Patrick's Health
It's
been a LONG time since my last Update and I know that the lack of
correspondence has some of our customers worried about me. I
wasn't ignoring you -- really. After we had the heebeejeebees scared
out of us with the pulmonary embolism, we realized that we needed to
have a little more time for ourselves. So, as much as possible, we have
been leaving the store shortly after closing and enjoying some time
with each other and our pets. That means that some of our work has to
be put on the back burner. Sorry... Let
me first tell you that I am definitely on the mend. I still have a
little leg/foot pain from the blood clots but it gets better every
day. Since
my last Update, I've had more scans and tests for something other than
the blood clots. I mentioned it before but I'll recap for you. When
I was in the hospital, I felt a strange numbness in my left arm. I'm
pretty sure it didn't start in the hospital but lying there for four
days with nothing to think about except that I nearly died, I was a
little concerned each time I felt a small pain or any other feeling
that wasn't easily explained. Having
worked in hospitals myself, I knew that left arm numbness/tingling/pain
was a symptom of a heart attack so I reported it to my nurse. Of course
my vitals were normal so it wasn't my heart. The numbness eventually
went away but it also returned. Some days it was there, some days it
wasn't. I could tell it was becoming more pronounced though with the
intensity and frequency increasing each week. My
primary MD sent me to a neurologist and I was waiting for an
appointment with him when I wrote the last Update. I eventually saw him
twice, the second time he performed a nerve conduction study on my arms
but found nothing. He then referred me to have an MRI of my neck/spine. I
had the scan in late July on a Thursday. The following Monday evening
at 9 pm, the neurologist phoned us to tell me that the scan showed
something that he wasn't expecting. He said that I have a spinal
stenosis condition and that it appears to be worsening and that he
wanted me to visit a neurosurgeon. I
asked him many more questions and learned a little more. He said that a
stenosis is a narrowing of a passage in the body, in this case, my
spinal cord. This narrowing could easily be causing the numbness I was
feeling. So
the next day, I made my appointment with the neurosurgeon but I would
have to wait until the following Tuesday -- a week away. The
neurosurgeon was a little more help and he showed us the MRI of my
neck. He said that the 5th, 6th and 7th vertebrae in my neck are
growing into my spinal column and causing the stenosis and numbness
that I am feeling. He also said that it will continue to progress --
possibly causing paralysis in my extremeties. Currently, I have a mild
case and it can be corrected with surgery by reducing the bones that
are growing into my spinal column. However,
because I had the blood clots, I take an anti-coagulant every day to
keep my blood from clotting. So surgery is not possible right now
because if they cut me, I won't clot and I'll bleed to death. So,
we're in a "wait and watch" mode right now. A little nervous about what
is to come and noting some subtle changes that have already occurred --
My neck locks and pops in certain positions, which didn't happen
before. I also have to move my neck frequently (Like now, while I'm
typing this, I am watching the computer screen and my head is normally
still, but every few minutes I have to roll my head around, look around
and flex the muscles) or I feel a sharp, painful spasm. If
it continues to progress, I will probably have surgery on my spine
sometime in the future, whenever my doctor thinks it's safer for me to
take the risk. In
case you were wondering -- this neck thing has nothing to do with the
blood clot thing. They are completely unrelated. However, I don't think
I would have noticed the changes this early if I had not been lying in
the hospital bed. So maybe, the clots caused an earlier detection of a
serious condition. They call the condition Cervical Myelopathy. So that's the bad news. The good news is that no one ever dies from cervical myelopathy. Woo hoo! In
short, we're not too worried about it because preventing blood clots is
my primary concern right now. If it gets to the point that I can't type
this Update, then we have a problem. (FYI -- the neurosurgeon said that
the typing is a great thing to watch since it requires fine hand/eye
coordination. I am SO glad that I took typing class in high school!) Oh,
for those of you that keep asking about what caused my blood clots --
they never found a definitive answer. My mother had clots and one of my
sisters has had them so it is likely that my family is prone to
developing blood clots. Ya' gotta be good at something though, right? As for the myelopathy? Also congenital. Thanks for the continued good wishes and notes of concern.
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