do YOU actually have your own copy of your MRI or were you simply told this stuff by the ordering doc? if you do not yet have your own copy of those results,GET ONE and any others that may be needed along the way? having our own copies of any and all testing results simply allows us,the actual patients to really read thru this stuff ourselves, and to research certain findings so WE can better understand things too? and to even know for certain that we were even actually told about ALL real hard findings that were even IN the report as well?
but what i really would like to know much more than anything here is just exactly how that interpretting radiologist actually described that spinal CORD finding word for word?? if you are being told that you cannot work(i am personally thinking it is ONLY for now??), i really do doubt that this has alot to really do with the space issues within those foramen since those do not sound totally impinged from what you stated and that CAN be totally cleared during a surgery. its the actual level of real cord flattening and how that cord itself is really being impacted that i would think your doc is much more concerned about?
is this only your primary doc here?? if so, he really cannot tell from that report whether or not you will EVER be able to actually return to work at some point after surgical intervention and a normal healing course goes. he simply does not KNOW what a good knowledgable and experienced neurosurgeon does, period. and DO make certain that the surgeon you see IS most definitely a neurosurgeon and not 'only' ortho, esp with any level of real cord involvement?
but you can obtain your own copy of that report from either the ordering doc, or a much quicker way would be to just go directly to the facility where you actually had that MRI done and ask for one there? all you have to do is simply fill out a release and they can pop one up for you right then and there. but you really DO need one. once you obtain that, if you really want help in deciphering things, just post that summary that is always on that back page right here so we can see it? we can try and help you better understand the findings by reading them exactly how the radiologist types them word for word, since certain worRAB just DO make some differences with certain findings.
if your cord flattening is actually at that c 5-6 level, i can tell you that that IS a very very common place to have it and also a rather more common finding as well. i also have had this same finding at my c 5-6 that showed up on my very first ever MRI done back in 01? its just kind of a more naturally narrow area than the rest of that c spine since certain structures within our necks tend to narrow that particular area much more often than any others.
but it all really depenRAB upon whther or not that thecal sac is is also being impacted too which would dictate a much more compressed level of of 'push' up against the cord? or whether or not there is still any CSF fluid within/between that wall of the thecal and the cord itself on the inside too? but ventral cord flattening at c 5-6 itself really is not that uncommon. the hanRAB on neuro eval and exam that the NS will do along with HIS actual reread of your hardfilms will really tell him much much more about what is or is not going to occur or if you really need surgery too.
but DO obtain that MRI copy if you have not yet done so, K? let me know what it says in that summary. Marcia
