September 20, 2010

The surgery went well although I was quite sick for 24 hours. The pain seemed to have eased some and then I had some really bad coughing spells. I thought I might have broken something else because the pain got quite intense again. I had a x-ray at the Dr. today. He felt an MRI would be much more definitive, but I am not ready for another one of those right now. So, we are just watching the pain level for now. Janet & Carole, thank you for the gift cards. Jane, thank you for the mums-they're beautiful. I was wondering where they came from. Mo, as always,thanks for everything. Linda

September 8, 2010

I went to the Dr. yesterday and after having more X-rays and an exam, another fracture was discovered. This one is right above the other. The thoracic vertebrae at level 6 and 7 are fractured. I have significant osteoporosis from the events of the past year and at a big risk for broken bones. I will be having surgery at North Side Hospital tomorrow morning at 6:30. I'm still waiting for the nurses to call me with an arrival time but I am fearing it will be around 5:30 a.m. Dr. Pagano will be doing a kyphoplasty treating the two different fracture levels. Basically, they create a pathway into the bone with a hollow instrument, insert a balloon through this and inflate it to raise up the collapsed vertebra. Then the balloon is deflated, removed, and the cavity is filled with cement to support the bone and prevent further collapse. He'll do this on both sides of each fractured vertebra. I am really hoping this eases some of the pain I have been having. It's not fun having so much pain. I'll update after surgery.

September 1, 2010

The saga continues. I have been having an incredible amout of pain over the last two months and it was baffling to everyone. When I went to the pain management doctor, he ordered an MRI which I had done on Monday. He just called me this morning to tell me I have a compression fracture of thoracic 7 vertebrae. So now, I will be having surgery for that. The good news...no evidence of metastasis. The surgery should be minor if it's what I'm thinking. Of course, I still have to see the orthopedic spine surgeon. Linda