A New Month!!!

September

What will it bring?

New problems, or new solutions masquerading as problems.?

The results of my MRI are in.  At first I was really, really freaked out about them.  I mean, I had been researching the worst outcome so I could be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. I had even put the words..."having surgery" into actual speaking...just to see how they sounded out loud.

I even joked that it would have to wait until after the first of the year...couldn't let it mess with Disney!

But when the doctor called...I was not prepared for what he would say.  He really didn't give me an option.  He said surgery.

I knew I had two ruptured disks in my lumbar (lower back) spine, and bone spurs growing on three disks.  I knew they suspected the same results in my neck.  I was hoping for shots directly in the disks to relieve the pain.  The doctor was confident that would be all that was needed.  He wanted an MRI to rule out other problems and to accurately pinpoint the area that would work best for the injections.

Basically, what they found was a lot worse than what was expected.  The arthritis in my neck had attacked the bone so badly that it had moved my disk to a point where it is cutting into my spinal cord.  He said there was evidence of nerve damage...but the thing that got me was his statement, that some of the doctors that saw my scans could not believe that I was able to walk.  He said the neck is so unstable, that it could cut the cord completely with just a little movement...like a fall...  Very Scary!

So, he gave me three doctors...I researched and liked his first suggestion.  I'm waiting to hear from his office.  Since there are a variety of different surgeries that can 'fix' what ails me...I'm not 100% sure which one they will do.  They are all pretty much the same surgery, just different methods of removing the offending portion.  I may or may not require a bone graft...the good news is, I should have only a minimal recovery time (2 to 3 weeks) and be able to still go to Disney...just have to be a bit careful as to what rides I go on, since if there is a bone graft it takes about 6 months to fully graft....

So, if the doctor that ordered the MRI has his way about it, I should have my surgery before the end of this month and be on my way to recovery...and Disney!




Nini