Spinal Tap (Nothing to do with the movie)

As you might have guessed if you read Monday’s post, I have a very unpleasant medical procedure in my immediate future.

Tomorrow morning, they’re going to perform a spinal tap on me, removing a few (presumably very small) vials of spinal fluid in order to test me for MS and one other disease. (I’m not sure what other disease. I didn’t quite catch it when the doctor said the name of it, but I was fairly sure I’d never heard of it anyway, so I didn’t bother asking.)

The MRIs of my brain revealed small lesions similar to those seen in MS patients, and since my symptoms are getting worse, the doctor thought it was important to check if that was what was going on. He doesn’t think it’s MS, since it’s only my arm(s) and not all four limbs, and a few other things like that, but…well, ruling out possible causes is an important part of the diagnosis process.

The thing is, though, that while the actual procedure is very brief (they said about 20-30 minutes) the recovery time while the fluid regenerates itself is pretty lengthy, about 48 hours. And while I’m recovering, I have to lie flat on my back. If I’m upright for too long, it’ll cause complications that will require a return visit to the hospital.

The reason I’m telling you all this is because, well, I won’t be able to write anything while I’m recovering. (Using a laptop while lying flat on my back is just not going to happen. I’ve actually tried in the past, and it was not a success.) So hopefully I’ll be able to write new posts by Saturday. But I can’t be sure; apparently some people take longer to recover. (Though I wonder how I’ll know when it’s replenished itself enough that it’s safe for me to sit up for longer than a brief bathroom visit?)

Given that my posts have become a bit erratic anyway, maybe I didn’t need to write this post; after all, I’ll still be able to read posts and write brief replies on my iPad. (But trying to type out a nice, lengthy post that way is not happening.) But what if my recovery takes longer than expected? What if I end up in bed for four or five days instead of two? It just seemed like the best idea to say what was about to happen first, just in case.

Besides, I’ll likely be complaining about it afterwards, so you might as well consider this due warning, too.

And depending on what the results are, I may have even more to say about it when the time comes. (Not sure when I’ll see the results. Possibly not until my next appointment with my doctor, at the end of the month.)