Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Degenerative Disks or Ain't Getting Old Great!

It has been a long time since I have posted much of anything. This summer I was so busy having fun and working that I really didn't have much time. Then there was my wonderful trip to Quebec! All of these things prevented me from posting much on my blog, but there has been another reason that I have not posted much.

About 12 years ago I was diagnosed with degenerative disk disease in my neck from the third to seventh vertebrae. It was bad enough then for my doctor to utter the warning "don't get in a car accident" as I was leaving the office after getting the x-ray results. However, would have been better to warn me about keyboarding for hours on end or speaking on telephones with the receiver tucked into my neck so I can multi-task at the same time. She didn't warn me and now I am reaping the consequences. Just before I went to Quebec I was having some numbness in my hands,some weakness in my arms and the occasional dizzy spells. While in Quebec I noticed that when I was walking my right hand was getting what felt like electric shocks through it and I was forced to put it in my pocket to stop the discomfort. When I returned my symptoms seemed to increase and was aggravated even more by the four hours of keyboarding tasks a day that I was given at my work place.

When I went to my doctor she ordered new x-rays and was saddened to tell me that my neck was in really bad shape now. The muscle was in constant spasm and as a result was tilting my neck at an incorrect angle. As well there is an over growth of bone and it appears that the nerves are probably quite pinched off and there may be a bulging disk, but we will be unable to tell until I can get an MRI which could take nine months or more. In the meantime my doctor has put me on short term disability and advised me to not do any keyboarding ( my daughter is the ghost typist for this) until my muscle spasms, headaches and numbness are better and even then I will need to restrict the amount of time I can do these things.

So... I am left to bribe my daughter (chocolate works wonders for this) into typing my posts.

Miss Lucy is happy as I can still give her lots of belly rubs! Lucky dog!