Okay semi-short post.
Last week, I have been diagnosed with intervertebral disc prolapse (IVDP). Previously, my lecturer just suspected it as an “early stage of IVDP” based on my symptoms and clinical signs, but last week, I had a very severe lower back pain lasting about 2 weeks in duration, causing me difficulties to walk, bend down (especially for rukuk during prayers), sit, getting into the car. The pain travels along the course of the sciatic nerve, I could feel it. Last time, I even had numbness and pins-and-needles sensation at my right great toe, with loss of sensation around that area (thinking about L5 and S1 dermatomes huh?). It’s like I were 70 years old, when I’m actually just 24. I even asked my mom, “Mak, kalau la ni (sekarang ini) dah macam ni, Muna dah tua nanti macam mana?” So my mom suggested that I go to this private hospital in my hometown to get some medications, coz I ran out of the medications given by my lecturer – Celecoxib, Mecobalamin and Fastum (ketoprofen) gel. And of course, the doctor asked me to do MRI without even performing any basic tests e.g. SLRT (straight leg raising test) which costs my mom almost a thousand ringgit. I didn’t mind though, coz he was a good doctor, and he even asked me to describe my own X-ray and MRI (sigh, of course I screwed up, I was in pain okay =P) and I want to confirm the diagnosis and the cause of this terrible lower back pain which I have been suffering from since I was 14. To add to that, I have a strong family history of IVDP. Three of my close relatives have IVDP. One of them has mild scoliosis.
So these are the results:
You see, the L4-L5 disc is going into the spinal canal, almost consuming the space for the spinal cord, impinging the L5 nerve, explaining my numbness, prickling and loss of sensation at the great toe huh? It's going to the right, explaining the pain which travels through my right thigh downwards. Look at L5-S1 disc, my doc said it's degenerated!
According to my doc, the L4-L5 disc protrusion could have been due to a trauma where my body was twisted severely. I could only recall falling from a bicycle twice during my childhood years, and falling from a motorbike twice. Yeah, motorbike. Twice. During my teenage years. Once on the road in Batu Pahat town, and once on the highway from Batu Pahat to Seremban. I fell down hard to the ground. My ex broke his leg.
The L5-S1, according to my doc, was degenerated due to some genetic factor. Remember my strong family history?
The doctor recommended decompression surgery, which costs about RM10k-RM30k in that private hospital. I sent a text to my lecturer, he recommended surgery too, especially if I wanna do it in HTJ. Uh oh. My parents are thinking about asking second opinions. and I am thinking about... waiting. Waiting for the right time.
Surgery isn't scary, but the risks of anesthesia and the post-operative pain and complications are.
For the time being, I wanna try conservative method and traditional medications for symptomatic reliefs. What a medical student huh!
Ok. The next day, I attended an appointment for minor oral surgery (MOS) for tooth 38. Again. This is the second time I underwent that surgery, but this time is worse. The LA (local anesthetic) didn’t work perfectly! Previously I couldn’t feel anything but this time, the dentist said “pass me the blade!” to her nurse and I said “Uh oh” and there you go, I felt the blade incising my gum. Then she said “scissors!” and this part was the worst – I could feel the scissors cutting through my gum. Then I could feel the needle going into my gums while she sutured the wound T_T Multiple pokes of LA had been given, but it was still ineffective, I don’t know why. Then, my cheek was swollen. My face is asymmetrical (I’m too shamed to put my pic here, but I do look ugly now). I couldn’t eat properly, though I was very hungry. I have been eating porridge for days and I have gastritis, so my stomach decided it needs solid food so it stimulated my vomiting center in the brain and I have been vomiting after each intake of food. Even only a piece of chicken nugget.
According to my doc, the L4-L5 disc protrusion could have been due to a trauma where my body was twisted severely. I could only recall falling from a bicycle twice during my childhood years, and falling from a motorbike twice. Yeah, motorbike. Twice. During my teenage years. Once on the road in Batu Pahat town, and once on the highway from Batu Pahat to Seremban. I fell down hard to the ground. My ex broke his leg.
The L5-S1, according to my doc, was degenerated due to some genetic factor. Remember my strong family history?
The doctor recommended decompression surgery, which costs about RM10k-RM30k in that private hospital. I sent a text to my lecturer, he recommended surgery too, especially if I wanna do it in HTJ. Uh oh. My parents are thinking about asking second opinions. and I am thinking about... waiting. Waiting for the right time.
Surgery isn't scary, but the risks of anesthesia and the post-operative pain and complications are.
For the time being, I wanna try conservative method and traditional medications for symptomatic reliefs. What a medical student huh!
Ok. The next day, I attended an appointment for minor oral surgery (MOS) for tooth 38. Again. This is the second time I underwent that surgery, but this time is worse. The LA (local anesthetic) didn’t work perfectly! Previously I couldn’t feel anything but this time, the dentist said “pass me the blade!” to her nurse and I said “Uh oh” and there you go, I felt the blade incising my gum. Then she said “scissors!” and this part was the worst – I could feel the scissors cutting through my gum. Then I could feel the needle going into my gums while she sutured the wound T_T Multiple pokes of LA had been given, but it was still ineffective, I don’t know why. Then, my cheek was swollen. My face is asymmetrical (I’m too shamed to put my pic here, but I do look ugly now). I couldn’t eat properly, though I was very hungry. I have been eating porridge for days and I have gastritis, so my stomach decided it needs solid food so it stimulated my vomiting center in the brain and I have been vomiting after each intake of food. Even only a piece of chicken nugget.
So combine these:
Lower back pain 20 to IVDP + post-operative dental pain + stomach pain and vomiting 20 to gastritis = difficulty in mobility + difficulty in chewing food + difficulty in eating and accepting food
plus:
headache and migraine 20 to dental pain + vertigo and nausea 20 to Tramal (given as painkillers for that post-MOS)
Do you think I’m enjoying my last days of holiday (I got 5 days of MC)?
Sigh.
So the important messages here are:
1) Ingat 5 perkara sebelum 5 perkara, especially sihat sebelum sakit.
2) Please be grateful with whatever you get to eat today because there are many people out there who are having difficulties not only to buy and get food, but to chew and swallow the food, no matter how delicious they are, they don’t matter anymore when you have tooth pain, dysphagia, odynophagia. Don’t complain.
Tomorrow ada follow-up with dentist. Tadi the sutures were broken, coz I brushed that area, and it bled. Uh oh.
Tolong doakan semua kesakitan saya cepat sembuh ya =(
P/S: Kalau nampak saya jalan macam tempang ke senget ke tonggek ke pelik ke apa kat IMU ke kat mana-mana ke, please la jangan kutuk, please ignore and excuse me. I’ve been having difficulties to walk properly, even long before I was diagnosed with IVDP. The pain started during my teenage years lagi dah. And one more thing, please excuse me if I pick things on the floor with my foot. Tak beradab, but it spares me the need to bend down so I could avoid the pain =P
Yeay, can’t wait to start major postings! =P
0 comments:
Post a Comment