01-02-2009, 02:29 PM
Hello Everyone,
First I want to wish all of you a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The holidays were not good for me at all. The Friday before Christmas I got a phone call from my mother and she needed me to go see about her. When I arrived I found her on the floor. She had woke up and needed to have a bowel movement and she could not get to the bathroom. She fell several times and had mess all over the place. I did find her on the floor and she had finally got to the phone had tried several attempts at calling me but could not even dial the number until she finally did get it right. I had to drag her from the living room to the bathroom, put in in the tub and bath her, drug her back out and got her setteled and clean all the mess she had all over. Her legs had just gone totally out on her. I stayed with her on Saturday and all she did was sleep. On Sunday, I called the ambulance and had her taken in to the hospital because she could not breath. She was admitted with pneumonia, her muscle enzymes had shot up to 3000 and should have been less than 200, this is why her legs were like they were. She was discharged from the hospital on Christmas day. The day before I had it out with one of the doctors that was taking care of her as he wanted to send her home Tuesday and I told him she was not well enough. Well Christmas eve I came home to sleep that night and left my sister with her. Sure enough the doctor discharged her just like he wanted to do on Christmas eve. He also had the nerve to ask my sister where the other sister was. My sister asked him twice if he thought mom was well enough to go home and he said yes, but with someone to stay with her and monitor her meds. He also told my sister that if she fell he did not want the other sister (me) hunting him down if she fell and broke a hip. I went to stay with mom the night she was discharged on Christmas and the next day I had to call the ambulance again to take her back to the hospital. This time she was in congestive heart failure. In fact I know she was discharged from the hospital with that because of the weight they got when they weighed her. They never bothered to take another chest X-Ray before she left other than the inital X-Ray she had the Sunday before Christmas trip to the ER. They kept her in the hospital until Tuesday. I had to go looking at nursing home facilities for a short term stay for her so they can get her built back up and do some rehab with her. She is also severly anemic and her kidneys are not producing red blood cells so they have started her on Procrit. She is already in Stage 3 renal failure but no dialysis because she is not at the end stage. I found a facility and she went there Tuesday and I have been back and forth at the nursing home everyday. Yesterday was her 74th birthday. One of the other doctors told us there is nothing more that can be done for her physically. She has severe COPD, tricuspid and aortic heart valve severly damaged and cannot have surgery to replace them due to her COPD. I guess it is just a matter of time as to when God will want her. I am doing all that I can and can't do. Please pray for her.
As you all know I used my own insurance and had my MRI done. The results were:
1. At L2-3 there is disc dessication and mild bulging and mild spondylosis anteriorly.
2. At L3-4 disc dessication and disc space narrowing. There is mild foraminal narrowing more pronounced on the left.
3. At L4-5 there is disc dessication and disc space narrowing with a moderate sized disc extrusion paracental to the left effacing the thecal sac. This was not present on the last study. This does extend out into the neural foramen on the left causing a degree of foraminal stenosis.
4. At L5-S1 there is disc dessication and disc space narrowing and again there is an apparent disc extrusion paracentral to the left with inferior extension. Compared to last study were some soft tissue changes here, findings here now are more pronounced with more deformity of the thecal sac and the appearance is most consistent with a recurrent disc herniation here.
Impression: Recurrent disc extrusion L4-5 paracentral to the left.
Recurrent disc extrusion L5-S1 paracentral to the left
with inferior extension.
Pending the approval of WC againnnnnnnn, I have an appointment scheduled with my neurosurgeon on Jan.13th.
They also stated they could not use the contrast because of the chronic kidney failure this would have been more helpful. Never the less, based on the findings compared to earlier study, appearance is quite suspicious for recurrent herniations at L4-5 and L5-S1. If warranted further assessment with CT and CT myelography could be done.
All this does not look good for me as I feel surgery will be warranted once again. I will know more if I get to the neuro as scheduled without WC delays on the 13th.
I will not be on very much as I have not been able to be. I will try to keep you posted as soon as I can. Thanks for all the prayers. My love to all of you today and forever.
