On 12-21-12, I had a scheduled appointment with my neurologist. I had been to the ER 10 days prior for severe spine pain and barely being able to walk. We discussed this at the appointment and he ordered me a wheelchair and submitted a request to have me seen at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. Since the ER trip, things had only gotten worse so I asked if he thought it would be a good idea to go back to the hospital. He didn't think that it was a bad idea. I explained to my neuro that the ER I usually go to seemed to keep just giving me meds and pushing me through. I asked if he thought it would be better to try one of the other local hospitals. He didn't really have an opinion but after discussing it with my husband, we decided to go somewhere new. We found a babysitter so I didn't have to do it alone, dropped our son off, and off we went.
We arrived at the new ER. They have a parking garage and it was far from the entrance. My ability to walk was so bad that my husband had to hold onto me and bear most of my weight to get me to the door. The walk took forever and then a complete stranger came up and offered to help. We got close enough and a nurse saw and asked if I needed a wheelchair. After finally getting one, getting inside and getting signed in, I was almost immediately sent back to triage. Amongst the pain and inability to walk, I had a couple other "issues", that the triage nurse called someone and they took me straight back to a bed. It only took 27 minutes from signing in until a doctor came and talked to me. After explaining my problems, there were a few things he needed to check. After that was done, I was given the option to get an MRI. He told me that if I did, I was definitely being admitted and would be having surgery and in the hospital for the holiday. Not only did that scare me to death, my son instantly popped into my head. I had actually considered not doing anything just to be able to be home with him for the holiday. After a few minutes of trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I was told that I was having the MRI and being admitted. I was crushed. I thought the worst. The MRI results had come back and said that I had bulging discs in my lumbar spine as well as degenerative disc disease. This meant that my entire spine had these issues, not to my Chiari, Syringomyelia, and all the other issues.
I was taken to my room and settled in. It was late so my husband left to go get our son and get him home. They just kept giving me my regular meds and an extra pain med, although it didn't touch the pain, that's all they kept continuing to do. The next morning, my family showed up. The neurosurgeon, not my neurosurgeon but one from his office, came to see me. I remember him talking to me and even considering having my husband go home and get my pre-op and post-op MRIs. I don't know what he was thinking but he changed his mind and just stated that he wanted me to see him in 4-6 weeks and that a neurologist would have to come look at me before I could be discharged. That wasn't until the next day. By the time he got there, checked me out, they ordered a walker for me, and my discharge was processed, it was about 6 pm on 12-23-12. Needless to say, I was in so much pain, exhausted from pretty much no sleep, but I was free. I just had to pick up the walker and home we went. I was so happy to be home in time to get everything ready and be with my son for Christmas. Even though I was still in extreme pain, I did what I had to, with the help from my husband, to make sure "Santa" came and everything was perfect.
The only thing left to do is get the referral I need and get my appointment scheduled with the new neurosurgeon. I am happy to see a new one. He has great references, treated me well, and I truly got the feeling from him that he wants to help me. That is not the case with the surgeon who did my Chiari surgery. I haven't seen him since the day after my surgery. I had only seen his NP, who treated me like dirt and a junkie.
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