Traveling the undiscovered country

Whenever one is handed a medical diagnosis such as Type II diabetes — even if one is skeptical of the diagnosis — such a revelation is usually somewhat significant in the medical partition of one’s life. But whenever the doctor says: “But there’s more … ” One says: “Shoot ’em low sheriff, he’s riding my Shetland pony!” Or something like it.

Yesterday I got more than I bargained for at the primary doc, actually a physician’s assistant, or a “doc-lite” if you will. She went over the MRI results from my test on Tuesday and it wasn’t all that pleasant as medical news goes.

Before the MRI results though, the PA pronounced me as diabetic, as if to answer the question that has floated around my Department of Veterans Affairs caregivers and me: “Am I diabetic or am I just fat?”

So that news  involves a whole lifestyle change including diet, exercise (which shall be dicey as you will see) and sticking your self with a pin and testing your blood.

Now, the MRI news. I have suffered from neuropathy for the better part of eight months, perhaps longer. The symptoms have included severe foot pain in both feet including that which feels like someone is sticking a nail in your foot, as well as numbness and just plain hurting feet. Simultaneously, I have also suffered from lower back pain, a sharp pain that shoots down my right butt cheek (It’s those damn Republicans!) and a shooting pain in my right leg when sitting or driving too long.

Diabetes is one of the major causes of neuropathy. There are hundreds of causes it seems. Since the VA often deals in what one might call “quantity medicine,” I was concerned about receiving a diagnosis of diabetes because it was the easiest. I am the most overweight I have ever been in my life. My blood sugar has risen but some doctors have said it was on the cusp of diabetes. Thus, I got a diabetes diagnosis complete with a meter to measure my blood sugar and all the little accessories.

But the MRI found two other possible reasons for my leg and foot pain. For one I have what the PA described as a “tumor” — non-malignant — and as a “fat deposit” that is causing some stenosis, or encroachment, on my lumbar spine.

Secondly, the MRI discovered what is suspected as a relatively rare condition caused “anachroiditis.” This sounds, of course, like something having to do with a spider although that word is “arachnid.”

Anachroiditis is the inflammation of the two innermost layers surrounding the spinal cord and often expands to the nerve roots. This can cause scarring or adhesion of the nerves. The kicker is there is no cure for this condition. So I guess the punter is that it also is progressive and can lead to paralysis and death. It’s difficult enough to look at one the many pages I have been reading on the Internet about my new found rare and incurable malady. This is a disease described as both “dreadful” and “insidious.” To read what I have written is even more a chore.

The causes also are many: Anything from lumbar puncture or chemicals from a spinal injection to trauma to viral or bacterial infections. The possible complications are numerous as well. It doesn’t sound like it is or might be a whole lot of fun.

I still have to see my neurologist at the VA next week and I suppose we might go over the limited treatment options. One, perhaps, might be surgery to remove the mass and continued use of Lyrica which has seemed to help my feet pain somewhat. Surgery for arachnoiditis is almost zero likely since surgical procedures have not been very successful in treating the condition.

I will be the first to tell you my future right now looks scary as I — so my friend Terri Jo put it — “travel the undiscovered country of ill health.” But I will do my best to keep active, keep upbeat, keep moving those limbs, keep upright on the ground and keep on truckin’. And I don’t know what effect, if any my condition will have on my work including freelancing, but I will keep on pounding out this thing — eight feet deep — for better or worse as long as I am able.

So there.