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I know I haven't posted in a while. I've been having a hard time for the past month or so. My emotions have been on a big roller coaster lately.
Earlier this month I went back to Dr. Majid and had planned on telling him I wanted to move ahead with the surgery. However, he threw me a curve ball that I wasn't expecting or hadn't thought of. First he wanted me to get a third opinion in Hershey, PA. Second, he wanted to wait on the surgery until I finished expanding my family and to try an epidural shot first. I already knew that was not what I wanted to do and got so angry and upset that I couldn't talk anymore. I couldn't tell him that I don't even want to imagine another pregnancy for fear of what the pain will be like after. For some reason I followed through with the epidural shot and I now know why it felt wrong for me. Besides the fact that the shot was painful to get, I still have side effects from it. The flushing is horrible... my cheeks (the ones on my face for those of you that think like my husband), my arms, chest, back... everywhere! It's slowly dying down at this point. The shot never did relieve the pain.
I was so upset the day I came home from the epidural shot, I called for my third opinion. I saw Dr. Vora yesterday at The Milton Hershey Medical Center. I didn't expect much as the last two opinions ended up being the same. I was pleasantly surprised with a much different opinion. It was like meeting a new friend who thinks just like you do. I practically cried from relief. Dr. Vora remeasured my x-rays from 1999 and compared them to my new ones. None of my doctors before ever looked so closely at my original x-rays or were concerned with my thoracic curve as much as the lumbar. My thoracic curve is 10 degrees more, while my lumbar curve has progressed a little over the years. From the way I've always been told, I thought my curves didn't progress until I had my daughter.
In the end I've kept with my original decision to go ahead with surgery. At this point it looks like he will fuse me from T1 to L1. I'm looking at the beginning of August as he is booked through the middle of July. I've done a lot of thinking and praying to get to this decision. Deep down I know this is the right thing for me to do.
Earlier this month I went back to Dr. Majid and had planned on telling him I wanted to move ahead with the surgery. However, he threw me a curve ball that I wasn't expecting or hadn't thought of. First he wanted me to get a third opinion in Hershey, PA. Second, he wanted to wait on the surgery until I finished expanding my family and to try an epidural shot first. I already knew that was not what I wanted to do and got so angry and upset that I couldn't talk anymore. I couldn't tell him that I don't even want to imagine another pregnancy for fear of what the pain will be like after. For some reason I followed through with the epidural shot and I now know why it felt wrong for me. Besides the fact that the shot was painful to get, I still have side effects from it. The flushing is horrible... my cheeks (the ones on my face for those of you that think like my husband), my arms, chest, back... everywhere! It's slowly dying down at this point. The shot never did relieve the pain.
I was so upset the day I came home from the epidural shot, I called for my third opinion. I saw Dr. Vora yesterday at The Milton Hershey Medical Center. I didn't expect much as the last two opinions ended up being the same. I was pleasantly surprised with a much different opinion. It was like meeting a new friend who thinks just like you do. I practically cried from relief. Dr. Vora remeasured my x-rays from 1999 and compared them to my new ones. None of my doctors before ever looked so closely at my original x-rays or were concerned with my thoracic curve as much as the lumbar. My thoracic curve is 10 degrees more, while my lumbar curve has progressed a little over the years. From the way I've always been told, I thought my curves didn't progress until I had my daughter.
In the end I've kept with my original decision to go ahead with surgery. At this point it looks like he will fuse me from T1 to L1. I'm looking at the beginning of August as he is booked through the middle of July. I've done a lot of thinking and praying to get to this decision. Deep down I know this is the right thing for me to do.
(I made the assumption because the form I filled out asked if I had ever had reaction to dye.) I looked it up, and its apparently called steroid flush.
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