Cervical Spinal Stenosis

In October of 2018, I started to feel this odd tingle in my right hand, it would come and go, especially if I spent a lot of time typing or doing repetitive hand motions. After 36 years of not having a single issue like this, I was baffled, yet keen to blow it off, I had things to get done, and a little tingle wasn't going to mar my day. I told myself to just rest the wrist, take a Tylenol, and all would be well. I hate going to any doctor so I wasn't about to complain about a little issue like this. We were in the process of moving, and you know how that is.

However, by the end of October, right when we were in the middle of moving all the heavy stuff and getting the new place situated, I had a problem, I could not feel my fingers in the right hand, and hot, shooting pains were racing up my arm. The right side area between my neck and shoulder was constantly tense and nothing seemed to ease it off. My hand felt like it was dead asleep, and after I dropped a coffee cup on the floor, and cursed and cried over my klutziness, my husband made me go to the ER to have it looked at. The diagnosis was a pinched nerve somewhere, and I was made an appointment with a spine and orthopedic Dr.

I get to the doctor's office, and after a battery of tests, it is claimed I have a pinched nerve in my wrist, likely Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Considering at that time I was working from home on my computer and spent copious amounts of time banging the keyboard, this seemed reasonable and I agreed to try some conventional therapies such as nerve medication and physical therapy. For three months I tried several types of medications to ease my pain problem and went to PT three times a week, and no relief, if anything the pains and my numb fingers was worse. A nerve conduction test revealed I had severe Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and I needed surgery. By October 2019, after a year of therapies, medications and etc. I had the surgery done. By this time I was working in a light manufacturing job, and I had to quit because I could not ask for several weeks of medical leave. Five weeks later the splint comes off, and my hand feels pretty good. I elected to not have the left wrist operated on despite now feeling the tingling beginning to form the other hand. I didn't want to be useless for another 5 weeks, and we were tight on money.

Within weeks, the pain and numbness come roaring back with a vengeance, now it was coursing down my neck and shoulders like someone jabbed a hot poker in me and left it there. Now I couldn't feel much in both arms and hands, and I was miserable. Getting out of bed and doing the slightest of manual tasks was a chore and a half. I had to spend the first couple of hours of the day warming up like an old car before I could function enough to get much done. An MRI was ordered, and the results were not what I expected. I had two vertebrae in my cervical spine that were naturally fused together, bone spurs digging into my spinal cord, and two fat bulging discs in my neck. I had Cervical Spinal Stenosis, the congenital form, meaning I was born with it. I felt a sense of anger and hopelessness, I knew now what the rest of my life was likely to be like, I had watched my mom have two back surgeries for similar reasons, and she is not in the best of health or of mobility.

Now, my work prospects were slimmed down to the very basic of tasks, no heavy lifting, no complicated tasks, I had to find some kind of desk job or something, manufacturing and industrial work were now off-limits for good. A very stable avenue of income was now forbidden. This was a heavy blow to my pride and my sense of self. I'm used to just getting out and doing stuff with no restrictions on my ability or time. Before all this happened I could deadlift 50 pounds and walk with it and had the stoutness of a mule, now I couldn't lift past 20 pounds without cringing, and even moderate tasks were out of the question. Cue the depression to set it, and several bouts of self- loathing and frustration at my perceived weakness.

It is now December 1, 2020, two years into this journey to find healing and forming a new life. I am back to living in income-based housing, and working odd jobs here and there. Manufacturing and industrial trades are the backbone of this county we live in and if you are not working in that sector, well good luck finding anything stable for a job. We had to give up our nice apartment and accept economic and financial failure on my part. One income cannot pay $700 in rent plus other bills. My husband is disabled, so it was up to me to be the breadwinner, and I have kicked myself repeatedly over not being able to fill that role sufficently. Surgery on my neck is pending, I will be 38 on my next birthday and I don't think any Dr. is too keen on cutting me open just yet, because once they start doing these kinds of surgeries it becomes a domino effect. I am seriously wondering how I will manage later, with my neck and several vertebrae bolted and plated together. I've somewhat come to terms with having to change my career trajectory, along with many other things to accommodate my problems. So now I will have to see what else life throws at me, as this journey is far from done.