Appointments.......

The day of my first appointment came, by this time I had come to terms with what was happening, a bit more Googling, and figured it was a disc which had slipped out of place and could be fixed by surgery – loads of people have that done so Iguessed this would be ok. 

Mark drove us to Sheffield to see the surgeon; It was at 7pm in the evening and after a rather busy day at work, I really wanted to be there and have all the answers, right now, everything and how were they going to fix me?  tTe appointment was a disappointment as he was unable to see the scan results and therefore needed another MRI scan doing.  This was going to be done at their hospital the following week, so with no reassurance, we went home a totally disappointed and no further on, all we had to do was wait for the scan the following week. 

Another MRI (oh boy do I hate those machines and no matter how much you try to keep your eyes closed and not look, I just had to!  Then you realise how confined it is, panic and try and calm yourself; honestly, sometimes I wonder if I am an adult at all or just a child who won’t do as they’re told!)  I almost couldnt go through with the scan, they said if I pressed the button and they pulled me out they would have to reschedule, so I had to do it, close my eyes, focus myself, get into the  positive place I had been for the last few months and get through it.  Scan over and I went to get changed out of the oversize blue outfit they gave me, and sat in the cubicle and cried.  I dont know why, frustration, emotion, stress, pressure, everything I guess. We saw the surgeon who confirmed all that we had been told before and decided to refer us to his colleague at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.  He apparently did much more in the way with thoracic spinal injuries and was the best man for the job.   He wrote to Mr B. my new neurosurgeon and explained what was what and to make an appointment for him to see me in his clinic.  It seemed so long before I got the next appointment, and by which time, I was deteriorating rapidly and had gone from a “normal” (and I use that term loosely with myself!) to walking with a crutch. 

On seeing me at the clinic Mr B was shocked at the drastic change and although had word from his colleague on the best way to approach the surgery, through the back, wanted clarification and ordered a CT scan there and then.  Well, I can cope with those!  In a “polo mint” type scanner which was less intimidating than the MRI, the results were sent straight up to Mr B as soon as it was done and we had results that day. 

When I thought things couldn’t get any worse, they just did. 
He told us that his fears were confirmed and the disc had calcified.  Apparently, discs are made up of a jelly like substance and mine had solidified so that it was the reason for the severity of my condition.  His words to us were, and will remain in my mind for the rest of my life “This is as bad as it gets”. There was no way he could operate through the back, the only other way to deal with this was through the chest.  Now initially I thought that would be from the front, but seemingly not!  Transthoracic Surgery basically means that you go in for surgery and spend the entire time laying on your side so that the surgeon can enter the chest at the side, remove a rib and open the rib cage, moving the heart and collapsing the lung.   He said that surgery had to be done within weeks as the deterioration was too much and by October I would be wheel chair bound.   His only other thing to do was to arrange to have a Cardiac Surgeon to move the heart, neurosurgeon and anaesthetists’ on hand, four surgeons in all.  Even at this point, and I think perhaps it was denial, I didn’t realise the seriousness of what lay ahead. 

Prior to the surgery though I was admitted overnight in the Royal Hallamshire for a Spinal Angiogram. Not the least bit worried about this as I would be asleep..... well that's what I thought.    I went down to the x-ray department awake and asked when I was going to be asleep - I wasn't. 
I had to be awake through the whole procedure where I lay on a narrow bed while they injected a dye like substance into the artery in the groin area.  Once injected, I had to hold my breath and wait whilst they took the pictures.  To say the pain was intense doesn't even begin to explain.  They had to try and locate the main artery that ran along side the spinal cord, hoping that it wasnt located any where near the damaged disc as this would mean a problem getting to it - thankfully, seven or so x-rays later (and I lost count due to the intense pain!) they couldnt locate it, this was a good thing. 
Recovering later on ward I asked if I could go home but was told I had to stay the night, and stay flat for at least three hours until the bleeding from the artery had stopped - well, they didnt say this would be fun did they....

Countless Appointments