Surgery with Dr. Lenke

[amelot]

the wait

I see a crack in my pelvis right by a bolt. .

Doreen, Please let us know when you know something! Waiting is no fun for anyone.
Pam

[Doreen1]

Thank you for everyone's input, I really appreciate it.

I just heard from Lenke's office today and he said everything looks fine. After explaining that since the fall, my right foot feels like it is buried in sand and I have pain radiating down from my lumbar into gluteus maximus, nurse explained there is probably inflammation caused by the fall. She will call in a 6 pack of steroids for me to take over the next 6 days to reduce inflammation. My local did not see any fractures in my knee, hip or shoulder.

Updates on non-fall issues are:
Neuro did not see any lesions so no MS! Neuro did see that my neck has deteriorated more than the last MRI in 2010. I'm waiting to see 2010 and 2013 reports to see which disc(s) are the problem. She indicated that nothing is pinching the spinal cord. I have a few more tests with neuro before she can diagnose the problem.

Saw RA doc yesterday and she said while she sees slight inflammation in my right hand, she wants me on arthritis meds for 3 weeks and she'll do another ultrasound on the sore joints. If the meds don't help me and if she sees more inflammation, she'll treat me as RA patient.

I don't remember if I mentioned before but I started having massages and WOWZA! It is amazing how incredible I feel afterwards! It is very odd to not feel her touch on my back when she works on numb areas.

For those of you who are mothers, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

[jrnyc]

Doreen...i am so very glad to hear what the
neuro had to say!!!
i hope the RA diagnosis is negative also..guess time will tell.
i am also glad to hear that Lenke thinks the fall did not do
devastating damage...
sorry to hear that your neck is deteriorating...
i hope there is a medication that helps...or some kind of tx for it...
and i hope you feel better from the fall very soon....
the massages sound like a great idea!

jess...and Sparky

[JenniferG]

Ditto what Jess said. That's very good news indeed that you do not have MS. I hope your other problems resolve with the treatment and you can get on with your life.

[leahdragonfly]

Hi Doreen,

so glad to hear nothing is amiss with your hardware--I hope you are starting to feel better from the fall. I am sure that was so scary!

I have been getting massages every month or so (when I can afford it), and I think they really help to loosen the areas of tight scar and residual muscle spasm. It was scary at first to trust someone to handle my back, but I have found a couple of massage therapists who do a great job. They all marvel at what my back has been through. I agree it feels really strange to have massage over the numb areas of my back (which are gradually getting smaller over time).

[susancook]

Glad that you are doing better and that you dodged the MS bullet.

Gayle and everyone, what should I worry about on massage. Sounds great but very scary. What should I tell the massause NOT to do? The physical therapist did some upper back massage and got rid of some painful knots.
Susan

[Doodles]

Dorreen--
Thank goodness, no MS. Hope the other problems will be resolved with the meds etc. That had to be scary wondering what it was! Janet

[Doreen1]

London Bridges Falling Down...

Looks like my neck is collapsing. :-\

While my Nero did not fine MS lesions, she found this:

The lesions are called osteophyte complex (bone spurs). The bigger of the two is at C3-4 and the smaller is at C4-5 and C5-6.

Level C3-4

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-di...e-complex.htm#

The same level also has retrolisthesis which is magnifying the bone spur.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrolisthesis

This spur is showing thinning of the sac where the spinal fluid is along with narrowing

Level C4-5 also has a bone spur but none of the other things mentioned above.

Level C5-6 also has a bone spur. There is moderate-severe narrowing of disc space and height.

Level C6-7 is normal

So there is multi level DDD degenerative disc disease (this is what was happening in my lumbar), degenerative retrolisthesis, bone spurs, etc.

If it's not not one thing it is another.

[jrnyc]

so sorry to read this, Doreen..
how are you feeling? do you have the headaches, shoulder
weakness, etc, that "wisegeek" mentions????????????

i do not know what your neck feels like, with retrolisthesis,
though i have DDD and regular old listhesis in my thoracic and lumbar
spine...i do know none of it is good.
i hope the PT and meds mentioned in the article will be enough
for you to avoid further surgery....

hoping you feel better soon...
jess...and Sparky

[Susie*Bee]

Doreen-- so sorry about this also. Keep us posted as to what the next step will be.

Jess-- amongst my other problems I had DDD and lateral listhesis. I am not now as athletic (ha ha) as some are, but I am doing pretty well. I can do most of the things I want to do, although my "wants" have changed over the years. (smile) But that is a fine thing.

[jrnyc]

hi Susie Bee
i need fusion to sacrum...am wondering if fusion stopping at L4 is
making a difference to your ability to do more...???
i think it is wonderful that you are able to do a lot, even if what you want
to do has changed over the years...it usually does change for most of us,
scoli or no.

i hope and pray Doreen will be able to get back to all her favorite things
after PT and meds have hopefully helped her neck...
statistically, the "wisegeek" article mentions people over 50 having these
problems...and i believe Doreen is in her 40's...
then again, lots of us are outside the "normative statistics"
my scoli was "supposed" to have not progressed, judging by where
it was at maturity...but statistics don't mean a lot when
they don't fit YOU!

jess...and Sparky

[Doreen1]

Jess,

I'm tired of going to the doc, that's for sure. So my right foot still feels like it's buried in sand, I have numbness in both hands, constant headache and ringing in my ears for over 2 months, balance is off, and on and on. I found MRI results from July 2011 and things mentioned back then were either mild or moderate. After comparing 2011 to 2013 report, the miles are now moderate and the moderates are now severe. I pick up the recent images on Thu and will post past and present pix if there is a visible change. My neck always hurt after the surgery, but I thought it had to do with the hardware moving things into proper position. I had forgotten about the 2011 MRI until today.

I have training really hard for an archery tournament and after the fall, to several days off until I got the x-rays results. I have to shoot from a stool now because of the numb foot issue.

I know Lenke doesn't do cervical, but I guess I need to call his nurse to get a recommendation. Not that I'm considering surgery, it's just time to add a neck specialist to my growing medical team. I should also share the MRI report with my RA doc because RA occurs in the neck too.

[jrnyc]

hi Doreen
do you think surgery is a possibility before you and the doctors
figure out what is causing the other symptoms...the numbness in
hands, the headaches, the foot issue, etc...?
could it all be caused by neck problems...?
is some of it coming from something pressing on nerves...?
i am just worried about you proceeding with any surgery, for
any reason, before someone figures out what is causing that
array of symptoms.

i do not have RA...i have osteoarthritis...a gift from Lyme that keeps
on giving...i know how achey and painful osteoarthritis can be...
but i also am aware of how many more serious issues RA can present...

i do hope the doctors can sort out what is going on, what is causing
what, and can come up with some kind of tx to give you relief...
i hope, at some point, you can get some relief from needing all those
visits to doctors! you must be tired of it, and pretty frustrated!

hugs...and wishes for better days...from me and Spark

[golfnut]

Doreen,
I just wanted you to know I am thinking of you and hope that you can get some answers and relief from your pain.

[titaniumed]

Wow Doreen! I think its “neck”month around here....

I did a steroid pack and I’m taking the NSAID Diclofenac, that seems to work ok for the pain.

Now that a few of us are battling neck issues, at least from what I have read and heard is that cervical ACDF is much easier to recover from than a full fusion....some good news at least.

Hang in there, even if its from one arm.

I have slowed down considerably.....I think that is helping.

Ed