4/18/14. The post where I get a clue.

4/18/14: a lot has happened since I posted two days ago, so for today's post, I will concentrate on yesterday morning's nerve conduction study.  It was a two-part test: the first part tested different nerves in both legs using conductors that sent electrical impulses through the nerves.  The second part tested various muscles in my right leg using thin plastic needles similar to acupuncture needles.  I was dreading the second part of the test, but the allure of possibly getting an answer convinced me to try it.

I should have been dreading the first part of the test.  How the doctor described it to me: like walking on carpet in bare feet and getting a static electricity shock.  How it felt: like walking on carpet in bare feet and getting Tased.  By the time she finished my left leg (the "control" leg, done for comparison purposes), I was ready to feign an emergency and run (or limp) away.  But I figured I'd have to do it eventually, so I stayed.  

Most of the second part of the test (aka the "pin cushion" portion of the event) was actually not as bad as the first part.  The only bad moment was when there was a needle in the tendon that moves your big toe and then I had to activate the big toe, which already hurts 24/7.  That was when the cursing happened.  Fortunately I had warned her prior to the test not to take personally any cursing that happened, and she did not.  In fact, she congratulated me at the end of the test for not cursing more than I did.  Apparently she had taken my warning seriously.  The experience was generally unpleasant and I hope never to do it again.

But it may have been worth it.  She found clear evidence of chronic nerve damage in the nerve that emanates from the L5-S1 vertebrae.  News flash - those are the vertebrae I had to have fused together surgically 9 years ago.  She hypothesized I could have arthritis at the site of the surgery that is irritating the nerve and causing the entire chain reaction and suggested an epidural might provide some relief.  

Wow.  I am trying not to speculate too much before I meet with my doctor on Wednesday, but of course my head is swimming with questions and I have already done more Internet research than is probably advisable.  Maybe I would have been better off without the sneak preview.  I certainly hope the nerve damage turns out to be the cause and not just an interesting coincidence, but given my medical history I am not going to bet the farm on it.  In any case, it is a new lead to follow and more concrete information than I've had in months.  So I forgive yesterday's doctor for putting me through the nerve conduction study.  I just hope she forgives me for cursing.