Surgery

Last year on the 4th of July weekend I woke up with some pretty severe pain in my right shoulder, neck and arm. When I went to the Doctor and he sent me for an x-ray but he was pretty certain I had a slipped disc in my neck. He had me take some steroids to try and heal it and get rid of my pain and to also get MRI.

Well, I took the prescription...6 the first day, 5 the next,etc. The following Monday, after taking the whole scrip, I started experiencing a very weird feeling. It was like my brain was shutting down! I felt like I had to think about it to even breathe! I felt like I may even become unconscious! I had my husband take me to the emergency room because I was so scared about what was happening to me. I told them I felt like I was going to pass out. They drew blood, took my pulse, blood pressure and connected me to a heart monitor. It was very difficult to put into words what was wrong because my brain was not working right. Seriously! I thought I might be having a stroke but they could not find anything wrong! I slowly began feeling more and more normal so they sent me home and said to go see my regular Doctor.

It's funny sometimes how things happen, but on the way home from the hospital my doctor called me!

He said my MRI showed a slipped disc, a large bone spur and a fluid filled bubble in my spine called a syrinx. When I told him about my visit to the ER, he said that it's possible I was having a reaction to the steroids. He told me he wanted me to see a Neurosurgeon about what the MRI had shown.

The surgeon let me know right away that he was not overly concerned about the syrinx because I was not having any symptoms from it. What a big relief that was!

To treat my slipped disc, he had me go through a few weeks of physical therapy, a cortizone shot in my neck and then eventually surgery in November. The surgery went well he said, everything looked great! Only one problem, I said. My left thumb and part of my hand are numb! Hmmm he said. We'll keep an eye on that. At my first after surgery check-up, I let him know that I now had pain in my left arm and my hand was about a third numb. He told me to take my pills and come back in a few weeks. Lots of pain pills and muscle relaxers later he sent me back to the physical therapist cause there was nothing else he could do.

Luckily my PT did help me. She massaged muscles and had me do a very simple exercise that brought the feeling back in my hand. I got off those dang pills. Amazing! No pills and no pain!

Now back to work!
I went back to work for 2 weeks. Then I quit. I just couldn't do it! 9 hours a day with only 2, 20 minute breaks (no lunch break) They expected more work than what I had been doing 6 months earlier and truth is, my Fibro seems to have gotten worse during that 6 month time also. The fogginess and the fatigue were more than I could handle.