March 07, 2005
"Extensive Arthritis & Fracture in the C-7 vertebra..."
Well, now I understand why I'm in so much pain.
Dr. B assures me that the fracture is "stable" and that it's one of those caused by spasming ligaments tearing away pieces of the bone. Hmm...never heard of that before. She says watching Tomas is okay; I just have to be careful not to lift him too much. She did tell me, though, that I needed to go see an orthopod specializing in spinal cord and gave me the name of a doctor who (hopefully) won't make me wait. She didn't want me to see the specialist at the orthopod practice I've been to and am familiar with because the wait for an appointment would be too long.
So ... are the spasms from the fracture or from the arthritis? That's something the orthopod will have to tell me as well as a better way to manage the pain. Arthritis...does that get worse or just something I'm stuck with?
Understanding why really makes a big difference though. Fear contributes to pain, y'know?
1. It sure is hard to relax when you are in pain.
2. Happiness is when corned beef went on sale at three different stores on Sunday.
3. Linda made a wise choice not to drink and drive Friday. It was still weird to wake up Saturday and not see the car there ... kind of nerve wracking.
4. Kennan's a pretty decent friend for driving Linda home and then driving her back to get my car.
5. I realized that Billy is going to be 18 in just two months AND he is going to graduate high school in three!
6. I better start organizing something to celebrate!
7. Waiting to hear back about test results is stressful
8. When will it be spring?
9. There weren't any great movies to see this weekend.
10. Tennessee is too fricking far away from NJ!
11. It's easier to keep track of money when it's in the bank instead of in your pocket
12. How come two meds that work for me don't combine well? I had to choose between prozac and tramadol ... because the combination might be making my spasms worse
Where are you going my little one, little one
Where are you going my baby my own
Turn around and you?re two
Turn around and you?re four
Turn around and you?re a young man
Going out of the door
What is on your nightstand right now?
My CPAP machine, a lamp, bottles of skin lotion and perfume, a basket full of "stuff" like nail clippers, and my alarm clock
Is there any responsibility that you have right now in your life that you would like to be rid of permanently?
Paying the bills ... doesn't everyone want to be rid of that one?
Posted by Cassie at March 7, 2005 09:01 PMOOF -- hadn't seen this one yet when I responded to the other one about your C-7.
IF its any help what they told me regarding both knees and spine was that once you are injured, no matter how young you were when it happened, you will develop injury related arthritis. AND how you compensate matters; compensating for a weakness in one area can set off protests and pain in areas you're now overstressing. Keeping fingers crossed that that might be part of your answer and someone in PT can offer suggestions that will help the pain and spasms.
Hope I'm not coming off as too "know it all" about this. Like you, I wanted to KNOW what was going on, so I asked a lot of questions and did a lot of reading up after I was told things. Hope some of it is helpful to you.
Jeannie
Posted by: Jeannie at March 19, 2005 04:33 PMThanks for playing!
Posted by: KB at March 8, 2005 02:10 AM