My Neck is Finally Adjusted

After having to delay for almost three weeks, I finally got my neck adjusted today. It was such a relief. Especially after that bone scan. My neck hurt horribly after having to be in an awkward position with it during the scan. My chiropractor feels better knowing that it's nothing serious and I feel A LOT better now that I'm not in constant pain. Life is good.

I Can't Buy a Break

I received a call from my GPs office. The head checks out good but there was a spot found in my C3 vertebra during the MRI. The radiologist wishes to see a bone scan. The bone scan is scheduled. I do the first thing I could think of to get an honest opinion, I request the report and seek out my chiropractor.

Upon reading the report, reality hit me like a freight train. It was pretty obvious what they felt was going on. They felt the spot was a Met (cancer tumor that relocates from somewhere else in the body) or at the least a tumor. I walked into the chiropractor's office in shock. How was this possible? He read the report and looked at the scan and talked to me about it. He didn't have to explain to me what a Met was or what it meant, instead what I needed to know is what else it could be. It is a good thing he took the road he did. There are many types of tumor it could be that are not cancerous. One that is quite likely based on the look of it is a hemangioma. A hemangioma isn't serious unless is starts causing problems. This was a thought I would hold on to in order to get me through the weekend to come. The other good news he shared was that the report states there is no damage to the vertebra itself. It is in prime health. This is good. It hasn't progressed to the point of hurting it or my spinal cord.

The bone scan would give us an idea of whether it is a tumor and if it's malignant. If it shows up in the bone scan, it is very likely a malignant tumor. This could mean any number of things. I'm trying not to get ahead of myself here.

So, my second nightmare begins as the waiting starts again.

I Am Still in Pain

It's Monday, I am still in quite a bit of pain from my neck but I have not had any more episodes since Wednesday. Even the "shots of pain" that is typical of my neck are fewer and further between. Therefore, with any luck, I was able to readjust my neck myself and will be ok in the end with or without an adjustment.

The MRI looks good to my eyes so I don't think anything has changed in my head. As for my neck, who knows. I know nothing about necks. Something bad could be staring me in the face and I wouldn't know it. I'm beginning to think I should pursue my medical degree when this is all over... (I'm kidding)

It's Only Been Four Weeks

It has been four weeks since my last MRI but I'm not heading in for another. This time of the head and neck. My NeuroSurgeon believes this is the way to find out if it is anything to do with my head and to see if there might be more going on in my neck. It will answer a lot of questions and probably isn't a bad exercise. However, I'm not looking forward to another MRI.

So, the day before my birthday, I go in for another. It's not bad. They do the same thing as with your head but it takes a little longer. I think it added 30 minutes to the MRI.

Waiting in the Emergency Room

I actually had posted bits and pieces of what happened over the next few days but this will give actual information.

My chiropractor refused to work on me Monday. He was concerned with my neurological exam and was afraid I was using my neck to mask my head. I know that my neurological exam was caused from my trigeminal and the fact it had really bothered my right eye over the weekend. This happens on occasion. My right eye will get so dry from the nerve issues that it starts acting funny. I always know it's going to happen and this was no different. Regardless, it meant that I didn't get my neck adjusted and I continued to have episodes with it.

Tuesday, while at work and working on my computer, the pain shot up just as it has in the past but rather than hurt between my shoulder blades and head, it seemed to radiate from the center of my head. It was very consistent almost like the beating of your heart. I also had the blurry vision during this time and could hear my heartbeat with each throb. It lasted approximately 5 minutes but that could have been longer. The pain intensity was in the 8 range. I took two ibuprophen and it seemed to dull it and after a few minutes it went away although I feel a bit "stiff" since. My neck and shoulders feel very stiff since and this time it was not preceded by neck creaking. I sent an email to my NeuroSurgeon at this point with details of what was going on.

I would have this twice more before leaving work to go home. They were not as intense as the original one but they stopped me in my tracks nonetheless. At this point, they seemed to be triggered when I walked. Of the other two, one occurred when I came out of my boss's office after telling him I was going to go home early and the other when I walked out of the building to get into my car. I didn't have a single spell while in my car but would have another when I walked into the house. All of the times I was walking.

When I got home, I went straight to my bed and laid down. I didn't dare move hoping that I wouldn't have it any more. I called John before I left work to let him know I was driving home. I had been laying there for about 20 minutes with nothing when my cell phone rang. By the time I was able to find it, I had triggered yet another episode of pain. This one would be one of a rating 6 or 7. I hurt so bad that I screamed into my pillow willing the pain to go away. I laid there for almost an hour waiting for the boys to get home. I was feeling so good, I decided to give one more try at getting out of bed. This was a huge mistake. This one quickly shot up to a nine and lasted anywhere from five to ten minutes. I was in tears when I heard the door open and knew the boys were home. I hurt. I hurt bad.

John came and checked on me and I tried not to move but at one point I decided I had to try. I got out of bed with his help and successfully walked to the Great Room. Before I reached the couch, it hit again and this time I told John that it was time to go to the Emergency Room. I wasn't sure how many more of these episodes I could handle. Anyone that knows me, knows that it took A LOT of pain for me to say I needed the ER. I am not an ER person and I'm not a hospital person so I was in tons of pain to tell him I needed to go.

We dropped my son off at a friends house. (Love ya, Jessi, you are a life saver) I knew he'd have more fun there than waiting in an ER and I didn't want him exposed to the flu or anything going around either. At her house, I had yet another. I held on tight to John to steady myself and I felt my back and neck tense a lot during this one. I also became much more disoriented this time than I had been. Apparently I was able to "move" something this time because luckily it was the last episode I would have.

After waiting in the ER for over 3 hours, John went to see how much longer it would be. They told us there was still 8 ahead of us and due to the emergencies that were on their way in, that would be approximately 3 more hours. I was not interested in spending another three plus hours at the hospital so I checked myself out. (Note: this was 3 hours and I wasn't even out of the waiting room!!!)

At this point, I won't deny that I am terrified this might be from the tumor but I am refusing to think that way right now. We'll see how the rest goes.

A Weekend with Neck Pain

We had a very busy weekend and I wish I were feeling better during it. As you all know, I had a recurrence of my neck pain over the week and this weekend therefore was not pretty.

I had several strange symptoms pop up as the weekend progressed. I would get a shooting pain that started somewhere between my shoulder blades and would shoot up to the back of my head. They would last for a few minutes, I'd be disoriented while they occurred and I would "hear" my heart beat in both ears. I never thought anything of this because it would always be immediately preceded with a "creaking" in my neck and the movement of my right arm. These are all signs of something in my neck pinching a nerve. (I've gotten these or similar symptoms before.)

I'm definitely paying the price for not calling my chiropractor sooner in the week. UGH

It all began with whiplash

A few years ago, I suffered a minor neck injury due to a whiplash type accident. I suffered with it for almost six months before I found my chiropractor and he "cured" it in just a few weeks. However, I frequently have to be cautious with what I do because the area will probably never fully heal again. Just like anything in the spine, once you mess it up, it can go back any time.

Anyway, now that the background is complete, I did some of those bad things this week. I was carrying some computers that are on the heavy side and I carried A LOT of them this week. Needless to say, I probably did too much. At some point in the week, I felt a pop and knew I'd done a bad thing. By then it was to late to get into the chiropractor so I would have to suffer the weekend with it. Some day I will learn to get in before I start having the pains when I know that I've done a bad thing. *Sigh*