Joe and I were riding together in my truck and we left here about 3:45 to go get dinner before game. We drove over to Maple Grove and had dinner at Granite City Brewery (mmmm). As I got out of the truck to go in, my back let me know that it was quite stiff and very painful. I assumed that I’d sat in the truck wrong. I slowly made my way in to the restaurant and we had dinner. We headed over to Larry’s and by time we got there about 5, I knew that I needed to have Owen work on my back. Owen’s in massage school., so I thought he’d be able to work on my back for a while and get the knots out of it.
10 minutes later and I felt fine.
About 7:30, I got up to go to the bathroom and my back was rock solid stiff again and my legs were a bit weak. I just figured it was the no padding chair and that my legs were just mildly asleep.
Larry booted us out about 11:30 as he had plans for the next morning at 7am. I couldn’t stand up. I could get up on my legs, but if I tried standing mroe than about 15 degrees from being bent over 90 degrees, it was as if I was trying to cut my body in two. I, being the stubborn one, fully intended to drive home and hobble into bed. By the time, we got out to my truck, I could barely stand on my legs they were that weak and going numb.
Brian, an EMT, was consulted. After a disclaimer that he couldn’t diagnose anything, I was informed that I was going to the ER. Not suggested, told.
So, the D&D party went over to North Memorial. I was seen fairly quickly and then injected with 10mg of morphine, solumedrol (a powerful steriod) and robaxin (muscle relaxant). About 4:30 am Saturday morning, the pain wasn’t gone, I could barely move my toes, couldn’t lift/move either leg...and that was that. I was admitted for an MRI first thing in the morning.
Upstairs I went, drugged up for the entire day on hydromorphone and robaxin. Now it’s been 12 hours since I’ve eaten, and I’ve had two 24 oz Dt Cherry Pepsi’s while gaming. Doctor orders NPO. Nothing by mouth. This sends me into a panic, as it’s an order given if surgery is an option. It was.
They finally got me into the MRI at 4pm Saturday...after a large injection of Atavan. Between being up for 36 hours, the drugs I was given...I passed out. I don’t remember going down for the MRI, coming back up...or anything until 6:30 this morning when I woke up.
MRI Results: Mild degeneration of my L5-S1 disc. Some minor degeneration at L4-L5. Surgery is ruled a non-option and the NPO order is removed.
What likely happened is that something caused the disc at L5-S1 to slip and rub against the nerve roots that descend from there into my legs. If it had been L4-L5, I would have been in much worse shape as that would have involved my bladder and bowel control. The disc seems to have slid back into place, leaving a very very irritated and inflammed set of nerve roots going to my legs.
I’m now at home and on Percocet and Prednisone. I am to follow up with my doctor this week if I have another minor occurance. If it is a major occurance like what happened Friday, I am to call my doctor and he will have me admitted and he and the neurosurgeon will meet me at the ER. The fact that I do have mild/moderate damage to the disc at L5-S1 is why I’ve been having so many problems and my doctor and the neurologist that was consulted believe that it is *not* MS that I have, but rather, the attacks I’ve had were this disc moving and the increased spinal pressure, protiens showing irritation, and other symptoms of MS are residuals of the disc attacks, not MS.
So I guess there is good news there. I don’t likely have MS...I have a degenerating disc that will likely need surgery sooner than later.
One is fixable...the other is just slowable.
If surgery is likely to stop these attacks and return me to a sense of normalcy and a life not dictated by pain and back spasms. I’d be quite likely to explore that option...even if it does mean months of being on my back and in physical therapy. I’d like to have a normal life again, not ruled by pain, where the pain causes me to be a complete and utter jackass without realize it or even knowing why, and I’d like to just be a bit closer to normal and not have to limit so many of my activities because of my back.
So that’s the end of story time...
I’m off to lay down for a while, think about what great friends I have up here, and the meaning of life and religion. (that’s a post for another time).
1 comment:
I feel your pain... sorta. Nick has the exact same issues with the exact same discs and a couple more. From the results I've seen, I would say go for the physical therapy sans surgery. It helped Nick a lot at the time that he went through it. Besides, surgery may not be the end-all solution from what he's told me.
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