Kids and Dogs and Medical Stuff.

Last Tuesday night, Meagan and the kids stayed overnight at our house. They had an early flight to Georgia to visit some friends, and our house is much closer to the airport.  Nathan joined us for dinner before saying goodbye and heading back home.

So fun to watch Madi watching her parents.

Love these two!

Wednesday morning was a bit of a wild ride. Meagan did a fabulous job of getting four kids up and ready to hit the road by 5:15 a.m. so they could be ferried to the airport by their intrepid airport ferry-er, Steve. Breakfasts were eaten, bags were packed, and children were wrangled.

Belle is not used to life moving along at 137 m.p.h. in the morning. She is not used to four excited children and three adults rambling around every which way.  Our usual mornings are serene, with me getting up at 4.m. and Belle and Tinker staying in bed with Steve until 6:30 a.m. Excitement just doesn’t exist in our home at that hour.

But it was sure running rampant last Wednesday with four pumped-up kids!

Finally, the children and luggage were all collected, and it was time for a photo before they headed out in a flurry of early morning exuberance.

After I closed the door behind them, I turned around to look at Belle standing in the middle of the kitchen. Her expression very clearly said, “What in the world just happened?!?”

It wasn’t long before she had gathered up her brother so they could lounge about on the couch and recoup their depleted stores of inner fortitude.

Medical Stuff

One thing I didn’t mention when I posted about my recent trip to Wisconsin was that my intermittent ankle problem popped back up. As I’ve written before, I’ve been experiencing pain and swelling for a couple of months and have had good and bad days with it. Unfortunately, the moment I got into the Charlotte security line, a bad day kicked in. I took a step forward, and it felt like my ankle was going to give out on me altogether. Not a good feeling when I had four million miles of terminals to traverse.

I took another step, and it happened again, in addition to some pretty bad pain.  I leaned on my carry-on handle all the way through the line, and thankfully, by the time I got through security, the ankle trauma had backed off.  I took off toward my gate in what I thought was a jaunty and youthful manner, only to have a guy pushing an empty wheelchair stop me and ask me if I needed a ride.  So much for looking jaunty and youthful.

When I landed in Minneapolis, my ticket indicated a 90-minute layover; however, it turned out to be only 35 minutes, and the gate was located at the opposite end of the terminal.  Thankfully, when I stepped off the plane, there was an electric cart sitting there, and the driver immediately asked me if I needed a ride. I thought, “What is it about me that that is bringing in all these unsolicited offers of help?”

I am jaunty!  I am youthful!!  (I guess not.)

But I gratefully accepted his offer, and he scooted me across the airport, where I arrived just five minutes before they started loading. I would have never made the connection by walking–even on my best walking day.

Three MRIs

The day after I got home from my trip, I had three MRIs scheduled: brain, neck, and right ankle.  (A few weeks ago, I also had an MRI on my back.)  This was after seeing my regular doctor, a sports-specialty doctor, and a neurologist.

As you can imagine, in the weeks preceding all this testing, I was a little stressed.  Not only was the right ankle being looked at, but I have had left foot/weakness for three years or so, which has been getting worse. I’d had a nerve test earlier to rule out a peripheral nervous system issue.  I know that central nervous system issues can cause unexplained limb weakness, and I wondered if that was the case with me. The brain MRI would give that answer.

Thankfully, my brain seems to be in pretty good shape–at least they said there is definitely a brain in there, which was good to know.

I also had no idea what was causing the issues with my ankle and was worried I was going to need surgery and be out of work for several weeks. That whole incident in the Charlotte airport ramped up my ankle anxiety all the more.

After the MRIs, I had an appointment with a foot surgeon to get his input on what was going on. Thankfully, he believes the ankle to be non-surgical. There is the possibility that shifting my weight from my left (weak) leg and changing my gait to accommodate the weakness has irritated the arthritis in my right ankle, causing the pain.  Also,  pressure on certain nerves in my neck and back seems to be the cause of the weakness in my left leg.   (See MRI reports below for more details.)

