Post-Myelogram Update

[Justin]

(Below is from the "Please post your myelogram experiences" thread and posted here for completeness)

Wow, I have to say I am overwhelmed with the support on this forum. To Everyone: thank you for your kind words and support.

I will finish my dose pack today. It has helped, but I am still having extreme pain in my lower back and legs. The pain is very distracting and makes functioning difficult (studying is a world of fun right now too!).

My Myelogram Results:

Well, my myelogram results demonstrate that there is a possible "smoking gun" to my symptoms. My entire patient profile (through Mark) has been updated and Dr. Bertagnoli will review it shortly (Dr. B and I decided to wait to review my case until my myelogram was done--it took me 8 freaking weeks of waiting after I scheduled my appointment to get the myelogram).

On preliminary review of the films, there is a substantial issue that will most definitely have to be addressed in one fashion or another. I will post a film shortly, so people can see what's going on--it's very evident even to the untrained eye.

Once again, God bless everyone for their support. I don't know any other way to put it, but I feel like I am slowly deteriorating--unfortunately, this is reminiscent of my time leading up to my ADR surgery.

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Well, I wanted to give everyone an update since I had my myelogram a couple of weeks ago. I think we have found the "smoking gun" to my bilateral leg pain.

Here's some background info that will help the films make sense: when I injured my spine snow skiing at 17 years old, I fractured the posterior aspect of my L4 vertebral body. As a result, it healed incorrectly (too well) and formed an "abnormal bony growth." Some surgeons thought it might be a contraindication to surgery at that level. However, Dr. Bertagnoli did not see it as an issue and we proceeded with the 2-level ADR surgery.

Now this is pure speculation on my end, but I believe that when I had my ProDiscs placed the osteo-integration of the artificial disc into the vertebrae caused the "abnormal bony growth" to increase in size as well.

As you can see from my films, this bony growth is pretty dramatic and looks to be causing all of my symptoms. I have not heard back from Drs. Bertagnoli and Fenk-Mayer, as they have only had my films since Wednesday. I am anxiously awaiting their reply regarding my myelogram--it should be interesting.

From my uninformed perspective, it looks like some sort of invasive intervention will be necessary at some point (if that is even a possibility considering the location and difficult access).

Well, I'll keep everyone posted. I'm doing much better a couple weeks out from my myelogram in terms of pain, but I am still on fentanyl, oxycodone, baclofen, and a couple others to keep things in check.

I'll update when I hear from Drs. Fenk-Mayer and Bertagnoli.

PS... look how beautiful the disc spaces are above the ProDiscs.