Continued from 'Another Annoying Angiogram'
After the angiogram ruled out my heart as the source of my shoulder pain and arm and hand numbness, I was left with no answers. I had a scheduled doctor appointment with Dr. Richard. I told him about my back neck and shoulder pain, along with my right shoulder rotator cuff tendinitis, and he said I should go back to my orthopedic doctor, Dr. David.
I took his advice and went to go see Dr. David. He ordered as x-ray of my neck and shoulder. When he came back into the room with the x-ray results he was shaking his head and said, 'You really have some problems here'. The way he said it, and the shaking of his head, I thought he was just joking. But he wasn't. He said that I had degenerative disc disease, and ordered an MRI.
10/5/09
I had an MRI done on my neck and back. I later found out that I did indeed have degenerative discs - six of them. Dr. David was out of town, so he couldn't recommend a neurosurgeon, so I found one on my own. I called to make an appointment, and they told me that I had to bring my MRI into the office. I had to fill out a questionnaire about my neck pain. They said a doctor would look at them and determine if they could help. A week later, they called and said that I could make an appointment with Dr. Mark. But they didn't have any openings 6 weeks. I made the appointment, but the pain was so bad, I had to find another doctor that would be able to see me before that.
10/26/09
I was finally able to get an appointment with the doctor that my sister used for a similar problem with her disc. Actually he isn't a doctor, but a Physicians Assistant. I didn't really care at this point, I just wanted to see somebody and get the pain to stop.
He came into the exam room and basically had the same reaction that Dr. Brinton had. It was like he had never seen anything like this. He took each of the MRI films and held it up to the viewing light and pointed out, and explained, all the problems. He pointed out the vertebrae in my neck and the discs that separate them. In my case, the discs had degenerated to the point where it looked like the vertebrae were touching in some areas. He also pointed out the bone spurs which grew on the ends of the vertebrae and were causing most of the pain. But the discs were not the only problem.
Steve also pointed to where the spinal cord was placed in a canal in the middle of the vertebrae. He pointed out where there was normal spacing surrounding the spinal cord, then showed me where there were some areas where there were no space at all between the spinal cord and the vertebrae. This is a problem.
After talking over my case, it was decided that I should see his partner who specializes in nerve and muscle damage due to disc degeneration.
10/30/09
Dr. Brent did some tests on my arm to help determine if I had any nerve or muscle damage to my arm. If there was no damage I could probably get away with just doing some therapy and medication. If there was nerve damage I would have to have an operation.
Deanna was there with me so I wouldn't have to repeat all the things that the doctor said and did. It also helped having her there so she could ask questions that I would have never thought of. He started by hooking me up to a machine that would run a small current through my arm. It measure the amount of time it took for the electrical impulse to run from my elbow area down my arm to where he had placed some receptors. He measured the distance and put that information into the machine so that he could get the proper measurements. After that test he did a similar test the measured how fast the muscles responded.
The end result is that I have nerve damage, and muscle damage in my left arm. I may also have some in my right, but he didn't test that arm. They said they would call a surgeon and together they could decide on the best solution. The doctor they made the appointment with??? Dr. Mark - the same doctor that I had made an appointment with earlier, but couldn't wait. And of course, like a good boy, I cancelled my appointment, so now I had to make a new one that was even further away than the one that I originally had.
10/02/2009
I finally got in to see Dr. Mark. Deanna went with me again to get the whole diagnosis. Before I went to his office he had me get another x-ray from the lab in the building next door. I then took the x-ray images, along with the MRI that I had from the earlier session, with me to the appointment.
About 15 minutes after my scheduled time, we were able to go back and wait some more in the exam room. This is the part of going to the doctor's office that I just hate. Not only do you have to wait in the waiting area, you then have to wait again in the exam room. We ended up waiting an additional 45 minutes. Heaven forbid if the doctor had some spare time between appointments. I have been known to walk out after waiting too long. Most the time I'm just there for a check up, so I can always come back, or go somewhere else. I have plenty of doctors to choose from. But in this case, he was a specialist. Not only that, but a good one, from what I hear, and I had to wait two months to see him, so walking out was not an option. But it makes you wonder how long people would wait. It would be interesting to do a study to see how long people would wait in an exam room after the nurse drops you off there, and you hear nothing more from anyone.
When he finally did come in, he had the x-rays and the MRI s with him. He said that mine was the worse case of degenerative disc disease that he had seen in over two years. For a doctor who specializes in degenerative disc disease, that's quite a few. He didn't waste anytime, and got right to the point. Although I had a choice, the only recommendation he had was that I have an operation to fix the problem. I had already seen three other doctors who obviously agreed by the fact that they sent me to see him. He was just there to confirm the obvious.
I have six discs that are bad, but I only have symptoms from the C-4 - T1 discs, so that is what he will repair. I asked him why he wouldn't fix the top three and he said that they don't do preventative work. He will only treat the problem that is showing symptoms. He said I may experience symptoms from the top three discs, and when I do, he will fix them at that time. He left no room for argument or debate. That is just the way they do it.
So my operation is set for December 22. And of course, now that I have the operation scheduled, I am not experiencing any symptoms or pain, other than weak muscles. But I'm sure the pain won't be gone forever. If I postpone the operation, and wait for the pain to come back, I may end up in pain for weeks before I am able to schedule another operation. Not only that, but since I have already met my out of pocket limit on my insurance, this operation won't cost me any out of pocket expense, whereas if I wait until next year, I would end up paying the 20% plus that the insurance doesn't cover.
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