I haven’t shared the story of my neck injury and all that has happened since then on this here blog, so now I’m going to condense it and stick with the main points.
June 29, 2010
• At the pool with our friends Kelly and Drake, Charlie is having a ball leaping off the side of the pool over and over…and over…so I ask him to take a break for a little while.
• I stay in the same position as when I was catching Charlie, but have turned my attention to Kelly and don’t see my little boy getting out of the water and running to the side of the pool again.
• Charlie jumps to me, this time landing on my head. I immediately feel a couple of painful crunches, but am more concerned about Charlie, so I hold him on my head, get into a steadier position and pick him up off of my head to make sure he’s okay.
• The lifeguard comes over, very concerned because he saw what happened and could tell it probably hurt. Kelly and Drake aren’t sure how to react, because I’m not reacting other than to comfort my crying son, who had his breath knocked out of him for a few seconds.
• We sit for a few minutes then I pack up all of our stuff, and carry it AND Charlie to the car, who is still upset. I notice for the first time that I can’t hold my shoulders straight.
• Lots and lots of pain. I decide the next day to call a chiropractor. (Looking back, I clearly didn’t take my pain seriously enough to go to the ER or a Neurologist, but every step in this process turned out to be a good one because of that amazing chiropractor.)
• Chiropractor is quite concerned and sends me immediately for x-rays. (And thankfully doesn’t try to do any kind of adjustment.) I return to him the next day after he’s gotten the results of the x-rays. He refers me to a non-surgical spine doctor because he knows that this situation is beyond what chiropractic care can help.
• Spinal doctor gives me glorious pain medicine and schedules me for a nerve conduction study. I have my first freak-out because I’ve had that before and it is painful and awful and just plain mean.
• I should add here that from the beginning, I have diagnosed the problem as an issue in the C6-C7 vertebra area and that my ulnar nerve is pinched. More like completely squashed. I tell this to every doctor I see, who is impressed with my knowledge but has to do all the stupid tests to diagnose it themselves anyway.
• I should also mention that I’d barely slept a wink since the incident occurred, because lying down induced the most pain of any position.
• Spine doc confirms my diagnosis and schedules me for an MRI.
• MRI shows the slipped disk and squashed ulnar nerve that couldn’t be seen with x-ray and schedules me for an epidural.
• Epidural isn’t comfortable but isn’t too bad either. The numbing shot hurt worse than anything else.
• Epidural does nothing to relieve my pain.
• Nerve doc refers me to a Neurosurgeon.
• Neurosurgeon looks over everything and says that I am the perfect candidate for surgery to remove the slipped disc.
• I immediately schedule the surgery. It will be a Microdiscectomy. After many sleepless nights, all of my research on neck treatments has informed me that there aren’t really any other options after an epidural other than surgery. And I’m stoked to finally be getting fixed!
• I should also mention here that Every Single Person I have dealt with, from the chiropractor and his staff to the Spinal Doctor and his staff and the Neurosurgeon and his staff and the imaging people have been WONDERFUL!!!!!! I would highly recommend all of them. Nothing is better than working with good – no Great – medical professionals.
• And then I have pre-op at North Fulton Hospital, and everyone there is awesome! Very weird. Too many nice people. That’s not normal.
• My Dad and I laugh over the list of diagnoses that one might have if they are getting a Microdiscectomy…one is Ridiculopathy, which is basically a pinched nerve. Ridiculopathy…SO Harry Potter.
July 29, 2010
• Surgery is performed on my neck. Upon awakening I learn that instead of one disc being removed, the surgeon removed TWO discs and removed bone spurs on three vertebrae.
• During the next week, I develop a rash from an allergic reaction to the Dermabond used to seal my incision, and my neck looks awful! It itches and hurts and looks disgusting. Plus, I’m hurting a lot. Charlie is at his grandparents’ house and my mom is staying with me.
• I go back to the doctor twice about my incision, and now I’m on steroids and antibiotics to help the allergic reaction.
• I’m still not sleeping well, obviously because my neck hurts.
But what I really want to talk about is how many GOOD things have come from all of this. Because of my injury, I realized how many people I have in my life that are ready to jump in and do what they can to help out. My friends helped with Charlie, my family helped with Charlie, my friends have brought me meals, I get phone calls and emails and Facebook messages wishing me well. Family members have stayed at my house to help. And all of those medical people were so wonderful! There is so much to be thankful for that I really haven’t spent much time feeling negative. It has been easier than I would have imagined to be positive.
Of course, I can’t wait to have my life back and get to be Charlie’s Normal Mommy again and jump back into all of our awesome activities. And be able to bend over and pick things up. Oh, and sleep!
So that’s it in a nutshell. Here are the fabulous medical professionals I highly recommend:
Dr. Robert Schlampp, Chiropractor
Dr. Jay Bender, Pain Specialist, Spinal Doctor
Dr. Charles Weaver, Neurosurgeon
Frankenansley (Taken prior to allergic reaction…you DO NOT want to see that.) (Credit for mean nickname goes to Kelly Howton and Brooke Parmer)
