I knocked off work a little earlier than the appointment, for those that know me, I like to be early to my appointments and avoid rush and car park drama. His offices were just down road from work and they have a car-park at bottom of the building, such a nice change not having to pay for parking. The small joys.
Right, lets start with the 'Good News' first... my L5/S1 disc looks good! apparently... compared to how it could look. The findings from MRI were are apparently 'typical' of those of someone with my condition and in my age group. Also he believes the same for the L1 vertical herniation, "I see it a lot" he said. No surgery required 'at this stage'.
Now for the 'Bad News', if you can even call it that. As there is definite narrowing in the foramen (bony hollow archway created by pedicles of adjacent vertebrae, creating a passage-way through which all spinal nerve roots run) some nerves might be 'irritated' however not trapped as such, so no way of actually telling what is causing my Sciatic pain. My treatment plan apparently is mine to sort out, no referral to a specialist physio, no prescription or even suggestion about medication, just good luck, increase your cardiovascular exercise and it 'should' but might not get better, come back and see me if it gets worse though, final outcome once it gets bad enough will be to fuse my L5/S1 together to avoid any more pressure on the disc once it degenerates completely over time. I will be booking an appointment with my GP in meantime to talk over what the affects of long-term use of Paracetamol or any meds for that matter will be on my Solitary Kidney, Paracetamol doesn't do the whole trick but it helps a little, I refused the Codeine and Tramadol previously, that just leave Gabapentin and other nerve blockers and he said intellectually they are not going to help me when it comes to working 8 hour days. I'm not prepared to commit to any long term use of them without regular checks on my kidney function as I would rather suffer some with the pain in the meantime till I really need them.
There you have it. Most of the above I had already found out via google so I find it quite comical really. My father and I knew it would be the outcome anyway as most specialist surgeons wait for a pain scale of 10 before taking any action.
So it continues... I will talk it over with my Pelvic Health Physio at the end of this month but in the meantime I'll try looking into Spine Physio that I have been recommended by a friend from work, maybe get back in touch with the Osteo I was seeing previously, see what she says, willing to try anything at this stage... including exercise, as comfortable as that is going to be maybe that is what I've been lacking lately.
Reminder to self, choose joy, count blessings.
