Good Morning and my Introduction

[Guest guest]

Good Morning to All,

Thank you for accepting my subscription to the your mailing list. I hope I

will be able to give support as well as receive it. Until recently, I

didn't realize how many people suffered with chronic pain.

I will probably lurk for a little while so as to become familiar with the

names, as well as the methods and styles used by other members.

I'd like to introduce myself.

My name is , but I answer to Mike or even Hey You.

I'm 44 years old, and my wife and I celebrated 25 years of marriage in April

of this year.

We have two daughters (23 and 15), one son (17) and a son-in-law (30). Yes,

I am acutely aware of the age difference between my daughter and son-in-law,

and it took me quite some time to accept him into the family. But he has

proven to be a very responsible and highly respectable person, and to this

date, I am proud to have him in our family.

In January, my daughter and son-in-law brought the newest member of our

family into this world. A beautiful granddaughter named Bethany Mae, who

has already learned how to wrap gramps around her little finger. A

granddaughter, while no relief from pain, tends to at least distract me

enough to where I can put my pain aside for just a short time.

I use to own and operate a small business. When I say small, I mean, it was

my wife Ellen and I. We were the entire company. I also volunteered as an

EMS dispatcher for our local volunteer ambulance company, as well as having

a Medical First Responders license, and I almost had my EMT license. Passed

the class, never got the chance to take the State Board Exams.

I injured my neck in 1995 in a freak accident while playing volleyball. I

herniated two disks in the C5 through C7 levels of my spine. The resulting

damage to my spinal cord is both painful and permanent. And as a result of

the injury, I have lost all feeling in the lower three fingers on both

hands, as well as a marked and noticeable decrease in strength in the left

side of my body, from my arm to my foot.

Although it is difficult, I consider myself fortunate that I am able to

walk. Because of the injury, my left leg drags, and I find it necessary to

use a cane.

At the time of this injury, we were in between health insurance companies

and I was panicking about how I would afford the medical treatment I

desperately needed. Thank God the VA was there to help me. All these years,

I was under the impression that the VA hospitals only treated people who

were currently in the service or who had a service related injury. I found

out that the VA hospital will treat any veteran, regardless of length of

service. The cost of the treatment was based on our annual income which,

because we had to close down our business was very little. My treatment was

free.

My first surgery, September 1995, was an anterior lamenectomy on the C5-C6

joint, and the second surgery, February 1997, was a posterior fusion with

all the metal hardware.

I have been in pain ever since. The pain has been at times, very intense.

I can only describe it as thought someone were forcing a hot soldering iron

through the back of my neck.

My doctors at the pain clinic I am currently going to, recently ordered some

more neurological evals, and it was revealed last month, that I now have a

herniated disk in the C4-C5 level, as well as a build-up of bony material,

which is causing a narrowing of the canal in the C7-T1 area. I am nervously

waiting for an appointment I have with the neurosurgeon scheduled for this

Friday.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

Sincerely

Mike S.