The cold is back. I thought I was going to be shaking this as of last night but after my nap this afternoon I felt a bit worse. Perhaps it is this strange front moving through the area. We have been having a lot of odd weather with SERIOUS changes very quickly.
This afternoon we were in the 60's and then it dropped down to freezing with tornadoes and tons of hail. Tomorrow morning they are calling for at least 1" of snow which means 3-4" is possible. The huge swings in the atmosphere just suck!
I have been having some new symptoms in the recent weeks that I have not mentioned. While I have been experiencing bouts of numbness in my left leg and foot the recent weeks have seen numbness from the mid-waist and straight down. It is a strange feeling to not be able to feel, indescribable. Perhaps that is the "phantom limb" syndrome I have read about. I have not mentioned it to the doctor as I was hoping like the numbness in my leg/foot it would at least be temporary.
The one thing this does do is confirm that I need to go get that MRI to see what exactly is causing the numbness. If it is the arachnoiditis then there is little to no hope that it will go away however if it is the degenerative disc disease then perhaps they can do something to alleviate the numbness.
The problem is that I am confused as to how to feel about this. If it is the arachnoiditis then it is permanent and could possibly get worse, to the point I can't feel anything at all rather then just being numb. If it is something else, like degenerative disc disease, that means things like epidurals and possibly surgery at some point. Neither of which are options that I really see as options. I'm fairly sure giant needles into the spine or being sliced and diced ranks fairly low on most peoples lists, so that means a need to find an alternate method.
I guess the sad thing is that I really don't even care. Last year I would have been upset about this but for some reason, perhaps shock, it is not affecting me the way I would expect. Maybe it's because until I get an MRI to confirm it the numbness "isn't real" if you know what I mean.
I was worried about telling my wife about this but she handled it pretty well. I mean how do you explain to your loved one that your condition is getting worse, at times by leaps and bounds. While I may be the one bearing the burden of the physical pain she shares a lot of the psychological side with me. In addition to my problems she is the one who has to work 2 jobs which leaves her very little time to herself or to see her friends.
I have to say that my wife and the rest of my family have been great, I cannot say it enough that they have been very supportive of both my physical and emotional needs. Yea, to heat a guy talking about his "emotional" needs sounds pretty wimpy but I would dare anyone who thinks that to trade places with an arachnoiditis or any other spinal cord injury patient. The range of emotions you deal with, even in just a 24 hour period, is amazing. Obviously various things effect you from the injuries themselves and the medications you are on, but like I said, my family has been great. I could not have asked for a better support team.
Tomorrow I have an appointment with the lawyer about my Social Security appeal. I figure that I would rather have someone who is experienced in this are help with the case. Since I could possibly see 2 years or more of back pay the lawyer would be able to collect either a percentage of what I get paid or a flat fee. I forget exactly how they work it but I believe the most they can collect is about $5500 or 25% whichever is less. For me I would rather collect 75% then nothing which is possible if I tried to do this on my own.
Time to end the babble and hit the hay..
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