The progress continues

Yesterday was the first time I saw the most progress with nerve pain in my back. I was able to walk (with the assistance of the walker) from the hospital parking garage to the hospital for my appointment. The pain was much more tolerable.

I had an appointment in the morning to remove the stitches from my lumbar drain location. That went fairly easily. The MRI of my chest wasn't scheduled until 3:00pm, so we decided to go back to the condo...since my ability to walk or stand didn't last for more than 30 minutes at a time.

I admit I was very nervous about the MRI scan yesterday, based on all that has happened lately. John and I were able to ask the radiologist fellow in charge about the abnormality they are looking at and the risks. The scan took about two hours...thank goodness I'm not claustrophobic. The machine is not very big and they leave you in there the entire time.

After the scan, the radiologist fellow told me he thought it was a benign fibrous elastoma (?)...a lesion near one of my heart valves, but he would have to review the images with the cardiologist that evening. He doubted it was a blood clot based on shape and location. He didn't look very concerned...so I took that as being possibly not bad news.

We got a call from Joli Vavao(one of the RN's in the Neurology Clinic) this morning to discuss the results. John took the call and according to Joli, they still believe it's just a slight abnormality near one of my heart valves and would not require surgery. Thank goodness!!!!! I can't describe the sense of relief I had when I heard the news. The doctors' want to perform an EKG of my heart tomorrow to establish a baseline to take back with us to Florida. From what I can tell, this may be something I've had for a long time and just happened to be found due to the chest pains I had a few days ago. The doctors don't seem to have any correlation between the abnormality and the chest pains.

Today has been much better in a lot of ways. John and I walked down the street, minus the walker, for the first time. This was the first unassisted walk I've had since being in the hospital. I've been able to sit longer today as well. We even went out for lunch and sat in the restaurant. It's nice to be able to start to feel like a normal person again. I'm hoping the progress continues at this rate. I know we are all ready to go home.