8/18/2008
I had my appointment with the ortopaedic surgeon, Kade Huntsman. I was super anxious all morning thinking I would get there and he would tell me to stop being a baby and just go home and rest. Tony went with me to the appointment.
We walked in and I was surrounded by a large room full of VERY old people. Tony turned to me and said, "I have good news and bad news and it is both the same...you are the youngest person here."
When I got back to the exam room and Dr. Huntsman came in he asked me about what was going on with my neck. I filled him in a little and then he had me get on the exam table so he could check my reflexes. I had very responsive reflexes. I was now even more nervous because with my reflexes so responsive, I just knew he was going to say there was nothing wrong with me. When I had gone to Dr. Adelman he checked my reflexes and didn't say anything about it. When he was out of the room we tested Karen's and Tony's reflexes. I thought they had pretty sluggish reflexes. I was wrong!
Dr. Huntsman looked at me intently and said "You're not going to like what I have to tell you." I told him that if was going to tell me there was nothing wrong with me that was right...I wouldn't be happy. He said "No, you NEED surgery". He went on to explain that my responsive reflexes are actually a bad thing. It is a condition known as hyperreflexia and is caused by spinal cord damage. My spinal cord is compressed and when the spinal cord is compressed the reflexes don't get sluggish like you would think, they actually get hyper. He checked all of my reflexes -- even in my feet and they were all hyperreflexive!
He also told me that the pinched nerve wasn't my real problem - it is actually a compressed spinal cord. I will be having surgery on September 3rd. I will be having my C5-6 & C6-7 (those are neck vertebrae) levels worked on. The doctor will remove the disks (2) between those vertebrae and then put a plastic cage thing in their place. The cage thing is full of some sort of man-made bone. Then he will put a titanium plate with titanium screws at each spot to hold it all in place. My bone should grow in with the man-made stuff and make my neck strong again. Dr. Huntsman said that the pain in my arm will feel better almost immediately.
He told me it wasn't an emergency to get in, but I need to be careful. He said that if Tony and I were to leave and get in a car accident, Tony would walk away a little stiff and I would be paralyzed because my spinal cord is so compressed that there is no spinal fluid around the cord and so there is no cushion.
He said that in the past year he had two patients come to him that had my problem. They came to him through the emergency room. They were paralyzed. One guy was drunk and fell going into the bathroom and bumped his head on a wall. He was in his thirties and got some function back. The other patient was a lady that fell down a stair. It threw here head back fast and hard and WHAMO!
If my condition was left untreated there would be permanent spinal cord damage and paralysis. So I am a bit more nervous than I was and I am pretty freaked out about driving, but I am glad that it can be fixed. Dr. Huntsman's assitant came in to schedule the surgery. She said that the doctor does surgeries on Thursday but he would be willing to come in on this upcoming Friday. Unfortunately, I have to get things ready at work for our Fall classes.
So, surgery on September 3rd.
I had my appointment with the ortopaedic surgeon, Kade Huntsman. I was super anxious all morning thinking I would get there and he would tell me to stop being a baby and just go home and rest. Tony went with me to the appointment.
We walked in and I was surrounded by a large room full of VERY old people. Tony turned to me and said, "I have good news and bad news and it is both the same...you are the youngest person here."
When I got back to the exam room and Dr. Huntsman came in he asked me about what was going on with my neck. I filled him in a little and then he had me get on the exam table so he could check my reflexes. I had very responsive reflexes. I was now even more nervous because with my reflexes so responsive, I just knew he was going to say there was nothing wrong with me. When I had gone to Dr. Adelman he checked my reflexes and didn't say anything about it. When he was out of the room we tested Karen's and Tony's reflexes. I thought they had pretty sluggish reflexes. I was wrong!
Dr. Huntsman looked at me intently and said "You're not going to like what I have to tell you." I told him that if was going to tell me there was nothing wrong with me that was right...I wouldn't be happy. He said "No, you NEED surgery". He went on to explain that my responsive reflexes are actually a bad thing. It is a condition known as hyperreflexia and is caused by spinal cord damage. My spinal cord is compressed and when the spinal cord is compressed the reflexes don't get sluggish like you would think, they actually get hyper. He checked all of my reflexes -- even in my feet and they were all hyperreflexive!
He also told me that the pinched nerve wasn't my real problem - it is actually a compressed spinal cord. I will be having surgery on September 3rd. I will be having my C5-6 & C6-7 (those are neck vertebrae) levels worked on. The doctor will remove the disks (2) between those vertebrae and then put a plastic cage thing in their place. The cage thing is full of some sort of man-made bone. Then he will put a titanium plate with titanium screws at each spot to hold it all in place. My bone should grow in with the man-made stuff and make my neck strong again. Dr. Huntsman said that the pain in my arm will feel better almost immediately.
He told me it wasn't an emergency to get in, but I need to be careful. He said that if Tony and I were to leave and get in a car accident, Tony would walk away a little stiff and I would be paralyzed because my spinal cord is so compressed that there is no spinal fluid around the cord and so there is no cushion.
He said that in the past year he had two patients come to him that had my problem. They came to him through the emergency room. They were paralyzed. One guy was drunk and fell going into the bathroom and bumped his head on a wall. He was in his thirties and got some function back. The other patient was a lady that fell down a stair. It threw here head back fast and hard and WHAMO!
If my condition was left untreated there would be permanent spinal cord damage and paralysis. So I am a bit more nervous than I was and I am pretty freaked out about driving, but I am glad that it can be fixed. Dr. Huntsman's assitant came in to schedule the surgery. She said that the doctor does surgeries on Thursday but he would be willing to come in on this upcoming Friday. Unfortunately, I have to get things ready at work for our Fall classes.
So, surgery on September 3rd.
Here are pictures of my MRI.
The first picture is a side view of my neck.
These next pictures are looking down at my neck. It starts higher up where my spine is okay and works down to where it is NOT okay.
1 comment:
So I'm way behind on this issue. And you are probably recovering or in surgery right now. Good luck! I hope it all gets fixed and you're back to normal.
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