Out of commission

Sorry I haven't been on here, not that I am usually that good at posting often. But it is because of the fact that I am in serious pain.


What we thought was cervical radiculopathy has turned out to be was worse. I had an MRI done on my neck last week and the results came back on Friday. Apparently I have Multi-level Cervical Spondylosis which apparently is a fancy way of saying real bad arthritis in the neck. Here is exactly what my MRI showed.


C2/C3 is unremarkable


C3/4 there is a mild bulge and bilateral uncovertebral hypertrophy. This causes mild bilateral neural foraminal stenosis and minimal narrowing of central spinal canal. See this link for explanation.


C4/5 there is a mild disc bulge present and minimal narrowing of the neural foramina.


C5/6 there is a moderate disc bulge with a small central disc herniation. Uncovertebral hypertrophy also noted. This results in moderate central spinal canal stenosis with flattening of the spinal cord. There is also moderate to sever bilateral neural foranimal stenosis.


C6/7 mild disc bulge without central spinal canal or neural foraminal stenosis


C7/T1 normal


Impression: Multi-level cervical Spondylosis. This is most severe at C5/6 where there is a central disc herniation also present. This results in moderate central spinal canal stenosis and moderate to severe bilateral neural foraminal stenosis.


So it doesn't look good. Lets put it this way. I have MASSIVE amounts of pain going from my neck down through my collar bone and shoulder blade to my shoulder and slightly down my back. From my shoulder (and all through it) down my arm to just past my elbow and all through it. The from about 3/4 the way up my forearm down to my fingers is constantly numb and tingling. With my thumb and the 2 fingers beside it being numb and tingling. Let not forget the spasms of pain in all locations. So ya...its been FUN!! NOT!!!!!


So basically my Dr. told me was that basically you have "X" amount of space in your neck, and I only have about half of the normal amount of space. Every bone in my neck is way smaller than it should be and every disc is bulging. The pathologist told my Dr that looking at my MRI he wouldn't have known that it was of a 31 year old woman. He said it looked like a woman in her mid sixties. This kind of thing usually appears in men in their 40 but not usually in women until their 50's or later. WOW, do I have good luck or what???

I have been on all sorts of pain meds over the last two weeks, like morphine (long lasting and fast acting), oxycotin, oxycet, T3's just to name a few. And right now I am on the Fentynal patch I was on 25 mcg now I am on 37.5mcg and will be going up to 50mcg tomorrow. Along with the patch I am on 20 mg of morphine every 4 hours or as needed. Also muscle relaxants at night (so I can sleep) and 900mg of gabapentin (nerve meds) threes tines a day. Oh and arthrotec which is a anti inflammatory twice a day. Yup, I'm a massive pill popper!!


It sounds like a huge amounts of medicine, and it is but you would not believe how harsh the pain is. I told James the other night that it was almost like having contractions in my arm...but worse!! It SUCKS!!




Needless to say I am off work right now on sick leave. The Dr's plan on me staying on sick leave until after we leave. The Base Surgeon and my Dr here are already talking to the Base Surgeon over in Borden so that I have a MO as soon as I get there and get assigned to a temporary medical category (work restrictions in civilian terms). My Dr. here thinks that I may be on sick leave for a month or two until they can get me into a neuro surgeon and what they are going to do with me. Mr Dr here is going to talk with the MO there and see if they can get the referral into a neurosurgeon before I even get there in hopes that at least will get the ball rolling so there isn't so much of a wait once I get there. We will see.


So basically now, I am to stay on the meds to control my pain and wait to see what happens once I get to Ontario.

I have done some reading on this and nothing has been very comforting. I have read that if left untreated I could be looking at a wheelchair. But then I also read that even with treatment I could possibly be looking at a wheelchair. But of course there is a chance that could happen no matter what but there is also a chance that things could work out but I guess that I am freaking out because if my neck looks this bad at 31 what will it look like at 40 ? or older? I guess I can only wait and see.

I probably won't post again before we leave seeing how the computer will probably be packed on Wednesday or Thursday and we won't be in our new place until 1 Nov. So if I don't talk to you before then...I will talk to you some time after that.

Cheers, and I hope all of you are better than me :)