[OT] Need Medical Translation

CatNipped wrote:
"jofirey" wrote in message
...

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
I *SO* miss Howard Berkowitz right now! ; I'm hoping there is
maybe someone else in the group that could help me translate the
"findings" of my MRI.

I recently had the MRI done to see if we could pinpoint the injury
to my neck that I did 18 month ago. This is the "findings" and I
have *NO* idea what they mean (and can't get in to see the doctor
for him to interpret for quite some time).

Examination of the C3-C4 level shows significant compromise of the
right neural foramen due to hypertrophic bone arising from the
uncinate process and also from the posterior elements. This
constitutes significant right side foraminal stenosis at V3-C4.

All this sounds quite scary and I would appreciate any help you
could give me in translating the above to English! ;

--

Hugs,

CatNipped

See all my masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped/


I'm no doctor, but neural = nerve foramen= opening or space
hypertrophic = too much process=bump and I'm pretty sure stenosus =
blockage or narrowing.

So my guess would be that a nerve in you neck is being squished by a
narrowing of the space it passes through in your neck/spine

That would probably explain the pain. And bone changes don't usually
happen fast so time likely isn't critical.

Jo

What worries me is that I hurt it at the same time I went flying
through the air and broke my wrist, and it's been getting worse ever
since. I have a friend who's a nurse (just can't get in touch with
her right now) who says that constant scraping or pressure on a nerve
can cause irreversible nerve damage. And as I said to Jill, I'm
really worried about somebody using a bone saw that close to a spinal
nerve.
Hugs,

CatNipped

Yes, it can cause irreversible nerve damage. But it would take longer
than 18 months for that to happen.
Dennis had a herniated disk in his lower back. The disk bulged out and
squished the nerve, similar to what bone spurs are doing in your back.
It probably happened in 1995 or so, that's when the pain began for him.
He never had it diagnosed until 2003 when he was finally able to get an
MRI because we were living in Thailand. By this time the pain went from
his lower back all the way down his left leg to the lower calf. He was
in constant and continuous pain.
He went in for surgery to remove the herniated disk and the surgeon was
surprised he could even walk anymore. He said that nerve damage is
usually irreversible when the pain reaches the ankle. So he was close
but probably still a year away.
The surgery was the best thing he could have ever done. The immediate
pain in his lower back went away right away and the pain down his leg
shrank back up his leg over the next 6 months. He is completely pain
free now. His back is weaker and he's not to play jarring sports like
tennis but that's a small price to pay not to be on the verge of suicide
due to constant pain!
Also, Lori, I doubt they would use a bone saw, the little bone spurs in
the spine are very small and they would probably just burn them off with
a laser. Also the surgeon Dennis had explained that the nerve closest
to where he was going to be removing the herniated disk wasn't a major
nerve anyway and even if he cut if completely off (not likely) he would
only have a numb big toe and not total paralysis. So if often sounds so
much scarier than it is.
I hope you get your surgery soon and get rid of this pain for good!
Hugs & purrs,
--
Britta
Purring is an automatic safety valve device for dealing with happiness
overflow.
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/badwilson

"badwilson" wrote in message
...
CatNipped wrote:
"jofirey" wrote in message
...

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
I *SO* miss Howard Berkowitz right now! ; I'm hoping there is
maybe someone else in the group that could help me translate the
"findings" of my MRI.

I recently had the MRI done to see if we could pinpoint the injury
to my neck that I did 18 month ago. This is the "findings" and I
have *NO* idea what they mean (and can't get in to see the doctor
for him to interpret for quite some time).

Examination of the C3-C4 level shows significant compromise of the
right neural foramen due to hypertrophic bone arising from the
uncinate process and also from the posterior elements. This
constitutes significant right side foraminal stenosis at V3-C4.

All this sounds quite scary and I would appreciate any help you
could give me in translating the above to English! ;

--

Hugs,

CatNipped

See all my masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped/


I'm no doctor, but neural = nerve foramen= opening or space
hypertrophic = too much process=bump and I'm pretty sure stenosus =
blockage or narrowing.

