Thread:Dustydog202/@comment-35319541-20180507193648/@comment-33002749-20180514190541

Lola,

Sorry for taking so long to reply, I've been busy packing as I'm getting ready to move at the end of the month. I've never been to a chiropractor, mainly because my mother was an RN and she made it a point to always say they were quacks and not real doctors. You have to understand, my mother was born in 1934 and died in 2013 so she was a bit old fashioned in her thinking maybe, but that was her opinion. My neck massage was done by my physical therapist and was very gentle and did not involve any traction. One problem for me is that all the muscles in my body are very tight and can't relax, even though I'm on very strong muscle relaxers. She would just massage the muscles to loosen them so I could do my exercises, very simple ones, and then I would do my body exercises lay on the heat for my body with ice for my neck.

You asked if I was nervous about the surgery. Please do not let what I am going to tell you next scare you in any way because it is not something that would happen to you or any normal person. I think I told you before that I was a "one of a kind" type of person, so I have some weird allergies that other people don't usually have. Usually when a person has an allergy to something it is a contact type allergy, meaning that your skin has to come in contact with the thing you are allergic to and this type of allergy does not usually continue inside the body because it is your skin that is allergic and not the rest of your body.

But then there are some types of allergies that can be from things you eat, and sometimes they are so bad you can't even be near that item because you can have a reaction; like say a kid who is allergic to peanuts who can't be around peanut dust. Well I found out when I was about 22 that I was allergic to medicine that contained blue dye. I had taken some over the counter Dimetapp and woke up the next morning covered in huge hives. My doctor asked me what I took and that was the only thing. Since I was able to take the prescription kind he said the only real difference was the coating which in this case was blue. So I was told never to take any medicine with blue dyes. All my doctors were very good about this.

Sorry, this is getting very long. Anyway, on February 7, 2017 I had my decompression surgery. For the first 10 days everything seemed great. I seemed to be my old self again. My mind was sharp again, I could think, I could finish conversations and words came freely, and some of the pain was gone. Then things changed, it appeared that I got an infection, so I was put on antibiotics. After the first 14 days it still was not gone, so he ordered 14 more days. On March 6th I guess I was acting really weird, my son was worried sick and finally took me to the ER. They admitted me and tried to tell me I had OD'd on my meds, which I knew I had not. Turns out I had meningitis. Anyway, after a few months at the wound clinic and infectious disease they made the neurosurgeon open me back up to see what was going on. That is when the truth came out. Even though he knew I was allergic to blue dye, had been told over 25 times the morning of the surgery and it was written in my chart and we had discussed it, the patch he used to cover the dura (the covering to my brain) was blue, and it wasn't an infection, it was an allergic reaction. He admitted he was wrong, and it was his fault. I am still dealing with this. I found a great surgeon at John Hopkins who will fix it all for me. I just need to finish moving, get my final MRI and then he will schedule the surgery. Then I will sue my former surgeon. I have it in writing he admits to the mistake.

So would I say go for it? Yes I would. Those 10 days were wonderful. I am looking forward to many more of those days once this is finally fixed. It is not going to fix everything that is wrong with me, but if I can just have my mind back so I can feel more like me again, it is worth it.