This first one is a side-shot of the spine. I have two herniated discs - L4/L5 and L5/S1. I have labelled the vertebrae that are L4, L5, and S1. The L4/L5 disc is between the L4 and L5 vertebrae. The L5/S1 disc is between the L5 and S1 vertebrae. As you can see, the L4/L5 disc is really pressing on the spinal cord (long white-ish line to the right of the vertebrae). The L5/S1 disc is also pressing on the spinal cord, but not as severely. To give you an idea of scale of the image, the L4/L5 disc is protruding about 8-9 mm in this picture.
I was also diagnosed with degenerative disc disease. That didn't sound too good. I've done some research on-line (ah, Google - the great purveyor of knowledge) and found a couple peer-reviewed articles from an MD, and it isn't as scary as it sounds. Apparently, current estimates are that at least 30% of people ages 30-50 have degenerative disc disease although not all are diagnosed. Also, contrary to my worries, it doesn't mean I will have major back problems and will be crippled later in life. (That's still a possibility, but not as a result of degenerative disc disease). In general, the proteins in the disc that cause inflamation which causes back pain deplete as the disc deteriorates, and so most people have less pain as they get older. If I'm reading the MRI correctly, you can see the L4/L5 and L5/S1 discs are deteriorating because there is less white in them compared to the other discs visible in the image (I need to double check with a doctor that this is how to interpret the MRI).
This second picture is a cross section of my torso at the L4/L5 disc. The front of my body (stomach) is towards the top, and the back is towards the bottom. Here, you can really see the extent of the herniated portion of the disc. This part is actually fragmented (broken) off of the disc. If you were to draw a line across the fragment from its top right to its bottom left, it would measure 9-10 mm. I have an appointment tomorrow with a specialist to see whether or not surgery will be required to remove the fragment (highly likely).
I had an epidural steroid injection on December 23 that has helped reduce the pain by quite a bit. However, I'm still having some back pain and pain down my right leg (since the fragment is pressing on the nerves that go down my right leg). I never expected that I would ever have an epidural since I always associated epidurals with pregnant women and I'm not pregnant...I think...that I know of...
If you want to see the pictures zoomed in, first click on the picture to get the full size image. Then, you can usually press ctrl + (the control key and the '+' key) to zoom in (or hold down the control button and turn the mouse scroll wheel). In Firefox, ctrl 0 (control key and the zero key) will return the zoom level to normal (might work in Internet Explorer).
3 comments:
YIKES!! I can sympathize with you! Back problems are among the WORST, in my book. I had a lot of pain during Hailey's pregnancy and after for about 1 1/2 yrs., but I was able to find the problem and correct it. My mom, however, I know has had A LOT of problems this past year- off and on. YUCK! Best of luck with the doctors and helping with the pain.
As I was reading the post, I was thinking "dang, he must be on great drugs", I couldn't remember what Kim had told me you were on. Epidural though, I am jealous. That's the second best part about pregnancy/labor.
You will have to post what the Dr. said. When do you have to have surgery? How long do they usually say recovery time is?
You are both in our prayers, we hope soon these health trials will be over for you both.
Wow- thanks for sharing and explaining so well! This was informative, even though I knew the bare bones of your problem before reading (pun intended.)
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