So my guess would be that a nerve in you neck is being squished by a
narrowing of the space it passes through in your neck/spine

That would probably explain the pain. And bone changes don't usually
happen fast so time likely isn't critical.

Jo

What worries me is that I hurt it at the same time I went flying
through the air and broke my wrist, and it's been getting worse ever
since. I have a friend who's a nurse (just can't get in touch with
her right now) who says that constant scraping or pressure on a nerve
can cause irreversible nerve damage. And as I said to Jill, I'm
really worried about somebody using a bone saw that close to a spinal
nerve.
Hugs,

CatNipped

Yes, it can cause irreversible nerve damage. But it would take longer
than 18 months for that to happen.
Dennis had a herniated disk in his lower back. The disk bulged out and
squished the nerve, similar to what bone spurs are doing in your back. It
probably happened in 1995 or so, that's when the pain began for him. He
never had it diagnosed until 2003 when he was finally able to get an MRI
because we were living in Thailand. By this time the pain went from his
lower back all the way down his left leg to the lower calf. He was in
constant and continuous pain.
He went in for surgery to remove the herniated disk and the surgeon was
surprised he could even walk anymore. He said that nerve damage is
usually irreversible when the pain reaches the ankle. So he was close but
probably still a year away.
The surgery was the best thing he could have ever done. The immediate
pain in his lower back went away right away and the pain down his leg
shrank back up his leg over the next 6 months. He is completely pain free
now. His back is weaker and he's not to play jarring sports like tennis
but that's a small price to pay not to be on the verge of suicide due to
constant pain!
Also, Lori, I doubt they would use a bone saw, the little bone spurs in
the spine are very small and they would probably just burn them off with a
laser. Also the surgeon Dennis had explained that the nerve closest to
where he was going to be removing the herniated disk wasn't a major nerve
anyway and even if he cut if completely off (not likely) he would only
have a numb big toe and not total paralysis. So if often sounds so much
scarier than it is.
I hope you get your surgery soon and get rid of this pain for good!
Hugs & purrs,

I think it's my friend, the nurse, who is scaring me the most. She is
*ADAMANT* that I not go to an orthopedic surgeon for this - she calls them
"clumsy saw-bones" and says I shouldn't allow one anywhere near the cervical
area. She's trying to get me to see a neuro-surgeon, but I can't - I don't
have the time. I tried to explain to her that I need to get this done
before the end of the year or I'll have to wait a whole 'nother year until I
meet my deductible again. A neuro-surgeon (a *good* one) isn't going to
have an opening right away and won't be able to schedule surgery in the next
three weeks. And if I have to face living with this pain another year, I
don't want to live - it's that simple.

I'm going to see the ortho guy Monday, and if he says he can do the surgery
I'm going to have him do it - I'm just going to be scared spitless until
it's over because of what she's said!

Hugs,

CatNipped


--
Britta
Purring is an automatic safety valve device for dealing with happiness
overflow.
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/badwilson

On Thu, 6 Dec 2007 18:20:00 -0600, "CatNipped"
wrote:

Examination of the C3-C4 level shows significant compromise of the right
neural foramen due to hypertrophic bone arising from the uncinate process
and also from the posterior elements. This constitutes significant right
side foraminal stenosis at V3-C4.

You have 7 cervical vertebrae numbered from top to bottom. Here's a
picture of a cervical vetebra:

http://www.ispub.com/xml/journals/ij...vical-fig1.jpg

"Neural foramen" is the space where nerves go through. The spinal
cord goes through the big space at the back. Nerve roots go through
the small spaces at the side. "Stenosis" is doctorese for narrowing.
"Hypertrophic" means overgrowth. You can get hypertrophic bone from
healing a fracture, or arthritis, or just because. Pressure on a
nerve root from narrowing of the space it passes through can cause
pain. "Uncinate process" is the descriptive name of the piece of
bone. Uncinate means hooked.

Most mammals, cats - humans - giraffes, have seven neck bones.

Bud

"William Hamblen" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 6 Dec 2007 18:20:00 -0600, "CatNipped"
wrote:

Examination of the C3-C4 level shows significant compromise of the right
neural foramen due to hypertrophic bone arising from the uncinate process
and also from the posterior elements. This constitutes significant right
side foraminal stenosis at V3-C4.

