the waiting game

Well, the headaches have subsided to the point that drugs are either not needed or don't do too much, although my neck has been quite sore for the last few days. My urine has been pink on occassion, which is a little weird. Depending on who you ask, it can take anything from hours to days to weeks for the treatment to help. The internet is a terrible place for medical research - just way too much information. All it does is add to the uncertainty.

Being referred to a neurologist for weakness in the hand was a little scary; it just opened up a world of terrible possible diagnoses. It is interesting to note that the Hippocratic oath actually does not include the phrase "do no harm", which explains why doctors have some very painful tests and procedures disguised by innocuous terms like "nerve conduction study". That's actually medical for "a series of electric shocks through the arm that, if they were any stronger, would cause an involuntary reflex blow to the head of the person administering the test".

Lots of graphs and numbers led to an initial diagnosis of some damage to the radial nerve, possibly a result of some trauma. Because nerves are able to repair themselves, it was just a matter of waiting for this to happen, and the muscle weakness would go away. Unfortunately, after several months this didn't occur, and so we moved to the next battery of tests, starting with the MRI.

MRIs are lots of fun. It's not quite the way they show it on TV - these super magnets make a hell of a racket as they bang away. The old fashioned headsets you used to get on planes are the only thing that works to deliver music when you are inside; no metal is allowed.

That test found the thickening of the radial nerve in my upper arm, which explained the muscle weakness, and indicated this may not be what was first diagnosed. It's fascinating to think that the damage to that nerve in my forearm would cause weakness in my hand and fingers. This led to further blood work and another, quite painful, nerve conduction study, where they upgraded from electric shocks to needles (eeek) inserted into very sensitive parts of my hand to "listen" to the nerves. What is nerve-speak is for "ouch!"?

So, all of that led to the firm diagnosis of multifocal motor neuropathy. Which, in my case, is medical for means: "we know what you have, we don't know where it comes from. We know how to treat it, and think it will work, but don't know why". And so, I wait ...