Not looking good...
Neuro surgeon appointment scheduled -- March 10
MRI tomorrow morning.
If it is a compressed spine (and all signs point to yes) -- I don't think I avoid surgery -- and soon.
I mean -- he found the positive Hoffmann's signs on both hands, but online there are other tests as well:
Arms out, palms upwards, eyes closed -- mine tilt inwards and sometimes the right arm drifts down
Escaping finger -- worse after I open/close fists a few times, but pinkies definitely drift away from the other fingers even if I start with them together.
Heel to toe walking -- not. But then again, I've never had a great sense of balance and I was probably never totally smooth.
Pain (less worrisome, I think) sure.. neck, down to right shoulderblade -- was upper arms between elbows and shoulders, but not so much -- more a tired, heavy feeling on the right if I use it alot. Also a weird burning pain on the back of my left achilles that started around the same time, but no idea if related and I forgot to ask at my appointment.
Numbness/tingling -- yeah, particularly when laying down, and not the normal down the pinky/ring finger on the right I've always had (ulnar nerve), but fingertips themselves. Arms/hands feel kind of like someone whacked my funny bone.
Dropping/clumsiness/fine motor skills compromise -- I MEAN, I AM ME. Hahaha. Seriously, yeah I think I drop things more? Like taking pills for example. And I tried to write a list yesterday and it was uncomfortable, hard to shape letters at times.
Ugh.
I do not want the risk of surgery with the blood clotting issue, and I do not have the time at work for surgery, and our house remodel starts Monday so our bedroom is upstairs for the next 6 months also.
But not sure I will have a choice. If I ranked as severe (and I don't think I do) then cervical myelopathy (official name for compressed spine in neck) is emergency surgery. If I counted as mild (and I don't think I do), conservative management is possible. If I fall into moderate category (my best guess, if this IS compression of my spine in the neck), then surgery will be recommended to halt progression, but not considered emergency, either. Progression can be halted, and maybe some of the things if they haven't existed for too long will reverse -- but surgery isn't done to reverse symptoms, just to keep them from getting worse.
Seriuosly, no one else seems to have the constant stream of things that I do.
MRI tomorrow morning.
If it is a compressed spine (and all signs point to yes) -- I don't think I avoid surgery -- and soon.
I mean -- he found the positive Hoffmann's signs on both hands, but online there are other tests as well:
Arms out, palms upwards, eyes closed -- mine tilt inwards and sometimes the right arm drifts down
Escaping finger -- worse after I open/close fists a few times, but pinkies definitely drift away from the other fingers even if I start with them together.
Heel to toe walking -- not. But then again, I've never had a great sense of balance and I was probably never totally smooth.
Pain (less worrisome, I think) sure.. neck, down to right shoulderblade -- was upper arms between elbows and shoulders, but not so much -- more a tired, heavy feeling on the right if I use it alot. Also a weird burning pain on the back of my left achilles that started around the same time, but no idea if related and I forgot to ask at my appointment.
Numbness/tingling -- yeah, particularly when laying down, and not the normal down the pinky/ring finger on the right I've always had (ulnar nerve), but fingertips themselves. Arms/hands feel kind of like someone whacked my funny bone.
Dropping/clumsiness/fine motor skills compromise -- I MEAN, I AM ME. Hahaha. Seriously, yeah I think I drop things more? Like taking pills for example. And I tried to write a list yesterday and it was uncomfortable, hard to shape letters at times.
Ugh.
I do not want the risk of surgery with the blood clotting issue, and I do not have the time at work for surgery, and our house remodel starts Monday so our bedroom is upstairs for the next 6 months also.
But not sure I will have a choice. If I ranked as severe (and I don't think I do) then cervical myelopathy (official name for compressed spine in neck) is emergency surgery. If I counted as mild (and I don't think I do), conservative management is possible. If I fall into moderate category (my best guess, if this IS compression of my spine in the neck), then surgery will be recommended to halt progression, but not considered emergency, either. Progression can be halted, and maybe some of the things if they haven't existed for too long will reverse -- but surgery isn't done to reverse symptoms, just to keep them from getting worse.
Seriuosly, no one else seems to have the constant stream of things that I do.