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!