Medical Verdict
Aug. 2nd, 2006 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smofbabeTuesday was an interesting day: an MRI at 10:15 a.m. and a root canal at 2:30 p.m. Not your fun schedule.
On the one hand, the MRI was a bit better than the one I had for my vocal cords a couple of years ago given that they didn't have to inject any dye. OTOH, the earplugs they gave me were the conical ones that never work for me so the noise was intense and unfortunately is not rhythmic. The technician at the beginning said I needed to stop swallowing and keep more still but what was causing the movement wasn't swallowing but intakes of breath when hammering started from another position. So, I spent most of the test concentrating on diaphragmatic breathing.
The dentist was actually not bad: the root canal was apparently successful and my left front tooth has re-rooted to the point where he took the wire off and says I can start gradually biting into things, starting with soft foods and working my way up as I feel more comfortable.
This afternoon, I went to the physiotherapist and got the results of the MRI. The good news: no spinal canal narrowing, no permanent protrusion or collapse of the disk.
The bad news, it could be 8 - 12 weeks before the disk heals itself and the more active I am (keyboarding, bending the neck down, lifting things from a lower height), the longer it will take. There is no intervention short of surgery that will make it heal any quicker. So, the damage isn't permanent but the pain is going to last a bit longer than I was hoping...
Dealing with luggage on a trip to the US where we're stopping in two cities is probably not something the physiotherapist would recommend. Stephen is claiming that he can handle it all and there aren't all that many cases where I'd have to deal with it. I'm a bit more doubtful but think that at this point I'm probably willing to put my recovery back a little rather than miss worldcon.
I'm trying not to whinge too much about this but having to sleep on my back and deal with the arm pain for many more weeks than I was expecting has not exactly put me in the best mood in the world. But I am grateful that the damage doesn't appear to be permanent or require surgery.
On the one hand, the MRI was a bit better than the one I had for my vocal cords a couple of years ago given that they didn't have to inject any dye. OTOH, the earplugs they gave me were the conical ones that never work for me so the noise was intense and unfortunately is not rhythmic. The technician at the beginning said I needed to stop swallowing and keep more still but what was causing the movement wasn't swallowing but intakes of breath when hammering started from another position. So, I spent most of the test concentrating on diaphragmatic breathing.
The dentist was actually not bad: the root canal was apparently successful and my left front tooth has re-rooted to the point where he took the wire off and says I can start gradually biting into things, starting with soft foods and working my way up as I feel more comfortable.
This afternoon, I went to the physiotherapist and got the results of the MRI. The good news: no spinal canal narrowing, no permanent protrusion or collapse of the disk.
The bad news, it could be 8 - 12 weeks before the disk heals itself and the more active I am (keyboarding, bending the neck down, lifting things from a lower height), the longer it will take. There is no intervention short of surgery that will make it heal any quicker. So, the damage isn't permanent but the pain is going to last a bit longer than I was hoping...
Dealing with luggage on a trip to the US where we're stopping in two cities is probably not something the physiotherapist would recommend. Stephen is claiming that he can handle it all and there aren't all that many cases where I'd have to deal with it. I'm a bit more doubtful but think that at this point I'm probably willing to put my recovery back a little rather than miss worldcon.
I'm trying not to whinge too much about this but having to sleep on my back and deal with the arm pain for many more weeks than I was expecting has not exactly put me in the best mood in the world. But I am grateful that the damage doesn't appear to be permanent or require surgery.
