Mark,
I thought it was physically impossible too. I questioned the size thinking it was a misprint of mm but both the surgeon and radiologist concurred. My original surgeon thought it may have migrated through the opening he made for the discectomy as it was a widebased rupture. The MRI shows it resting comfortably on top of the nerve root.
The stenosis diagnosis is the most recent (as far as being the primary reason for pain). Although the canal measurements are at the minimum during the CT scan, the dynamics of standing up (collapsing the discs somewhat) pushes the cauda equina posteriorly, effectively narrowing the canal dimension at 3 consecutive levels, L3 to S1.
My opinion is the multilevel spine issues are a result of having an ex-wife on my back for 16 years. But that's just an opinion....
__________________
04/06 L5/S1 Rupture
05/06 MRI shows DDD @ L2-S1
06/06 Diskectomy/ Laminotomy L5/S1
04/07 Recurrent Disc Surgery L5/S1
3 Ortho and 1 Neuro Surgeon, 3 MRIs, 1 EGM, 1 Myleogram & 11 EDIs later:
03/27/09 Maverick ADR at L4/L5 & L5/S1
03/27/09 The Lord and Dr. Ritter-Lang returned my life to me.
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