You have 7 cervical vertebrae numbered from top to bottom. Here's a
picture of a cervical vetebra:

http://www.ispub.com/xml/journals/ij...vical-fig1.jpg

"Neural foramen" is the space where nerves go through. The spinal
cord goes through the big space at the back. Nerve roots go through
the small spaces at the side. "Stenosis" is doctorese for narrowing.
"Hypertrophic" means overgrowth. You can get hypertrophic bone from
healing a fracture, or arthritis, or just because. Pressure on a
nerve root from narrowing of the space it passes through can cause
pain. "Uncinate process" is the descriptive name of the piece of
bone. Uncinate means hooked.

Most mammals, cats - humans - giraffes, have seven neck bones.

OK, thanks! I was thinking uncinate process meant something going on
because of "process". That does make it much clearer - I'd be willing to
bet I broke one of those bones in my fall and it probably "over-grew" in the
18 months since.

Hugs,

CatNipped


Bud

On 8 Dec, 05:32, William Hamblen wrote:

Most mammals, cats - humans - giraffes, have seven neck bones.

7 cervical vertebrae is one of the definitions of a mammal
although manatees and some sloths only have 6 and one variety of sloth
only has 3

CatNipped do not let your friend scare you (okay I understand the
thought of surgery- any surgery is scary enough). What all the fancy
jargon means (as so many here have already explained) is that some
bone has overgrown and is impeding the space where the nerve leaves
the spinal column. It is routine for orthopaedic spinal surgeons to do
this procedure (neurosurgeons don't really deal with bones) and should
(no guarantees but should) improve things a lot. I worked gfor 3.5
years in an orthopaedic hospital and I don't remember any major
complications following the procedure and we used to do it quite a lot
as we had a two spinal specialists

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

On Fri, 07 Dec 2007 08:43:35 -0600, CatNipped wrote:

If I take *TONS* of Zantac/Nexium, I can take Tramadol (Ultram), but right
now I can take THREE Tramadols PLUS TWO Advils and it still doesn't touch
the pain. The pain is non-stop, unrelenting 24/7 and has been for 18
months!

That sounds more like my lumbar problem (four problems, actually: wrong
number of vertebrae, spina bifida obscuro(sp?), calcium growths, and a
protuding disk). It seems to flare up most reliably the week of July
fourth (when my chiropractor takes vacation). A few chiropractic
treatments put me back on my feet and off the vicodin.

--

T.E.D. ) UMR becomes MST soon.

On 8 Dec, 08:15, Ted Davis wrote:
, spina bifida obscuro(sp?),

Spina bifida occulta I think you'll find- just be glad you didn't have
it's cousins through in the nastier cases you wouldn't have known
about it anyway since the really major neural tube defects are
incompatible with life

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...


OK, thanks! I was thinking uncinate process meant something going on
because of "process". That does make it much clearer - I'd be willing to
bet I broke one of those bones in my fall and it probably "over-grew" in
the 18 months since.


If that's the case you might get better on your own.

Bone "overgrows" or forma a callus in the process of healing. Eventually
the overgrowth is absorbed back into the bone.

The most obvious example would be a broken collar bone. Soon after they
break a lump you can feel starts to form at the break till its practically
like a golf ball by the time it is healed. Then it takes about a year for
it to shrink down to where you can't see the lump anymore.

(Kids=sports=too much experience with broken collar bones)

Jo

CatNipped wrote:
"badwilson" wrote in message
...
CatNipped wrote:
"jofirey" wrote in message
...

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
I *SO* miss Howard Berkowitz right now! ; I'm hoping there is
maybe someone else in the group that could help me translate the
"findings" of my MRI.

I recently had the MRI done to see if we could pinpoint the injury
to my neck that I did 18 month ago. This is the "findings" and I
have *NO* idea what they mean (and can't get in to see the doctor
for him to interpret for quite some time).

Examination of the C3-C4 level shows significant compromise of the
right neural foramen due to hypertrophic bone arising from the
uncinate process and also from the posterior elements. This
constitutes significant right side foraminal stenosis at V3-C4.

