Just a bit of an update here. Some medical stuff I've learned here. Don't wade thru it if it doesn't interest you. This is just what's happening with my back. It's the why and how.

I've been working pretty well. Real glad for that. I've had alot of pain in the afternoon and evenings though. The med routine of the past several months has been becoming less and less effective.

I had the additional MRI series I spoke of a few weeks ago. I went in for the results this weel ... and discussed them with my Specialist. Briefly; there's one or two good points. I'll start there. I have bad discs on four levels - the total of the Lumbar section of the spine (lower back). One of the levels actually showed minor improvement over MRI's taken two years ago. Yeah. The other three are worse. Ohhhhhh. One's really bad - with damage on the right and left sides. Another has significant damage on the left side. Those two levels account for most of my pain. The fourth is contributing, but not considered a big factor yet. An additional finding (which has never been mentioned before) is a congenital (born with it) condition called Spinal Stenosis. A verbebra has a front section, and a back section. They are connected by integral bone "straps" which connect front and rear sections ... and thus leave a hole in the middle for the spine. In several of my spinal sections, those bone straps are shorter than they should be. That means the space enclosed by the bone is smaller - creating a smaller hole for the spine ... which means I started out with a pre-disposed pinched condition to my spine. As I've aged, and the discs have degraded ... this made the space even tighter for the spine and nerve bundles which branch off of the spine, and go out between the vertebra.

The Dr. agreed with my other Specialist ... that lumbar surgery is still a crap shoot. And ... that a huge number of his chronic pain patients are the results of failed back surgeries. He said, when the proceedures fail to bring relief, the surgeons tell the patients, "that's all I can do to help you", and refer them to him. The surigal proceedures cannot be reversed. The discs are sort of "suspension" components. They cushion the bone segments ... but they also support he weight and provide stability. They are somewhat like a stale jelly donut. A tough sack skin, with a jell interior. You can't cut off the protruding parts, or you compromise the wall containing the jell center. They can insert a hot wire, and vaporize the interior jell, hoping to have the wall retract. However; removing jell compromises the support the disc provides to the bones resting above it. If there are bone spurs, you can nibble away at them ... but that's now my issue. Now ... if you remove a disc, you have to install a subsitute and then use metal appliances (rods, plates, screws) ... to take the place of the natural members, and to provide stability. When these things are installed, the body creates scar tissue which attaches to them. You are in it for the duration then. And, that scar tissue might contract or infringe upon the spaces which were created during surgery to provide clearance for nerve bundles. The body will not tolerate a "void" ... it will fill it in with scar tissue. You are quite likely then, to end up with your natural parts missing; rods, plates, bone grafts, and screws in their place ... and scar tissue welding the whole mass together ... while STILL pinching the nerves.

Therefore; we proceed as mapped out before. Medications were altered. And another course of epidural injections will start tomorrow morning. These place long needles (under live X-Ray) right into the bad disc joints ... in the spinal canal ... and then inject steriod anti-inflamitory drugs. That has an anti-swelling effect ... mechanically shrinking the tissue, and providing relief from the physical compression of the nerves. It can only be done so often (every several months) ... or it risks killing the surrounding bone. Lovely thought.

So; there ya have it. The Fibromyalgia is a condition which effects the nerves, causing pain and achiness. The Spinal Stenosis, I was born with ... it compresses the nerves and causes pain to the locations the nerves feed. The Degenerative Disc Desease causes the disc material to degrade and impinge upon the spaces reserved for the passage of the nerve bundles. That pinches the bundles, and causes pain. The steriod reduces swelling. The meds deaden the pain. And we wait for a better technique to correct the whole mess.

You know what I know now. Tomorrow's another day.

Gary

Gary,

Sounds like your docs have the right plan and are communicating the info in good detail. It is good that you understand that you are in the pain management stage and the big "cure" is not the right route. You will have ups and downs but your doc seems to be doing the right things.

All the best,

Kent

Thanks Doc,

I had the injections this morning. I wouldn't say the occasion rose to the category of "fun" ... ... but I survived, once again.

Quick story: I shuffle into the small operating theater there, in my lovely cotton gown and puffy hat. Get positioned up on the movable carriage for preping. Face peering thru the donut hole in the table, at the palm tree scene on a placemat someone thoughtfully put on the floor for the condemned to look at while screaming and gritting their teeth. And, I hear the nurses talking as they go about their tasks. "Which ones do you use for him?" The answer casually comes .... "We use two of the five inch."

Five inch? ...... FIVE INCH!!!!!

When the nurse wanders back to me ... I say, "did you say TWO of the FIVE INCH!!??" She says ... "no". I say ... "uh huh".

Lovely time ...

Gary

As someone with a serious needle phobia . . . man, that sounds like a special version of Hell to me.

The last thing they would have seen out the open window was my gown flapping in the breeze as I sprinted away across the lawn . . .

Hope you got some relief out of it!

-- Jim

Oh ... now I have to try to get THAT IMAGE out of my mind ...

You know, we artists have pretty graphic mental images ... the flapping gown isn't the only thing in that mental image .... THANKS.

hahaha

Gary

Eeeeek!! No offence to Jim but that's one mental picture I'm going to have to send to the recycle bin

Good luck with those looooong needles Gary, hope they do the trick...

Cheers

Neil

Don't worry Gary, I'm sure you misheard them. They probably meant something like 2 5 inch. Heck, that's barely past two feet long, and you're a big guy, right?

You'd think that with all the demand somebody would have come up with come aftermarket bushings for those disc things, wouldn't you? I mean, with any O-ring-style bushing you're gonna get some wear-and-tear issues, and the human spine is a pretty kludged design from a structural standpoint so they're under a lot of load. The problem with installing them would be a doozy though...would you slide them up from the bottom past your hipbone or stretch them around your skull and yank them down into place?

Once somebody figures out how to do a good patch and splice on the old spinal cord maybe we can just cut out the bad sections glue the rest back together. Sure...you'd get a bit shorter every time you had it done, but I guess you could just tuck your shirt in a bit further.

I'm glad to hear that you're making some progress, even if it doesn't seem like it at times. Getting stuck in the wide, grey spaces between medical options isn't often a fun place to be.

Hi Sean,

It sounds soooo simple, when you describe it!



Gary