cincic1

Hi Dr. Corenman,

Thank you so much for this incredibly swift response.

If I can follow up a bit more with you…

I agree with you that a new MRI would be in order for the reasons you state.
The surgeon was working right in that C5 area with the foraminotomy, and… I believe it would
really eliminate a lot (or reveal a problem) about the status of anything pressing on a nerve
in that area. After all, a discectomy was not done as a part of this procedure, and this really
makes me feel uneasy about the fact that the herniated disc at C5 is still there.
Sadly, I even asked the surgeon about this prior to the surgery, and somehow he convinced me
that the herniated discs do not have to be removed when the procedure is the Laminectomy.
I don’t think I am still convinced about this.

Also,
One of my pre-surgical symptoms was pins/needles in fingers of both hands, and this did not
improve at all.
I realize there could be many reasons for this, but… one I can think of would be that the
C5 nerve roots were being impinged beforehand (the pre-surgical MRI indicated this), and…
Maybe they still are being impinged, with maybe even an additional impingement of a different
area of the root that is now causing the new right shoulder problem.

One problem I am having is that the surgeon is pushing back against the idea about getting
this post surgical MRI, and I really don’t think he should be.
He is saying that it will not reveal if a screw is misplaced, and he is saying that I will
always show foraminal stenosis on an MRI from now on.
That may be (although I thought the foraminotomy was supposed to ‘open that up’),
but… even if so, shouldn’t it still show if there is nerve root impingement ?
It showed that before, so shouldn’t it show it now, if that is the case now ?

I don’t know how much of this is the surgeon not wanting to find a problem with ‘his work’,
or not.
Also,
Sorry to say this, but… I’m not confident that any second opinion surgeon would want to
‘turn against’ a fellow surgeon and give his true opinion that something is not right with the
surgical work.

I am so very confused and I don’t know where to turn and feel like time is running out when
it comes to nerve damage.

So questions are:

Do you have thoughts about the herniated disc being left in place—if that is likely
to cause this type of problem ?

If, somehow the possible scenario you brought up, were the case:
” screw stenosis or bone fragment that inadvertently became lodged in the foramen. ”

Do you think this type of thing could present in a delayed fashion—in my case 6 days
after surgery, or would it likely appear immediately after surgery ?
From my layperson’s point of view, it would seem to me that it would likely be immediate
rather than 6 day delay.

Any other thoughts you have in addition would of course be appreciated.

Thank you so much,
Cathy