I hemmed and hawed about posting this - but decided that, since the issues are, like it not, a large part of my life I would go ahead.
Thursday I braved high winds & unrelenting rain to go to the mainland My new doctor (because my fav left as you may recall) had new requests. One of the requests was for an updated MRI . Since the last one I had was from 2002 I thought that an update seemed like a reasonable idea. What you are looking at here is my lower spine - a transverse view. I was finally educated on what it all means. I have several herniated discs & what the doctor termed severe narrowing of the spinal canal a/k/a severe stenosis. The second request was to have a consult - another one. I went through a tedious round of treatment & consults in 2002. One would think that my records (all at the same medical center) would give any doctor plenty to review as far as where I had been previously & what I 'd had done before! This consult was no different. Try injections. I told them that I had already done that and that the results had been very painful &, most of all had not worked. Hummmmm - well, that should not have happened. Any surgeon is going to want you to have had shots. Surgeon? Who said anything about a surgeon?! Yes, the MRI indicated advancing degeneration. I mentioned the severe arthritis that I have in my neck, shoulders & hips and the doc said that having severe arthritis would be reasonable to expect because of the way my spine looks. Nice to know that it all makes sense. Oh ! and had I mentioned the Fibromyalgia? Yep. Paraphrased - or perhaps just my interpretation "....I will know when I need surgery - my legs will no longer work too well... "Yippee! Now that is news I can use! Argh! It all just means that pain is an every day issue to which my proprietary sense of physical agelessness will hold no ground. It is is what it is and I am darn well going to have to learn to go with the flow of it all.
Problem with shots - aside from the fact that I had a bad experience the first time - is that I have no way of knowing how much of a difference in the total panoply of issues - these things would make - or how long they might last. I keep feeling that it's a series of dollar signs dancing across my eyes. I guess it's not possible to get a really economically disinterested recommendation without having a qualified doctor as a relative.
So - nothing is different other than that I have fulfilled the latest doctor's list of things to do for me. I doubt I will make any rash decisions - or that anything is likely to change tomorrow. In the mean time I know that when I whine I have a reason to be uncomfortable. Aging, it has been said, is not for the faint of heart. No - it isn't, but I am grateful for every second of every day that I have - pain or not. I have the days to enjoy while some of my friends - who passed too young - never had the opportunity.
Does anyone else ever wish for a financially disinterested 'family doctor?!!
Now - it will back to our more regularly scheduled programming ! Promise.
