What is Wrong with Michael???

This blog is to keep the friends and family of Michael informed on his status.

I have been asked to continue posting updates, when I receive them, as a venue to keep everyone informed AND to allow Michael and Jeri to get the word out without having to retell his tale many times each day.

Michael had another MRI today and it was not great. Mike and Jeri are currently scheduled to fly to Seattle on Friday.

The following was written by Michael, on June 4, 2009, explaining what the heck is wrong.

val⋅e⋅tu⋅di⋅nar⋅i⋅an
–noun
1. an invalid.
2. a person who is excessively concerned about his or her poor health or ailments.

Well, a couple folks have asked “what’s up” so I figure I better provide a little more information. If you are not really interested in my weird and wonderful physical ailments, just stop reading now.

As some of you know, I suffered from a herniated disk in my neck earlier this spring. Fortunately, I responded well to a steroid injection in my neck. Since then, I have worked very hard at improving my posture through physical therapy and yoga in order to address the underlying problem.

Unfortunately, I got a kink in my neck about three weeks ago and this has snowballed into a serious problem. I was able to get a spinal steroid injection on Monday, but this did not seem to help much. At present, I am taking very strong pain killers just to “take the edge off” and am finding very little relief. I can’t work and am having a tough time just keeping two coherent thoughts in my head. Fortunately, my boss (the Vice Chancellor) has been very, very understanding and flexible.

Where do things go from here? I have another MRI scheduled on Monday to see how much has changed since January. On Friday, I will be in Seattle for a last-ditch steroid injection attempt. While I am there, I will be investigating if I can be a candidate for less invasive surgical options.

However, I don’t have a lot of time. I am steadily losing muscle function due to the impinged nerve (and the pain is a whole mess o’ fun too!). Consequently, I have scheduled spinal fusion surgery for the 23rd of this month. If any of the other treatments work, I can cancel the surgery; however, unless I get lucky, they will have to fuse several of my vertebrae together to resolve the problem. While I don’t want this, the prognosis is extremely good and I should be pain free (after about two months of recovery).