Quote Originally Posted by birdgirl73
Glad you thought that was a reasonable explanation! It certainly seems to work in my case.

I don't yet have the sharp needle pain, but they tell me that might be next--or that permanent paralysis could result. Right now it's numbness and tingling, along with muscle weakness and motor coordination trouble. I've got a bunch of bulging disks along my thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, but the real problem is a severely constricted portion of my spinal cord along my cervical spine that's preventing cerebrospinal fluid from getting through above and below, which puts pressure on the brain above and the spine below. It's enough to merit pretty quick surgery, but they have to get my heart rhythm straightened out before anyone can do surgery on me. As much as I enjoy learning and reading about medical stuff, I actually hate dealing with it personally, so this has been a challenge. I am glad at least I'm in a more efficient system. I can't believe you had to wait two years for an MRI! That is the one thing that scares me about the idea of universal health care down here--the fact that it'd likely slow us down, too.

Thanks for the kind words. I hope I will make a good doctor. I see fairly regular examples these days of how NOT to interact with patients. Actually, right now, I hope I can make it through these next few weeks without permanent disability, live through the surgery, and heal well enough to continue my course of study. I'm scared about this surgery!

BirdGirl - Spinal Surgery is very scary, especially after you read all the dire consequences that can happen.

But on the bright side - I had a similar surgery in 1997. Nine hours on the table! The neurosurgeon said the stenosis was so bad that he had to scrape the plaque from the sheath around my spinal cord. (Apparently, it ordinarily just sluffs off quite easily.)

The day after the surgery I felt better than I had in years! All the pain was gone - 100%. One of the symptoms I had from the compressed spinal cord was that I could only walk short distances before my legs would start cramping. The second day after surgery I had them take out my IV (which was connected to my pain meds, so that tells you something) and I spent about two hours walking around the hospital parking garage - no leg pain whatsoever.

After the surgery, be sure to check out your surgical X-rays. What they do to your esophagus is utterly amazing.

On a final note, when the time comes that you can finally get rid of your Miami-J neck brace, let me know and I'll help you destroy it in a particularly heinous manner. (You don't know what I'm talking about now, but in a few months you'll learn the true meaning of loathing.)

Best of luck!!! Try not to worry too much. You're going to feel sooo much better when it's over.