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Hosta Lover
Guest
Well, hi everybody. I have not been aroun for quite some time as I had been doing real well post surgery. I have had 3 spinal fusions, one surgery to remove knodts rod eons ago. A little background....I had L3-4 (w/instrumentation) fused 7 months ago, prior to that had L4-5, 14 months ago, L5-S1 21 years ago.
Okay, I went to the ER thinking I had appendicitis, they did a CT scan with gastrograffin. Which lit up my insides like a Christmas tree. I did not have appendicitis, scar tissue was blamed for my pain, since I had had hernia surgery awhile back. Okay, what the CT scan did show was a 6cm X 2cm area of ?? what? I do not know. Spinal fluid? It is in the L3-L5 area, I think, actually my spine hurts more towarRAB L1-T12. I thought that my pain was caused by me going back to work, sitting in an office all day, not having my chair adjusted properly, etc.
At any rate, I called my surgeon's office to schedule an appointment and was told because I owe them $350.00 my account is on hold, they would not be able to schedule an appointment until this amount was paid. I was furious. I emailed my Dr. and his P.A. and explained my husband was on unemployment, I was just released from a temporary job. And, I had no money for them at this time, but would pay them when I received my tax refund.
The P.A. called and advised me to get an MRI at another hospital and he would look at the report and follow up with me. Weeks went by, I am in pain, a great deal of pain. I am taking Percodan 7.5/325 every 6 hours for pain.
I received a phone call from the P.A. while on the way to see my immunologist, the P.A. states he wants me to have a CBC, ESR (sed rate = measure of infection) and a C-reative protein test. The P.A. told me it is one of three things, 1. spinal fluid, 2. fluid build up to take up space of bone that was removed when I had my fusion surgery, or 3. an abcess.
Since I have an immune deficiency called CVID common variable immune deficiency and I receive gamma globulin on a weekly basis, these test results will be skewed. My immunologist wants me to have a gallium scan to see if this is an abcess. I think this is an excellent idea.
Has anyone been through anything like this? Because of my immune issues, I am always tired, rundown, fighting off infections, etc.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I know it has been along drawn out post.
Hosta
Okay, I went to the ER thinking I had appendicitis, they did a CT scan with gastrograffin. Which lit up my insides like a Christmas tree. I did not have appendicitis, scar tissue was blamed for my pain, since I had had hernia surgery awhile back. Okay, what the CT scan did show was a 6cm X 2cm area of ?? what? I do not know. Spinal fluid? It is in the L3-L5 area, I think, actually my spine hurts more towarRAB L1-T12. I thought that my pain was caused by me going back to work, sitting in an office all day, not having my chair adjusted properly, etc.
At any rate, I called my surgeon's office to schedule an appointment and was told because I owe them $350.00 my account is on hold, they would not be able to schedule an appointment until this amount was paid. I was furious. I emailed my Dr. and his P.A. and explained my husband was on unemployment, I was just released from a temporary job. And, I had no money for them at this time, but would pay them when I received my tax refund.
The P.A. called and advised me to get an MRI at another hospital and he would look at the report and follow up with me. Weeks went by, I am in pain, a great deal of pain. I am taking Percodan 7.5/325 every 6 hours for pain.
I received a phone call from the P.A. while on the way to see my immunologist, the P.A. states he wants me to have a CBC, ESR (sed rate = measure of infection) and a C-reative protein test. The P.A. told me it is one of three things, 1. spinal fluid, 2. fluid build up to take up space of bone that was removed when I had my fusion surgery, or 3. an abcess.
Since I have an immune deficiency called CVID common variable immune deficiency and I receive gamma globulin on a weekly basis, these test results will be skewed. My immunologist wants me to have a gallium scan to see if this is an abcess. I think this is an excellent idea.
Has anyone been through anything like this? Because of my immune issues, I am always tired, rundown, fighting off infections, etc.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I know it has been along drawn out post.
Hosta
