RebKell's Junkie Boards

[pilight]

As you probably know, I've been having pain and loss of strength in my right shoulder. After X-rays, MRIs, nerve conduction tests, and the like, I finally got presented with treatment options yesterday.

Fortunately, it will not require surgery. I'm going next week to have a cortisone shot directly into my spine. My orthopedist believes this will alleviate the problem, at least for a while.

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[dtsnms]

[CamrnCrz1974]

Good luck, Pilight. Hope the shoulder heals quickly!

[Luuuc]

Yeah all the best, Pilight.

Keep us informed on the diagnosis too. In the last 6 months or so I have been getting increasing soreness in my right shoulder... I suspect in my case it's to do with either my posture or the way I sleep.
Luckily my shooting hasn't been affected yet - 4/6 from outside the arc tonight

_________________
Thanks for calling. I wait all night for calls like these.

[pilight]

Diagnosis is a bulging disc. I have two fused vertebrae from a car accident many years ago and they're now pushing on the next one, causing the disc to press on some of the nerves. No nerve damage, hence no surgery required.

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[Luuuc]

Sounds nasty.
"Alleviate" sure doesn't sound as good as "treat", but I'll bet the relief from pain will be most welcome.

_________________
Thanks for calling. I wait all night for calls like these.

[smenko]

Well, a bulging disc is not quite the same as a herniated disc. That nerve root is getting irritated probably everytime you move. Good luck with the shoulder. Have you thought about going to a chiropractor--sometimes they can help?

[peaceplease]

I am on the down side of recovering from rotator cuff surgery in October. My muscle was 70% torn. It hurt like a MF! I know what you are going through is not the same, pilight, but in a way, I can understand your pain. I'm glad you don't have to have surgery and I hope the shot helps. (It didn't touch the pain in mine, but again, different diagnosis). Are you right handed? Just curious. I was without my right arm for nearly 3 months. It's amazing what we can adapt to. I never got the shoe tying thing down tho.....................flip flops were the answer. Again, good luck!

_________________
"If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change your attitude; Don't Complain." -Maya Angelou


PEACE

[pilight]

I am right handed.

I actually got the first injection (of three) yesterday afternoon. I managed to not throw up or pass out, both common reactions. The remaining shots are supposed to cause less reaction.

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[herrade]

[Admiral_Needa]

[bluewolfvii]

Herniated disc surgeries are almost always anterior to the patient and through the neck even minimally invasive foraminotomies. The neck surgery looks worse than it is. It has come a long way since the fusion surgeries that date to the 50s.

But based on pilight's description, I think he's talking thoracic, not cervical. Which two discs, pilight?

[pilight]

The fused vertebrae are c-5 and c-6. The bulging disc is between them and c-4.

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[bluewolfvii]

A car accident in the 1990s left me with a C5-C6 herniation that didn't present until 10 years later, when on return from a long trip two fingers in my right hand went numb while driving. Two years of massage, chiropractic, stem, ultrasound, physical therapy, etc. and it didn't get any better, it got worse leading to weakness in the arm, muscle spasms, even migraine. The MRI confirmed a herniated disc- the surgeon wanted to remove the disc and do fusion. I went to this surgeon instead. I was released the next day and able to work within two weeks, and no neck brace required.

http://drjho.com/jho_institute.htm

[CamrnCrz1974]

A doctor with "ho" in his name? Sounds like my kind of specialist...

[dtsnms]

[pilight]

My car accident was in the 80's. The Ford Bronco II did, in fact, tip over just as easily as the lawsuits suggested. My part of the class action suit amounted to $12.19, but at least some lawyers got paid.

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[dtsnms]

[pilight]

[Slovydal]

My Dad recently had the same surgery (same vertabrae fused) also due to a car accident from several years ago.
He was having shoulder pain and loss of strength in his arm too - then one of his legs. They finally had to operate.
There's nothing like being turned into a Pez dispenser...

[bluewolfvii]

Did Dad have the convential fusion surgery, Slovy, or did the doctors perform a minimally invasive procedure like a foraminotomy?

btw, its only been a few years but you can't see a scar on my neck, and unless I think about it I can't even remember which side they went through.

[Slovydal]

He had some kind of bone growth on the inside of a couple vertabrae. Somehow they took one out and "cleaned out" another and then replaced the missing one with ... something...
Then they had to fuse a couple of them.
At least that's how I understand it.
I'm just happy they put his head back on facing the right way when they were done.

[bluewolfvii]

He had some kind of bone growth on the inside of a couple vertabrae. Somehow they took one out and "cleaned out" another and then replaced the missing one with ... something...

Sounds like a combination of surgical techniques. The 'cleaning out' part is a foraminotomy. The adjacent vertebrae calcify, e.g., develop bone spurs, and with time will fuse together as it is one of the body's way of stabilizing injuries. In a foraminotomy, microsurgical tool are used to clean out the calcification that is impinging on the nerves in the spinal cord.

The 'putting something' back sounds like the old school operation, e.g. removing the herniated disk [all of it] and inserting an inert shim of a bone from a corpse or the patient's own hip to fuse and immobilize the two adjacent discs. This is the part you want to avoid until hell freezes over or you can't stand it anymore, whichever comes first.. but if you need it, you need it, and it been done with nearly 100% success for years.. its just some people say the hip where they graft the bone from never stops hurting..and with bones from a cadaver there's a risk of not fusing and needing to do it again..

But whatever techniques they used, Slovy, I bet (and hope) your Dad's going to be feeling a lto better..

[Slovydal]

He says he's doing well. The Doc told him to expect it took take a whole year to recover. Then he has to get over here to Indy and spend a relaxing weekend fishing.