By now you all know the rules to Just Jot January, but just in case here they are.
My jot for the day is to let you know how the consult went yesterday. I met with -let’s call him Dr Clay-who discussed my MRI with me and a potential treatment plan.
I came away from it feeling rather unresolved, yet relief is going to happen, in the form of medications first. At least I’ll be out of pain, but will that fix my gait? I still don’t know. Will I eventually have to have surgery? I don’t know, but I will have to consult with the spine team. And, I’m encouraged to seek a second opinion after that!
So basically, they are treating me with more steroids, a mild pain reliever, and a mild muscle relaxer (just for nighttime) so I’m not a zombie all day. No alcohol or CBD/THC while on all this medication. That would intensify the effects, and all I need is to be so out of it I fall or something.
Last night was the first dose of the pain pill and muscle relaxer combo. Woah! For mild, they knocked me out. I remember opening my eyes a few times and feeling like you do when you’re in recovery after surgery. Luckily, I didn’t need to get up and just went back to sleep. Once I shook the cobwebs loose this morning, I was fine.
I Can take a pain pill in the morning too, and then started my steroids also. I know from experience they help a lot, even though the Dr said back-to-back steroid treatment isn’t ideal, we don’t have a choice right now, because we have to get the inflammation down.
He is aware of my kidney disease, and that’s why he gave me mild medicine so it hopefully won’t hurt my kidneys like a bunch of nsaids would. I need another test to determine if what’s enlarged my liver is really cysts, but with my history, he thinks that’s probably the reason. They are everywhere, even the mass on my spine is a cyst. The stenosis is severe, and the usual treatment is to try to surgically widen the shrunken spaces to free the irritated nerves. We will see once I consult with the spine team.
It’s scary stuff. The intricacy of that kind of surgery would require skilled neurosurgeons, but can I trust the VA team or will I need to go outside the VA? I’ll keep ya posted on that one, or maybe I won’t need surgery at all! Sometimes the problem corrects itself. I hope I’m one of the lucky ones!
I still didn’t get a clear answer on how much I should be doing…taking it easy, or pushing myself to walk more. Maybe the spine team will help me answer that.
I know by my Pacer app, I got more steps in yesterday than I have in weeks!! However, I’m still struggling with the steps up into my home on wheels. I hope that gets better too. It’s all a wait and see. I’m remaining hopefully optimistic. 😊
Oh, one more thing. I changed the background color to make it easier for you all to see the links. Unfortunately, they still aren’t showing up well. Who knows the answer to fixing that?
Also, thanks to all that read my story within the blog post yesterday, and if you voted for it, I appreciate ya!! I’ll keep you posted on the winner -we will know Friday!
Twisted Trunk Travels 
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