Now it's my turn!

Up until Britt's wedding I was riding at least a couple of time a week. With the wedding, it just got hard to find time to ride, and afterwords it got so, damn hot it made it even harder to ride. I di mange a ride here and there and did get over twelve miles one time, but things have suddenly changed.

I have been having leg numbness since about February and have seen Dr. Whitacre for pain injections every since. These usually last about 3 months and then I schedule another shot from there. My last episode had to be the worst. I got to where it was hard to walk at time, especially on concrete and not just at Walmart, as my lovely wife suggested!

I was starting to have doubts about the Moab bike trip and was fearing surgery. My last appointment I scheduled a visit to Dr. Whitacre who suggested an MRI to just get a better look at my lower back. If you've never had an MRI, you're a lucky SOB! I hated it, all 4 of them!

Yeah, I ended up having 4 MRI's. The first one went, well, not real good but I managed to stay in for about 30 minutes. I got claustrophobic really quick, when my big ol' wide shoulder were rubbing the side of the tube. The tech had me raise my arms back over my head, which allowed me to enter the tube, but still it was a struggle to get through it.

The doctors found that I had an "bulging" disk, right above my surgery from 1986, but also found a spot higher up my spine they called a "mass". Now a mass to me means cancer, no if, and or buts about it. Dr. Whitacre assured me it was most likely nothing, but dammit, I have a mass in my back.

I was scheduled another trip into the the tunnel of hell, but this time I had a plan...Xanax! Yeah, I have a prescrition for it, so I popped a couple before going and had no problems! Problem was, they needed more veiws up my spine for sopme reason, which I'll elaborate on here in a second.

Back for round 3, and I did not bring the Xanax, which was a huge mistake! They were doing a cervical scan which requires a apparatus that fits very snug around your chest and up under your chin, kind of like the "halo" things you see on people with neck injuries. This was a little creepy in itself, but being jammed back into the tube, with this thing, just didn't work. Panic button, nurse, are you okay, NO, get me out, now. Round 4 now scheduled in an open MRI.

Open MRI was OK, still a little freaky, but I made it, now to Dr. Whitacre to see if I'm dieing!

Well, I'm not dieing, but I do have a tumor in my back, an ependymoma is what it's called. This particular tumor is slow growing and usually doesn't cause much trouble, as Dr. Whitacre advised, "if you have to have a tumor, this is the one you want, and most importantly you have it "where" you want it". He had conferred with a neurosurgeon and both agreed at this time, we should just keep an eye on him. The picture shows an MRI with an ependymoma (not my actual image), but pretty close!

The good news, besides I don't have cancer, I guess, is I do have a herniated disc, causing me problems! He prescribed more pills, Neurontin (Gabapentin), to be exact, and I of course started taking to much yesterday and got all loopy. He told me to take one a day for three days then, two a day for three days then 3 a day. I jumped straight into the three a day routine and was all screwed up. Pays to listen to the doctors!

Hoping the new dope takes effect soon and dulls the pain more. I guess as long as I can manage the pain, the surgery will have to wait, but I'm not sure on the bicycle thing, although the other day I received a new saddle and rode for about 2 miles with zero pain! So we'll see how that goes.