Thank you for the warm welcome and the information.

I had to laugh when whatever you said I had quite a few issues. You only know about half of what’s going on. I like to joke that if it wasn’t for modern science my family would’ve died out long ago.

I was born with bronchial asthma and possibly some autoimmune issues right to begin with that were never diagnosed until I was an adult. I have Hashimoto’s which ended up causing over 30 food allergies not intolerances. I stayed off those foods for over six years. I have actually been able to add some foods back in. Hashimoto’s itself can cause the food allergies. I’ll never be able to eat gluten again. I tend not to get anaphylaxis but rather rash instead. We are currently checking into if I might have vasculitis which can cause nerves and joints to be more painful than they really are. I also have Reynauds,, another autoimmune disease.
I’ve tested positive for the smooth muscle antibody which actually indicates if there’s a possibility of developing autoimmune hepatitis. So far it hasn’t developed into the hepatitis yet. My doctor monitors all of this. I have had problems often on for the last 10 years relating to the spine both lumbar and cervical. The worst of it was that I also have reflux sometimes silent meaning you can’t tell it’s happening and sometimes with all the chest pain that can go with it. When I sleep liquid coming up from the stomach can go down into my lungs. This resulted in severe pneumonia four years ago. The day I checked into the hospital my oxygen was cycling between 52% and 75%. Needless to say I did not leave the hospital that day. I almost died The first night. I filled my D dimer test which has to do with the heart. All I know is I couldn’t actually sleep for three nights. I also had to sleep or try to sleep sitting straight up. If I went back at all I couldn’t breathe, and this was on oxygen. It took a long time to get over. Close to a year went by until I felt almost normal. I still have to take all the long medication and this is what we found the growths in my right lung. The reason I am including all of this that has nothing to do with the back is that two of the doctors involved in my care believe I would not survive Covid if I was to catch it. So we are holding off the MRI for at least 12 days so that the shot has had a chance to work. It won’t necessarily be as effective as a healthy person to do autoimmune issues. It caused a flare of my Hashimoto’s And possibly vasculitis if that is indeed what I have. My hands when I woke up this morning were completely swollen with no knuckle lines and painful. This is something I deal with every time a flare comes up.

Now the doctor did say if I lose a side like that again for more than six hours I am to go to hospital immediately at the six hour mark to be flown out right away for the MRI, I can have the lung CT at the same time as long as I’m not too worried about the amount of x-rays needed for my back and neck. Now on the Alaska Highway, if you were in an accident or any kind of emergency and require medical flight to another hospital that means within three to four days after the flight Is requested. (Pregnant mothers have to leave town for the month before the birth and have their child in a hospital with maternity available. We no longer have anyone that can deliver babies here where I live. The mother is expected to pay for her own transportation and cost of living for the month in a strange town and then have her baby with a doctor she doesn’t even know.) Each morning the schedule is worked out for the medical planes. They’ll tell you if you’ve got a spot but they can’t guarantee what time they’ll arrive or if they will arrive because if a more serious call comes through like hearts or anything that could cause death would trump my being paralyzed and then I’d have to wait.

The time I totally lost control of washroom function below the waist I had to be flown out immediately and I think my doctor was going to have a coronary because we couldn’t get a Neurologist to answer the phone. We needed to know where to send the plane. You see the emergency occurred after 4 o’clock on Friday. It took over 72 hours to get a flight out. That’s what I’ll be on the recommended 48 hours as a surgery window so that the patient doesn’t become paralyzed if it’s Cauda equina syndrome. Cauda equina syndrome was suspected but eventually the neurosurgeons involved felt because I got feeling back in control back the surgery could wait.