Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

We’ve just returned Monday evening from five days away and were so happy to be home, you know?  I’ll show you some photos below of some of the reasons we so love coming home.

We saw the neurosurgeon in Birmingham (a gorgeous city, by the way – at least the south side where we were) on Monday about 1 p.m.  He was very thorough and excellent, we thought.

As he walked into the examining room where Tom & I were waiting, he looked at me and exclaimed, “Ms. Andrews – You have one messed up neck!”  That did not portend well, I thought.  He then talked with me about my history & current symptoms, had me get up and walk all around the room, checked my posture, etc, and checked my reflexes all over my body.

He then invited us into the next room where all of my MRI films and x-rays were hanging in front of a light wall.  He went over each and every one of them with me (us), showing us in detail what he saw and what it meant.  He marked up my x-rays with a red grease crayon and did the same on my MRI films, explaining each marking as he made it.

His conclusion was that my pinched nerve is most likely coming from between my C4-5 vertebrae, which is where I had the one pinched nerve before in 1982 – some 27 years ago.  That was where I had guessed it might be coming from, and he said I was correct.  That point – on the left side between C4-5 – was where he saw the most narrowing of the space where the nerves are.  Through the intervening years I have developed a lot of arthritis and bone spurs, which could be at least part of the cause of this current problem.

He said that because all of my reflexes appear to be normal, he thinks I will fully recover in time, continuing with the cervical traction I’ve been doing 2 or 3 times a day.  (He tweaked that some, adding some more weight for a shorter period of time.)  In the meantime, he is sending me here for a steroid epidural injection in my neck to relieve the pain (hopefully) and to calm the stressed nerve (my words).

I am going in for that a week from Monday (July 6).  Hopefully, I will be able to stop taking pain medications then.  I’ll continue to rest, use traction, take pain meds as needed until the pain goes away, hopefully.  I’m using the word “hopefully” a lot here, but that is a good word, you know?  To have hope!!  I did not have much, or any, for the first six weeks of this ordeal.

He asked how long it took for me to recover from the first pinched nerve and I told him several months.  He thinks it will be the same with this one.  It’s already been nearly 3 months I’ve been dealing with this, but I’ve only been using traction about a month (which is the only thing that’s helped, and he agreed was the only thing he thought would help).

He does not think I need surgery, nor does he think I’ll need to come back to see him, but they all assured me there that if I had any further problems or questions, to call.  They gave me his card to keep.

I don’t think I have to tell you how elated Tom & I were to get that good news!  You all have been a treasure to me in praying with me and for me in this – as you’ve done in all things I’ve had health problems with.

[Note:  Tuesday afternoon - Randy Wray of Theobloggers has gotten my photo upload/download problem fixed, so below are some photos of our bedroom & view out the South facing window.  Enjoy!  I will also be adding these to my tab at the top of the page here "A Home Complete."]

Many Blessings to you all today!!  Dee

Our "beachside looking" master bedroom

Our master bedroom window faces the South, out over our deck.

Here is a closer view of the deck and woods beyond.

Here's the view (looking North) from the deck into our bedroom.