Ginsu

My sense of direction is a very falliable thing. And Tuesday morning was no exception. I headed out the door to go to the surgeon's office for the initial consultation, and I thought to myself it can't be that hard to locate something just off the beltway. Well, I still got a little lost, but finally I made it there.

The consultation with the surgeon was the first time in this whole affair that I felt like someone was taking time to really explain everything to me. I had a very good general idea before what was going on, but the surgeon actually took the time to point things out on the MRI and show me what 'normal' looks like and what I actually have.

The interesting thing about this whole appointment was that he used the same MRI that I had taken back in September, i.e.: the MRI that the nexorsists responisble for PT and the injection used to diagnose me. Super Surgeon showed me the herniation, and I thought to myself wow, that's really cool now that I can see what this thing that has been causing me all this pain looks like. However, the surgeon kept pointing things out and showed me that the herniated disk is also completely collapsed! And to round the show and tell portion of the consult out, he pointed to the bone spurs that have grown and are crushing my nerves (i.e.: the STENOSIS that is clearly indicated on the write up the MRI, and that the original nexorcists didn't feel necessary to point out.)

Obviously, it seems that because of this there is no way that PT or the injections could have done anything but provide temporary relief of my symptoms. What a way to waste 4 months of my time and money.

The last thing the surgeon and I spoke about was the actual surgical procedure. He's going to remove the herniation and disk, clear out the bone spurs. Then he's going to take a bone graft from my hip and place it in the newly empty spot in my spine. This should then fuse to the vertebrae above and below. Within 2 weeks I should be back to my normal self. All I have to do now is make it to February 8th.

Oh, and one last thing: the surgeon's office manager is a total crotch.