Neck Pain

8/15/2008

Some of you asked for it so here are the details of my back saga:

My upper back has always had some sort of tension/pain for as long as I can remember. I have always just assumed that it was muscle tension due to always sitting at a computer. While I am sure that is part of the problem it turns out that I have degenerating disks and bone spurs.

I had been going to the chiropractor. Then on July 14th I went to the chiropractor and I was told that my insurance allowed 20 visits per year and I had already used them up. I became a little frantic. I started to ponder alternatives. The first thing I did was call the insurance and ask about more visits. The lady was very nice. She asked about my condition. Then she said, if you have been going to the chiropractor enough to use up 20 visits, why aren't you getting any better. It might be time to get another opinion. I sent a text message to our friend Paul Winterton, an orthopedic surgeon. I can't remember how I figured it out, but I realized I would need an MRI if any orthopedic c-spine doctor met with me. I called my primary care physician, Michael Schaelling and asked him to order an MRI for me.

In the mean time I started getting acupuncture. Paul gave me the names of two c-spine specialists to call. I called and made appointments with them.

I had the MRI on July 21st. I got the results on the 23rd. When Dr. Schaelling's office called me they said I would need surgery. When I forwarded the results to Paul he said I would need surgery.

I finally had my first appointment with Dr. Adelman on 7/31. By the time I got to that appointment I was living on 2 Percocet plus 2 cyclobenzaprine every 4 hours. The pain in my arm was excruciating. Tony and Karen went with me to the appointment. Dr. Adelman is part of the "Smart Clinic" which is a clinic devoted to minimally-invasive solutions to back problems. He went on and on about how most people don't need surgery and how scary surgery is and how disks can get better and repair themselves. He pretty much scared Tony and Karen after he drew a picture of how surgery would put a titanium plate in my back. I finally told him I didn't care if they put a plate in my back. I had tried every type of treatment and therapy and it hadn't helped. He said he wanted to give me an epidural steroid injection and then follow up with me. We went into the procedure room. They prepped me for the shot and then the power went out.

I had to go back on Monday, August 4th. I got the shot and it didn't immediately help. I hoped it would be a miracle. I did relieve some of the pain in my arm later in the day for about 12 hours. Then it came back.

Dr. Adelman sent me to the physical therapist that is part of the "Smart Clinic". The therapist (Jill) opened my chart sent over from Dr. Adelman and right there at the top in his handwriting it said, "Surgery needed"...What the $%&*! He did this big frickin' song and dance about how I should try to avoid surgery and he writes that on my chart?!? Jill kindly asked, "Why did he send you to me?" I told her I didn't know. She talked to me for at least 30 minutes going over all of my symptoms and all of the things I had tried to help it. She said, "I think you just need surgery". Then she read the report on my MRI. Her eyes got big and she said, "You need surgery", there isn't anything we can do to improve you. There are things that we can do temporarily to help the pain. She let me go into their traction unit. I could control the amount of traction. She said to pay attention to how much it took to alleviate the pain in my arm. It took 25-30 pounds of pressure! Jill told me that most of her patients that had neck surgery were so happy with it they couldn't believe it. She said neck surgery takes a fraction of the recovery time of normal back surgery. She said I probably wouldn't even need to wear a brace. Jill also told me that sometimes epidural steroid shots can take up to 10 days to help.
Tuesday, August 12th my arm stopped hurting. I still have a lot of pain and tension in my neck, but that is normal for me. So here I sit on August 14th. I have had four professionals tell me I need surgery (Paul, Dr. Schaelling, Jill and secretly Dr. Adelman). I have an appointment with a surgeon (Dr. Kade Huntsman) on Monday, August 18th. I am getting so excited to go it feels like I am waiting for Christmas. I have been told my Dr. Huntsman's assistant that I probably won't be able to get in for surgery until the first week of September.

So there you have it. I am feeling pretty good today.