My c-spine acting up again... (discography results)

[fortitudine]

I may join you too, Mark!

[mmglobal]

Got my MRI results yesterday. I was focused on the thoracic herniation because I'm in a new HMO and felt I needed documentation in order to get the oral steroids and thoracic MRI without having to wait for referrals to specialists. The original report did not even mention the herniation circled above! I had to push through a bunch of nonsense at the imaging center, but finally got an amended report. I went to the walk in clinic last night because I could not get in to see my doctor. I was not looking forward to trying to get the walk-in doctor to order things that should be refered to a specialist. I got a nice HMO surprise when my new GP walked in and said, "Hey, I'm not on tonight, but I saw you are here and thought you might want to see me." Nice guy!

I started predinsone dose-pack last night. New findings on MRI show:

T1-T2 disc extrusion visualized on sagittal sequences, extends cephalad 8.5mm x 3.5mm in a/p dimension. Transverse dimension cannot be calculated because of lack of axial images.

C3-4: moderate R uncovertebral joint hypertrophy (3.5mm in a/p dimension) resulting in moderate to severe R foraminal stenosis.

C4-5: mild bilateral uncovertebral joint hypertrophy and mile R facet arthopathy resulting in mild R foraminal stenosis.

C5-6: approx 65% disc space narrowing. 2mm disc bulge. 4mm L uncovertebral joint osteophyte resulting in severe L foraminal stenosis. 3mm R uncovertebral joint osteophyte resulting in moderate R foraminal stenosis. Residual a/p canal diameter 7.5mm w/mild central stenosis.

C6-7: approx 50% disc space narrowing. Mild bilateral uncovertebral joint hypertrophy resulting in moderate bilateral foraminal stenosis.

Bummer.

[phylly]

Mark,
I AM SO SORRY!!!!! It is such a bummer. Can you move forward with your surgery? I hope the medrol pack helps for awhile. Take care and try to rest.
Phylly

[Terry Allen Blackburn]

You MRI sounds like it's no wonder you are in pain. I hope that the non-surgical stuff you are doing helps so that you can put off the surgery as long as possible. Hang in there.

No one will do this as a professional courtesy for you with the amount of referrals you send their way?

Terry Newton

[Maria]

Hey Mark,
I'm glad you were able to get something to help you with your pain/flare up/whatever you're calling it after seeing the report...

My neck is really bothering me today after being at the hairdresser's on Thurs and extending my neck back over the sink then just bad positioning to watch TV I guess and Lola pulling so much while walking..

Anyway, what I have on my MRI is nothing and I feel super crappy today~ I mean nearly able to function w/this type of pain so I'm blown away you've made it this far w/o surgery... dang!

Glad you got a PCP that sounds really good and I imagine loves having as interesting and medically well versed a patient as yourself, esp in an HMO setting.

take care and hope the prednisone packs do the trick for a while.

[mmglobal]

Yesterday was day 4 of the dose-pack. It's been quite a struggle lately, but l came home yesterday evening feeling pretty good for the first time in quite a while. Zoey (granddaughter turning 2 later this month) was in her usual great mood and I was feeling good enough to chase her around and have a blast. After a short while it was clear that I was making a mistake. After a couple of hours... it really hit. All the gains from the dose-pack gone, and then some. Things have continued to advance today... symptoms rising to new levels. The most disconcerting issue is the numbness on L face is going past mild numbness and has been painful. Chest/arm pain have been crushing at times.

There may be an interesting discussion here. We hope that medications will relieve our symptoms so we may be more functional. In my current situation, I believe that I have a relatively new issue that comes with a substantial inflammatory process. Does medicating and regaining function allow me to further aggravate the problem, actually making things worse? Obviously, it's the activities, not the meds, but in this case, the activities are so benign, I'm not sure how I might have known what was too much? Hopefully, by the time I figure this all out, things will have settled down.

Thoracic MRI will be done Monday morning. That will tell a huge story. I'll keep you posted.

Mark

[fuzzy]

Good luck on the Thoracic MRI. I hope they don't find anything like the stuff they found my t spine that I wish I never would have known about.


I am still working on my file, Mark, just having trouble getting that paperwork I still need.