery is not the most fun thing in the world to go through. If he says surgery for all 3 spots which order would be best and how soon would we have to wait to get all three done ? So many questions to float around my brain. So little answers to those questions which is a great way to jack up my blood pressure and cause me to worry. I think I really need that monkey spine AND the tail and now ! Not at some time in the future! At least that would be good for some laughs and would ease up the pressure a bit. So off I go to my MRI and the nerve tests. I will keep you all informed. At least by writing about it I can help get it straight in my own mind.