[brokenwade]

I'm Wade. I've been playing kick the can down the road with all kinds of doctors.

I'm pretty sure that, at first, some thought I was full of it or just crazy. I started to think so myself for a while.

16 months ago, I was riding a bicycle and got hit by a car. Seven months of PT, a hip surgery to remove shredded cartilage, epidural, facet, and block injections in my back and neck for pain, then a cervical discectomy and fusion near the base of my neck. I am currently waiting for a lumbar fusion that has been put on hold until the neuro symptoms are sorted out.

I've had seven MRI's (L hip, shoulders, brain, C, T, L spine), a NCV test (pn in my legs, early carpal tunnel in my hands and a pinched ulner nerve on my left; done a year ago). I've had tingling/fire/numbness/weakness in both legs and worsening on my left side mostly over the last 15 months. Holding a coffee cup is difficult with my left hand. My left bicep is weak, as is my left deltoid (it received some damage in the accident). I have been walking with a cane for 13 months or so, since the falling got worse--my left knee sort of buckles.

The Ortho surgeon that did the first fusion and is waiting to do the second one saw some damage to the disks and started with cortisone treatment, wound up with diskogram sessions. Both cervical and lumbar... the Dr. had to remind me to stop screaming on some of them--I think he considered that positive.

Last week, I finally saw a Neurologist (well, the Neuro's Nurse Practitioner) and they found that I had a b12 level of 195 and an elevated homocysteine. She said that they can't account for all of the mainly left sided weakness, so are referring me to a big city teaching hospital kind of place for neuro muscular.

Oh, and I've been treated for bursitis in my right shoulder as well.

None of this stuff was evident before the accident. I rode my bike to work every day; I rode between 100 and 200 miles a week.

The b12 shots helped somewhat, the newer, worse, tingling/burning was tamped down for a few days and the fasciculations in both legs seems to be slightly better after the b12.

I had a very stressful last few days, and last night, the tingling and weakness and lactic acid kind of feelings (with almost no exertion) got much worse.

Trying to keep my brain from horriblizing is often difficult.

Anyway, Hi everyone.