Living in limbo

[fortitudine]

I am what Mark calls an"outlier" - not typical of spine patients. He asked me to post my latest findings, just to prove that there are no right answers!

Five years ago, I was diagnosed with moderate to severe cord compression at c3/4/5 and DDD everywhere. I was advised to have surgery immediately by several NS. However, the slight symptoms I had disappeared. My own local NS eventually agreed that there was no urgency, a good thing as he proposed a very drastic preventive multi-level fusion.

However I had meanwhile found Mark and Dr. Bertagnoli who advised that surgery was probably a good idea and recommended a much less invasive surgery. Various circumstances forced me to postpone the surgery with him several times over a 2 year period. As I was feeling 100 percent I asked if perhaps I might avoid surgery for a while and was given a cautious green light to "watchfully wait".

I just had an update from Dr.B./F.M. who advised that while there did not appear to be any progression on my latest MRI, the degeneration is usually progressive - i.e. at some point I will have to bite the bullet. In the meantime, I should continue having an annual MRI and sending it to them to review.

I'm physically active and haven't changed my lifestyle at all. So - here I am, watchfully waiting and spending a lot of time in denial!

[sahuaro]

Puzzling but wonderful, Fortitudine. What tipped the balance for me were changes in my EMG and subtle but increasing weakness in my arm, rather than visible MRI changes. So I hope that you will have follow-up neuro evals as well as annual MRI's. With luck, you won't have to bite the bullet for many more years if ever!

[Cindylou]

fortitudine,

I'm showing my ignorance here, but I still don't understand what "outlier" means. If you were having no symptoms, what lead you to a doctor 5 years ago to begin with? If I had no symptoms, I would be skipping the lights fantastic, no matter what the MRI or Cat Scan were showing, so you must have had some "symptoms" to even be given a "diagnosis." Are you following me? It's late. I'm tired, granted. So forgive me not understanding this. But, I would be lassoing the moon if I had no symptoms, irregardless what the MRI/Cat Scan revealed. What am I missing here? Unless I were shitting myself or peeing myself, who gives a ripping, roaring f___ what the tests show? Forgive my french!

Cindylou

[Terry Allen Blackburn]

An outlier is someone who falls outside of the norm of what the tests or procedures would normally dictate as a usual course of action. It is on the outside, of a bell curve, in a normal statistical variance.

I hope that is as clear as mud.

I hope this continues for you where you are a continual outlier.

Terry Newton

[Cindylou]

Thank-you Terry!

Cindylou

[dshobbies]

I'm envious. I only wish my symptoms hadn't become severe. I think I would have been content to live with limited pain/disability but my symptoms were quite definitive.

Knowing what I know now, I'd put off surgery as long as possible/probable.

Good going!