Livin' and Learnin'

The Life and Times of Miss Dana

TCB

Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve blogged. I’ve had a very busy winter season. Thanksgiving and Christmas went without a hitch and I had a wonderful holiday! A new year is here and I am on a mission to “fix” the things that need fixin’. The first step is to finally have the surgery on my spine that probably should have been done last year. I didn’t really want to do it, but after a year of suffering with the pain, constant numbness, and most recently, the gradual loss of strength in my left arm and hand, it must be done. I went to my amazing orthopedic surgeon who has been amazing during this process and he told me that since the conservative treatments didn’t help, it is time to go to a spine surgeon. He referred me to a doc that he was once in a group with and that he said he trusts to do a great job. So I made an appointment for the following week.

Mike went with me and when we walked into the waiting area of his office, the walls were covered in very nice frames filled with letters and cards from patients thanking him for the amazing work he did in helping them. There was a letter from a solider that said that two weeks post surgery he was jumping from airplanes with no pain. Sounds amazing, huh? We were soon called back and Dr. Keem came into the exam room. He was very nice, well spoken, and seemed to genuinely care about my pain. He checked the strength in my arms and legs, and without looking at my MRI, he asked if my problem was C5 C6. I was pretty impressed, because that is EXACTLY what my problem area is! He explained what the surgery would entail, how long it would take, and what the recovery would be like. I could tell that he was a very smart man, far smarter than I am, but he was able to explain what he can do in terms that I could understand. I really really liked him.

His staff is working on getting an OR date and time for me. It will either be February 14th or 16th, and I must admit that I am a little nervous about this, but I know that ultimately it will be worth it. I should only be in the hospital one night, thankfully. I really can’t wait to get this disk out of my body. It has caused me more pain than I ever thought I could handle. In a nutshell, it has slowed me down considerably. I never want to go anywhere or do anything because I know that the next day I won’t be able to move. I have taken more Motrin and Aleve that I probably should have, and I’m sure my kidneys are angry at me because of it. But I wasn’t raised to be a cry baby. My Gram always said, “Ya gotta be tough.” And I hope that’s what I’ve done, and will continue to be. Tough.

Here’s one MRI pic of my problem.
wpid-dana20020-2011-01-29-08-00.jpg

I know it’s hard to see, but the line down the center is my spinal cord. About half way down there is a little “dent.” That “dent” is where my disk is herniated and pressing on the spinal cord. That disk will be removed in surgery, a spacer put in it’s place, and a metal plate will be screwed in front of the vertebrae to hold it all together.

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