I had a second MRI on my spine and following my doctor's instructions, I called his office to make a follow up appointment so we could discuss the results. When I called the office, I had a little disagreement with the scheduler. She insisted that I make the appointment with the physician's assistant and assured me that he can give me the results with as much confidence as the doctor. I argued that I wanted to see Dr. Perlewitz but she was not going to budge so I took the appointment with the PA.
Funny thing, that same evening the doctor's office called me back. They got the radiology report back from the MRI and very gently insisted that I come in to see the doctor directly and offered me an appointment much sooner than the one I originally made. The person who called was soft spoken and was trying to break it to me gently that the results were pretty serious. I reassured her that I suspected the same and not to worry, I understood and it's OK.
In the doctor's office, I took one look at the image and I could very easily see that two of my discs, L4 and L5 are grey and the rest are white. The doctor went on to explain that's because the discs are worn down and there is no cushion between the vertebrae. Plus there is a natural curve in the spine and those vertebrae are pushed in where the discs are worn down. On another view, the MRI showed that the vertebrae are wearing away as well. Diagnosis: Congenital Degenerative Disc Disease. So my first question was does that mean my original diagnosis of Osteoarthritis is incorrect? The answer was no, it was correct, so I have that too. It also means that there are drastic changes between my first MRI and this new one. My spine is wearing away and without a fusion and laminectomy, I am putting the surrounding vertebrae at risk because of the increased pressure on them. In fact a third vertebrae is also wearing away now as well. There was to be no 3 options, only 1; surgery. Then the doctor says, by the way, we found a cyst on your ovary during the MRI so you might want to contact your primary care physician about that. Geez.
Once that discussion was completed I mentioned to the surgeon that since October, I've been waking up in the middle of the night and my arms are numb, like they've fallen asleep. I made an assumption that it was stress related. I also mentioned that when I turn quickly I have a sharp pain in the center of my back that takes my breath away. I made another assumption that it had something to do with my disc issues. He suggested we x-ray my neck while I am still in his office because there's no way pain that high in my back would be related to L4 and L5 in my lower spine. So we got a quick x-ray and the doctor could instantly see that the vertebrae at C7 was also pushed in. He ordered an MRI to see if the degeneration was also happening at that level.
Once the surgery stuff sunk in, without hesitation, my husband and I looked at each other and practically in harmony said set it up! The doctor suggested we take some time to think about it because it is very serious surgery. We convinced him there was nothing to think about, we have to fix this. So he sent us to the office of his surgical scheduler where we had a long talk about the process. We left the office with the surgery date selected and the plan was that I had to make an appointment with my primary care physician for a pre-op physical, make an appointment with Dr. Perlewitz's general surgeon who participates in the surgery for a pre-op visit and then I would come back to Dr. Perlewitz's office where we would discuss the surgery in great detail and go over the neck MRI results.
Chloe pretty much opened all the presents whether they were hers or her sister's. And Bailee loved the cool California designer looks that the girls were now sporting. After we hung out at the house for a while we drove over to Burgey's Pub & Prime for some late lunch and some good Wisconsin craft beer - something Lauren misses in California. The bar very recently opened so it was pretty quiet which was great for letting the girls run around. 
It was a wonderful Christmas visit. During the week that Lauren was in town, it snowed and the weather went from the high 20s to a frigid below zero. She got a good reminder of how nice it is to live in a warmer climate.
Today is our annual visit to the VA Hospital (the Clement Zablocki Medical Center to be exact). My church's quilt group, Sweet Sundays made a bunch of lap quilts for me to take along. Since we visit the spinal cord unit, most who are there are wheelchair bound so it is a nice useful gift for these veterans. Every year I make little treat bags in Christmas colors. I fill them with Hershey's Hugs and Kisses. That way, if these patients really aren't supposed to have sweets, this tiny little amount shouldn't really hurt. It's not much but they do look pretty.
The staff at the hospital are always thrilled when we visit. Some of their patients are far from home so they don't get many visitors. So we are glad to help. We broke up into groups and went from room to room wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and thanked them for their service. Many wanted to chat. We stayed as long as we could and listened to their stories. 
These patients have spinal cord injuries, some severe, most unable to ever walk again. Funny thing, they never want to talk about why they are there. No conversations about surgeries, medical procedures or pain and suffering. They only want to talk about where they are from, what branch of the service they were in and their military experiences. I find that amazing. And inspiring. 
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