He put me on a new-to-me medicine (Meloxicam), which is 15 times more potent than Ibuprofen but non-addictive and non-drowsy; it also helps with inflammation.  I’ve gotten a lot of benefit from the med so far. In six weeks, I’ll go back to the ortho doctor to see how things are going. There is a possibility of doing injections if there isn’t a significant improvement.

So there’s a medical report for you. Although my body doesn’t always behave itself the way I’d like, I am thankful for the health I do have.

I think I’ve written before that I once asked an elderly lady (with many physical challenges) how she was doing. She beamed at me brightly and said, “It is well with  my soul.”  Her words and attitude have stuck with me through the years. What a wonderful attitude and an example to emulate–no matter what you or I go through.

What about you?

Have you ever looked at your pet and absolutely known what they were thinking by their expression?

Have you ever had an MRI? Did it bother you at all, being so enclosed? I felt a little weird when they put a cage over my face for the brain MRI.

What are your plans for this summer?

For those of you who like boring medical details, here are a few MRI notes.

MRI LUMBAR 
Multilevel facet spondylosis with grade 1 anterolisthesis L5 on S1 vertebrae.
Chronic advanced disc disease L4-L5 disc space.
FINDINGS:
At disc level L4-L5, disc height is severely diminished, most pronounced in the right hemisphere. Loss in disc height and endplate spurring mildly narrows the neural foramina. No disc protrusion or canal stenosis is seen.
At disc level L5-S1, is slightly diminished.

MRI CERVICAL (Neck)
Severe left foraminal stenosis C3-C4 disc space.
Moderately severe bilateral foraminal stenosis C4-C5 disc space, left worse than right.
Multilevel joint spondylosis.
FINDINGS: 
Broad-based left paracentral disc osteophyte complex approaches the cord, slightly narrowing the central canal diameter. Facet and uncinate hypertrophy produce severe left and mild right foraminal stenosis.
At disc level C4-C5, a small disc osteophyte complex flattens the thecal sac, minimally narrowing canal diameter.
Facet and uncinate hypertrophy produce moderately severe bilateral foraminal stenosis, left worse than right.
At disc level C5-C6, uncinate spurring produces moderate right and mild left foraminal stenosis.

MRI BRAIN 
A small flat lipoma is incidentally seen along the right tentorium cerebelli.
(A brain lipoma is a rare, benign tumor, present from birth, that can remain undetected until later in life.   These tumors only represent 0.1% of all intracranial tumors.)

MRI RIGHT ANKLE

Mild tibiotalar osteoarthropathy.
Achilles tendinopathy without discrete tear.
Mild posterior tibialis tenosynovitis.
Subtalar ganglion cyst extends into the sinus tarsi and posterior ankle.
(A subtalar ganglion cyst extending into the sinus tarsi and posterior ankle is a benign, fluid-filled growth originating from the subtalar joint. It frequently causes localized pain, hindfoot instability, and stiffness due to inflammation and pressure on surrounding tissues)

FINDINGS:
Bone Marrow Signal: Subchondral bone marrow edema in the posterior tibial plafond and central talar dome.
Sinus Tarsi: Multiloculated ganglion cyst measures approximately 3.0 x 1.6 x 1.0 cm.
Soft Tissues: Edema in Kager’s fat pad.
A posterior ankle ganglion cyst arising from the subtalar joint measures approximately 2.6 x 1.8 x 1.2 cm.
At roughly 2.6 cm, its largest dimension, it exceeds the typical 1 to 3 cm range for smaller cysts, meaning it has a higher potential to cause a “mass effect” (pressing against adjacent tissues, causing pain, restricted joint movement, or numbness).

Symptoms You Might Experience
Pain: A deep, sometimes burning ache just below and in front of the outer ankle bone, which worsens on uneven terrain.
Hindfoot Instability: A persistent feeling of the ankle “giving way”.