Gloria's Story,

About sixteen years ago I was working as a receptionist in a hearing aid dispensers office.  While I loved working with the people I hated the paper work.  After a couple of years I found that I was much more interested in the testing and fitting of hearing aids.  I told the owner and he helped me get the necessary training. I was finally fitting hearing aids!  The only down side was that it was mostly in rural areas, so I had to go out to people's homes to test their hearing. This involved loading my testing equipment in the trunk, driving to their home, unloading and carrying into the home.  I would set up, test, load up, and carry to the car, and load it into the trunk again. You get the picture.  Sometimes I would do as many as four or five two hour tests.  But I did love it.

One time I was loading my equipment into the trunk, it was late and I was tired.  It felt as if someone jabbed a knife into my back just below my waist.  This happened at different times and in different situations until, finally, my lower back hurt constantly and the pain started to go down my left leg.  I had joined a health club and was going two to four times a week.  I thought I could strengthen my back and put an end to this.  Besides I loved working out.  WRONG!!! It grew worse and worse, until my primary care physician felt I should go to a pain management clinic.

By this time I was in my own office and had more time to do the things I enjoyed. I went to work out practically every evening after work. I went dancing at least twice, sometimes four times a week.  My partner and I had put together some wonderful dance routines.  People would clear the floor for us.  It was wonderful!  We went hiking, the more challenging the better.  We went sailing often and I was learning to swim, something I had always wanted to do.

An appointment was set for the pain clinic and I went in for testing to design a program for me. The next evening, Friday, on the way home from work I was involved in an accident.  I was going south on interstate 75 crossing a bridge. Interstate 71 merged with 75 at the bridge and we now had four lanes of traffic.  There was a semi in the lane to my left and he started to move over into my lane.  He hit my car in the front door just beside me, he then hit the back fender turning the car across in front of him.  He T-boned the car again turning it around and it hit the concrete wall dividing north bound and south bound lanes. My car then rolled down under the bed of the truck and was dragged for a little then shot back against the wall again.

My knee, chest and neck were injured in the accident, so my therapy was changed, and at the end I was no better, maybe worse.  The doctor there gave me my first epidural.   The doctor seemed to be having some difficulty getting the needle in the right place or something. I could here it "crunching" going in and then he pulled it out and reinserted it.  I heard him muttering under his breath, and as soon as he was finished he laid the needle down and left the room.  I never saw him again.  The epidural did no good whatsoever.

I continued to get worse, my chiropractor referred me for an EMG. They saw a problem but couldn't identify it.  I was then referred to an orthopedist.  He ordered some blood tests, a bone scan, stress test and another EMG.  He then referred me to a neurologist for three more epidurals, then he wanted to see me again.  First, I had MRI's from my brain down.  I also had CT Scans.  A couple of bulging disks, but nothing to cause my symptoms.  I was walking with an odd gait by now.  This doctor performed the epidurals with me under sedation. He also used fluoroscopy.

The first injection helped tremendously....for a week or two. I had the second and it lasted about three or four weeks.  Then my gait rapidly began to grow so much worse and the pain was horrible. He didn't want to do a third injection.  He wanted to try something new.  It used radio waves or something.  By this time I could barely walk and if I had been sitting a few minutes I had to stand for a few seconds before I could walk.  His assistant saw and wanted him to watch me walk.  He seemed more interested in doing his new procedure than anything else.  I didn't go back to see him.

I saw another neurologist and he did MRI's and CT Scans.  Nothing new.  He did blood tests and another EMG. Nothing!  He did a spinal tap.  They told me I might be headachy for two or three days. I was going to my daughters (about four and one half hours away) to baby sit for the weekend.  Well, on the way my "headachy" turned into a horrible headache--the kind with vomiting.  I would drive, stop and throw up etc.. etc.. etc. I came home on Sunday and called the doctor. He said I was probably leaking spinal fluid and needed a blood patch. So I went to the hospital the next day and had the blood patch.  I thought that it was giving me a stroke, but I was wrong and within five or ten minutes the headache was down to a quiet roar.  So, back to the drawing board!  Another EMG.  Nothing.  He finally told me he didn't know what was wrong with me, and he knew as much as any other doctor in Cincinnati.  He could refer me to Mayo Clinic, there might be some doctor there that had seen an odd ball case like me.  Of course I said "Let's do it."

So I and my MRI's went to Mayo Clinic I spent three days talking to doctors, the same thing over and over. Questions, watch me walk, and pin sticks, and reflex tests.  Finally they said they would have to do a myelogram.  That was the only test that  hadn't been done. They were expecting (hoping?) to find blood vessels wrapped around the nerves.  Well, instead it was an arachnoid cyst on T2-T9.  It was probably the problem even though it wouldn't ordinarily affect my back and leg.  If they removed it I should expect some improvement he couldn't say how much, but  certainly some.  I asked him what would be the worst that could happen.  He replied simply "nothing".  But I would be stabilized.

So, I had the surgery.  And this was the beginning of my ongoing nightmare!  I NEVER had pain like this in my entire life, I've had four babies and one of them breach.  But nothing could top this! I was in the hospital for eight days, and was forced to leave by my insurance. We, my daughter and I, flew home.  We were on a small commuter plane for the first part of the trip and we had a considerable amount of turbulence. I just wrapped my arms around my self as best I could and rode it out. When we finally got home I went to bed and wanted to die.  I hurt so bad, my entire back was involved now.  I had to lie flat on my back.  I cried all the time.  I did seem to get some better for a while.  But then I started downhill again.  I went back to my neurologist and he did a CT scan and told me he didn't know what was wrong.  It was clear he thought it was a mental problem.

So, I changed neurologist.  This one looked at all the records and such from the other doctors and my surgery.  He did some testing on his own, reviewed my case with a board of doctors and their diagnosis was that I had ARACHNOIDITIS.  By this time I had filed for disability and moved to be closer to my children.  I honestly don't think I could have made it without them - I wouldn't have wanted to.

At this point I have no hope to go back to work, I no longer am able to go to the health club to work out, I no longer can dance in my pretty little dresses.  I can't even walk out to the mailbox or the bathroom without my walker.  My hands and arms are now affected.  Most of my days are spent taking my medicine, and hoping it will control the pain so I don't feel that I am going to scream, all the while losing more and more of my ability to function on my own, and developing new pains or old pain in new places.  I no longer can play hide and seek with my grand babies and push them on the swing and just play with them. But would you like to know the thing I miss the most?  MY BEAR HUGS!!! Yep!  We're a family of huggers.  I haven't had a bear hug since the surgery in May of '99.  My back was too sore and now I can't stay on my feet to get the balance I need for a bear hug.  It is a little bit of heaven on earth when those little arms go around your neck and you pick him or her up and hug them back.  Know what I mean?