MRI Nightmare

[Guest guest]

If anyone ever had the worst possible results from any proceedure,

that would be me. I had an MRI yesterday that was supposed to be of

the upper back and I got the neck instead. My first mistake was

driving myself there because I could not bring my walker.

They raised my head and legs putting all of the pressure of that hard

table on my lumbar region. I wanted to die. It took an hour. He kept

stopping and asking me how I was and got the same answer every time.

It hurts terribly. I wished that he would quit asking. I brought my

own CD that I had in the car and tried to listen to and Dunn

over the noise.

When the proceedure was over, I could not get up or dressed without

help. Stupid me never thought to bring pain medication. Who knew? I

had to walk on a cane back to my vehicle and it seemed a mile away.

When in the car, I called my HMO PCP on the cell and he sent me to ER.

I also called hubby and he came all the way there with my meds and

walker. They told me to take them and released me.

I came home and fell asleep till this morning. But I did ask for a

printed Diagnosis from the first MRI of the lumbar region. Some of it

I do not understand so I am asking you. I went to the different back

sites and couldn't find some of the words.

To make a long story a little bit shorter, I have a degeneration and

bulging disc at L2-L3. A bulging disc at L4-L5 and stenosis. Also

Severe posterior facet joint hypertrophy and posterior ligament

hypertophy there and spinal stenosis.

L5-S1 Large central herniated disc Servere poterior facet joint

hypertrophy. Right posterior facet joint is prominent and right

neural foramen stenosis and posterior ligament hypertrophy and spinal

stenosis.

Help??? I do not know what all these things mean. It was just tossed

at me that I had a herniated disc at L5. Is that what all this jargon

means. I forgot to add that all these things were prefaced with

" decrease in signal of disc material consistent with degeneration. "