Shocking

The word for today is "shocking", come on kids say it with me "shocking", good! Now put a handful of needles into various muscles and nerves and you are right in line with my afternoon plans.

Electromyogram (aka EMG

What is an electromyogram you ask? You are in luck - here is the definition from WebMD:

An electromyogram (EMG) is a test that is used to record the electrical activity of muscles. When muscles are active, they produce an electrical current. This current is usually proportional to the level of the muscle activity. An EMG is also referred to as a myogram.

As mentioned in past posts today is the day that I have been anticipating, yet dreading for the past 6 weeks or so because its the day that I get my EMG test to try and determine if there is anything the matter with my nerves and muscles in my lower back which may in turn be causing issues in both of my legs. So obviously I will have my legs tested as well, which should be pure joy. I guess it could be worse, I could be told that I have to spend the afternoon watching the Twilight saga series of films, I think that would be much more painful!

Ok back on topic; There are many things that this test can determine as well as rule out, some instantly and others that require much more involved calculations. I want more of the "rule out" pudding on my plate please. Although I would like to get to the bottom of what is the matter because it has been really annoying and pissing me off for nearly a year.

Based on previous discussions with various doctors I may simply have a severely pinched nerve in my lower back. "Simply" is probably the wrong word to use since there is not a whole lot you can do about it. I am not really interested in surgery to cut the nerve as this only lasts many months to slightly over a year or so depending on the person (I am no doctor obviously, this is based off of research and family that have had the procedure). Shots of various steroids do not agree with me either so that may not be an option. A magic pill everyday would be ok, but there seems to always be some random complications long term which scares me.

No matter, it all begins at 3:30 'ish today and I am told will last as long as 2 hours so I should know a little something more a few hours after. For now I am keeping my fingers crossed two-fold. One because I want to find out what is up and two I want it to be over with and have it not make me scream like a pre-teen at a Justin Bieber concert!

As most anyone that knows me or has read my posts knows, I despise needles. They are awesome in sucking out some blood and determining problems, but the sticking part is what I can do without. Boo-hoo I know, I know. But this is my blog so I can cry if I want to <smiley face>. I will try to update this entry later today and describe how the test went. My hope is that I can say "wow, it was really not that bad" and have the urge to edit this part of the post so I sound more like a tough-guy! Naw, that is not me - I am to honest for that and what fun is that anyhow! Not to mention if someone else has to have this done I would love to be able to tell them that its really not so bad.

4:48

Ok after an hour and a half of needles and electricity the testing is done, whew!

I will say to anyone that needs to have an EMG done that its not a day at the beach. Most of it is pretty dam uncomfortable and other parts of it really fuckin' hurts. Luckily the pain is short lived, seconds really although in the moment those seconds feel like many minutes.

5:05

So it's a little after 5:00 and I am out of my sexy gown, sitting in the room waiting for my doctor to come back in to go over some of the results. I think most of the data will go to my primary care doctor though and I will review that with him next Monday. So as of now I am not sure what, if anything was found. Honestly I am just happy that it is all over, the problem/question is "what's next"?

5:15

Doc came back in with good news that there are no nerve problems, no muscle diseases or anything of that nature, woot! What great news and exactly the news I was hoping for!

The downside is that my pain is most likely caused by the disk problems that I have in my lumbar area from years of shifter kart racing, motocross, skateboarding, snowboarding and everything else. Those problems showed up on my MRI a month ago and sorta started all of this testing.

Next Step

This means that the next step will be to have an injection of an antiseptic and steroid into my lumbar area and see if that solves it, when and if I decide to go that route. If so it could last for months of pain relief. Then a long term solution would be to possibly have the nerve burned which could make it pain free for years or potentially forever.

My doctor is really cool and does not push anything like surgeries, injections and so on. He is more of a give the patient all of the information that he can and let the patient make an informed decision. Especially in a case like mine where it is not life threatening or debilitating. I think if it was more serious he would probably want me to pursue my options much sooner, that just makes sense.

What I am going to do is wait until around February possibly and decide at that point. Reason being is that I will have had this Kenalog steroid shot in and out of my system in the 6 month time frame it stays with you so my body will then be free and clear of anything "extra" and we will know better if something new is or is not working.

Oh I guess I should mention that I originally had the shot because I got this friggin' gnarly-bad rash in August. I have never had such a bad rash, actually its the only rash I have ever had other than what I got as an infant I suppose. Even when the doctors saw it they sorta did a "oh, wow, umm" reaction. Not the type of reaction you want from your doctor or a specialist, you want it to be a common thing they see all the time. Nope not with me, has to be some exotic crap they cant figure out. Anyway, luckily it was from an allergic reaction to some shirts I bought at a off-road racing event. I bought them and wore one of them before I had first ran it through the wash, bad idea. That is all behind me now though and I would like to keep it that way!

Out

Well I think that is about enough news and personal information for one day. Overall it was a pretty uneventful day without the tests so I guess I can look at it like that and turn it into a positive thing? Naw, who am I kidding! It was awesome to get great results but not something I want to do on days that are not eventful.

Tomorrow is a shiny new day, cant wait to see what it has in store for me! For now its time to take my fuzzy kid down to get the mail and sink into the couch for a few hours, maybe even finish up a few more levels of Angry Birds Star Wars. So far, as usual, I have 3 stars on about 80 of the 160 levels so there is a long way to go, playing the remaining 80 or so levels plus bonus levels. I think tonight that is a great way to pass some time and relax, don't you?

Photo: Seemingly innocent machine that filled me with 16 needles and electricity this afternoon!

Oh and before you comment on the poor screen editing / blocking out in the photo give me a break, it was the best I could do with Photoshop Touch on my iPad while driving home!