Saw my orthopedic surgeon yesterday. He does not have a fellowship in cervical spine (or something like that) so he would not do my surgery anyway. He would refer me to a neurosurgeon or another orthosurgeon who does have a fellowship to a clinic about one hour away from where I live.
He reviewed my MRI from 10/07 and said yes, I have a significant protrusion that says right in the report is impinging on my left C8 nerve root and that I would probably require surgery, plus bony spurs! However, before he can refer me, he must send me through a servies of cervical epidural injections. So, the pain mgmt /anesthesiologist had a cancellation for today at 2:15, so I will have my first one today. I'm nervous....I've never had one in the neck where the spinal cord runs through. He will be doing it under flouroscopy (xray) so that settles me a bit. I've had 7 in my lumbar and SI joint regions in the past so I kind of have an idea of how they work. But the neck one makes me cringe. I've heard horror stories, you know? He did a complete exam and she he put his hand on my head, turned it and pressed down it sent tingling down my left arm into my pinky. When he was touching my hands to check for sensation, his touch was lighter on my left side on hand. Said I was "hyporeflexic" on bith right and left arms - no reflexes? What could that mean - nerve damage already. In March when I had the last incident (couldn't get out of bed w/out help from DH) it was my Right side of neck. This time, it was my left. Also said he felt weakness on my left arm and hand.
Anyhow- wish me luck today. I'm really hoping these work - but I honestly don't think they will considering everything I've already been through for therapy on my neck. Seems like once the acute phase is over (these last 3 times) it gets a little better and it's something I can almost live with, then another incident and I'm back at square one. I never do anything to cause these either - it just happens - I wake up with it. I sleep on a cervical pillow, have for years. It's just I think everything in there is so weak damaged and then throw in the reversal of my curve and it's way more prone to damage.
Thanks for listening
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