All this sounds quite scary and I would appreciate any help you
could give me in translating the above to English! ;

--

Hugs,

CatNipped

See all my masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped/


I'm no doctor, but neural = nerve foramen= opening or space
hypertrophic = too much process=bump and I'm pretty sure stenosus =
blockage or narrowing.

So my guess would be that a nerve in you neck is being squished by
a narrowing of the space it passes through in your neck/spine

That would probably explain the pain. And bone changes don't
usually happen fast so time likely isn't critical.

Jo

What worries me is that I hurt it at the same time I went flying
through the air and broke my wrist, and it's been getting worse ever
since. I have a friend who's a nurse (just can't get in touch with
her right now) who says that constant scraping or pressure on a
nerve can cause irreversible nerve damage. And as I said to Jill,
I'm really worried about somebody using a bone saw that close to a
spinal nerve.
Hugs,

CatNipped

Yes, it can cause irreversible nerve damage. But it would take
longer than 18 months for that to happen.
Dennis had a herniated disk in his lower back. The disk bulged out
and squished the nerve, similar to what bone spurs are doing in your
back. It probably happened in 1995 or so, that's when the pain began
for him. He never had it diagnosed until 2003 when he was finally
able to get an MRI because we were living in Thailand. By this time
the pain went from his lower back all the way down his left leg to
the lower calf. He was in constant and continuous pain.
He went in for surgery to remove the herniated disk and the surgeon
was surprised he could even walk anymore. He said that nerve damage
is usually irreversible when the pain reaches the ankle. So he was
close but probably still a year away.
The surgery was the best thing he could have ever done. The
immediate pain in his lower back went away right away and the pain
down his leg shrank back up his leg over the next 6 months. He is
completely pain free now. His back is weaker and he's not to play
jarring sports like tennis but that's a small price to pay not to be
on the verge of suicide due to constant pain!
Also, Lori, I doubt they would use a bone saw, the little bone spurs
in the spine are very small and they would probably just burn them
off with a laser. Also the surgeon Dennis had explained that the
nerve closest to where he was going to be removing the herniated
disk wasn't a major nerve anyway and even if he cut if completely
off (not likely) he would only have a numb big toe and not total
paralysis. So if often sounds so much scarier than it is.
I hope you get your surgery soon and get rid of this pain for good!
Hugs & purrs,

I think it's my friend, the nurse, who is scaring me the most. She is
*ADAMANT* that I not go to an orthopedic surgeon for this - she calls
them "clumsy saw-bones" and says I shouldn't allow one anywhere near
the cervical area. She's trying to get me to see a neuro-surgeon,
but I can't - I don't have the time. I tried to explain to her that
I need to get this done before the end of the year or I'll have to
wait a whole 'nother year until I meet my deductible again. A
neuro-surgeon (a *good* one) isn't going to have an opening right
away and won't be able to schedule surgery in the next three weeks.
And if I have to face living with this pain another year, I don't
want to live - it's that simple.
I'm going to see the ortho guy Monday, and if he says he can do the
surgery I'm going to have him do it - I'm just going to be scared
spitless until it's over because of what she's said!

Hugs,

CatNipped

I don't know a thing about ortho surgeons. Dennis definitely had a
neuro surgeon and I would reccommend that too. Can't you just pay the
deductible? I know it's $1500 but you'd spend that kind of money on
your cats, wouldn't you? You'd find the money somehow. So why not
yourself?
--
Britta
Purring is an automatic safety valve device for dealing with happiness
overflow.
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/badwilson

On Sat, 08 Dec 2007 09:46:25 -0800, Lesley wrote:

On 8 Dec, 08:15, Ted Davis wrote: , spina bifida
obscuro(sp?),

Spina bifida occulta I think you'll find- just be glad you didn't have
it's cousins through in the nastier cases you wouldn't have known about it
anyway since the really major neural tube defects are incompatible with
life

That rings a bell. It was missed the first time I had back trouble, but
showed up on X-rays when the current series began about five years ago.

--

T.E.D. ) UMR becomes MST soon.