Cajun Hugssssssssss,
MJC
First I want to wish all of you a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The holidays were not good for me at all. The Friday before Christmas I got a phone call from my mother and she needed me to go see about her. When I arrived I found her on the floor. She had woke up and needed to have a bowel movement and she could not get to the bathroom. She fell several times and had mess all over the place. I did find her on the floor and she had finally got to the phone had tried several attempts at calling me but could not even dial the number until she finally did get it right. I had to drag her from the living room to the bathroom, put in in the tub and bath her, drug her back out and got her setteled and clean all the mess she had all over. Her legs had just gone totally out on her. I stayed with her on Saturday and all she did was sleep. On Sunday, I called the ambulance and had her taken in to the hospital because she could not breath. She was admitted with pneumonia, her muscle enzymes had shot up to 3000 and should have been less than 200, this is why her legs were like they were. She was discharged from the hospital on Christmas day. The day before I had it out with one of the doctors that was taking care of her as he wanted to send her home Tuesday and I told him she was not well enough. Well Christmas eve I came home to sleep that night and left my sister with her. Sure enough the doctor discharged her just like he wanted to do on Christmas eve. He also had the nerve to ask my sister where the other sister was. My sister asked him twice if he thought mom was well enough to go home and he said yes, but with someone to stay with her and monitor her meds. He also told my sister that if she fell he did not want the other sister (me) hunting him down if she fell and broke a hip. I went to stay with mom the night she was discharged on Christmas and the next day I had to call the ambulance again to take her back to the hospital. This time she was in congestive heart failure. In fact I know she was discharged from the hospital with that because of the weight they got when they weighed her. They never bothered to take another chest X-Ray before she left other than the inital X-Ray she had the Sunday before Christmas trip to the ER. They kept her in the hospital until Tuesday. I had to go looking at nursing home facilities for a short term stay for her so they can get her built back up and do some rehab with her. She is also severly anemic and her kidneys are not producing red blood cells so they have started her on Procrit. She is already in Stage 3 renal failure but no dialysis because she is not at the end stage. I found a facility and she went there Tuesday and I have been back and forth at the nursing home everyday. Yesterday was her 74th birthday. One of the other doctors told us there is nothing more that can be done for her physically. She has severe COPD, tricuspid and aortic heart valve severly damaged and cannot have surgery to replace them due to her COPD. I guess it is just a matter of time as to when God will want her. I am doing all that I can and can't do. Please pray for her.
As you all know I used my own insurance and had my MRI done. The results were:
1. At L2-3 there is disc dessication and mild bulging and mild spondylosis anteriorly.
2. At L3-4 disc dessication and disc space narrowing. There is mild foraminal narrowing more pronounced on the left.
3. At L4-5 there is disc dessication and disc space narrowing with a moderate sized disc extrusion paracental to the left effacing the thecal sac. This was not present on the last study. This does extend out into the neural foramen on the left causing a degree of foraminal stenosis.
4. At L5-S1 there is disc dessication and disc space narrowing and again there is an apparent disc extrusion paracentral to the left with inferior extension. Compared to last study were some soft tissue changes here, findings here now are more pronounced with more deformity of the thecal sac and the appearance is most consistent with a recurrent disc herniation here.
Impression: Recurrent disc extrusion L4-5 paracentral to the left.
Recurrent disc extrusion L5-S1 paracentral to the left
with inferior extension.
Pending the approval of WC againnnnnnnn, I have an appointment scheduled with my neurosurgeon on Jan.13th.
They also stated they could not use the contrast because of the chronic kidney failure this would have been more helpful. Never the less, based on the findings compared to earlier study, appearance is quite suspicious for recurrent herniations at L4-5 and L5-S1. If warranted further assessment with CT and CT myelography could be done.
All this does not look good for me as I feel surgery will be warranted once again. I will know more if I get to the neuro as scheduled without WC delays on the 13th.
I will not be on very much as I have not been able to be. I will try to keep you posted as soon as I can. Thanks for all the prayers. My love to all of you today and forever.
Cajun Hugssssssssss,
MJC