Ouch

Yesterday I was due to have my second Zometa infusion. This time I drove to the hospital because my right leg had been playing up and I wasn't sure I could manage to walk the 2+ miles. I couldn't find a parking place so drove about half a mile home and walked (hobbled) in from there and arrived with 5 minutes to spare.

It was a different Clinical Nurse Specialist who was to give me the medicine this time. She asked me how things were going. I told her that my bone pain had generally reduced but that I was getting sciatica like pain in the right leg and the three smaller toes on my right foot were somewhat numb. She pricked her ears up at this and said she'd get a doctor to check me over.

The doctor asked some questions then examined me. He checked whether touch sensations on the right leg were the same as the left. Then he checked on the strength of each leg and it was plain that the right leg was weaker. He also prodded my lower abdomen and gave me a DRE (digital rectal examination). He said there was a possibility that I had some spinal cord compression and would need an MRI scan. He said he'd admit me into the hospital until a scan could be arranged - probably the next day.

As it happened there was a slot available and I was taken in a wheelchair, pushed by a porter, and accompanied by the CNS to the MRI department. The scan was uneventful but the hard scanner bed was uncomfortable and I had to grit my teeth a few times so that I didn't move to relieve the discomfort and pain. After waiting a while for a porter the CNS wheeled me back to the urology department. It was now lunch time and the CNS rustled up a large salad filled bap for me.

Having examined the scan results the doctor confirmed that there was some SCC and arranged for me to be seen by and orthopaedic consultant in his out patients clinic. The CNS had to leave to make some home calls so a different nurse accompanied my to the out patients clinic whilst I travelled in style in the porter pushed wheelchair.

There was some confusion at the clinic because the arrangement had been made directly with the consultant and the receptionists didn't have me on their lists. I was first seen by a registrar who asked similar questions to those posed by the doctor in the urology department. He checked out each of my vertebra. The only one that gave me any pain was the one between my shoulder blades (I suspect this is the cause of some weakness in my arms). He then checked out my legs. The consultant joined him and told me that the Multi-Disciplinary Team would meet tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss how to proceed, the options being an operation or a single dose of radiotherapy. Seeing as I was passing water and moving my bowels OK he didn't see the need for me to be admitted but before going home he wanted me to have an X-ray of my right femur. A nurse will call me on Thursday morning to let me know what the MDT had decided and what I will need to do.

So another wheelchair ride to the X-Ray department. A bit of a wait then a walk (hobble) back to the car and home. The longish walk to the car made the wheelchair rides seem unnecessary but I am pleased they were provided. Walking between the various departments would have been slower and may have left me with some difficulty getting back to the car.

I'll be pleased when the SCC gets sorted because the pain it causes is worse when I have been sitting or lying down for a while and the various pain killers I have don't seem to have much effect. Consequently I have not been getting much sleep nor even very much rest.

I've just had a 'phone call from the CNS asking how I had got on with the orthopaedic guys and whether I am OK. Isn't that nice?