It is impossible to translate a doctor's report into understandable English! I have 3 completed reports on the state of my back/pelvis/hip regions, with another report due to me perhaps by Friday. What they basically state is that I fell in December 2010 and that fall resulted "in an acute/subacute traumatic L4 end plate injury," but I've been Binging and Googling my fingers to the bone and cannot actually determine what that is.
There are lots of medical terms included in the reports, including lumbarization, hemangioma, retrolisthesis, osteophytic ridging and encroachment, and Schmorl's node, all of which somehow relate to my superior L4 endplate, but ... that's like finding all the edge pieces to a puzzle and then being left to my own devices to figure out what the actual picture is without a picture of the finished puzzle.
What I do not understand is why more emphatic methods were not used to determine the extent of the back injury either at the time of the fall or immediately thereafter. I questioned the ER diagnosis of "stirred up arthritis" at the time and asked for an MRI, and again at my knee surgery, and again at the stitch removal 10 days later, and again when I returned to beg for some kind of help with the extreme pain and loss of function in my back/hip area at the completion of 6 weeks' of prescribed physical therapy for my knee that actually resulted more in trying to get me on my feet due to the back issues.
I suspect that medical care is based solely on persistance because only after numerous failed attempts to have a better diagnosis was I sent for tests to determine what happened as a result of the fall. It appears to me that it's more than just "stirred up arthritis," based on the statement "acute/subacute traumatic end plate injury," but shouldn't I have known that months ago, rather than well after the fact? Ignorance is not bliss: it is stupidity that allows the injury to be exacerbated simply by going on as if nothing is wrong. My stupidity this time came to an end the day I walked the dogs and found that I could not walk back to my home! Thankfully, a friend who lives nearby was able to come get me, but that situation should not have occurred.
Next step: return to the spinal specialist to determine what these reports actually say and what I can do to get beyond this place in my physical life.
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Acute: sudden onset (like from a fall)
Subacute: slower onset (like from arthritis)
Traumatic: serious and unexpected
L4: most likely the 4th Lumbar vertebra
End plate: most likely the part of the spine that "sticks out" and can be felt in the back
Schmorl's node: a tiny fracture of the vertebra bone itself, which can predispose you to osteoarthritis and/or disc herniation.
So, sounds like you broke your back! Nothing "serious", but something for which you will feel a great deal of pain and have issues. Most often, this injury seems to be found in people who participate in full-contact sports, like tackle football.
I'm seeing no set form of treatment and that people with diabetes heal from these issues much slower.
Not sure what the doctors can do for you; hopefully they have a plan to attack this in some way. I see the term "spinal decompression" used in reference to fixing it. You might want to try hanging upside down again (like that device we used to have years ago).
*reecated
So ... I fell in Dec 2009 and fractured my knee cap, but even though I finally had an MRI in Mar 2010 and a report that stated I fractured my kneecap, it was never treated because ... the January 2010 bone x-rays didn't show it.
Then ... I fell in Dec 2010 and "broke my back," but could not convince anyone that I REALLY hurt my back because the bone x-rays didn't show a broken hip/pelvis! Thus, I've been trying to cope with a "broken back" on my own for 3 months, all the time thinking that I must be crazy to complain because no one else seemed to think it was anything other than "stirred up arthritis?"
I don't get it. I do, however, know that the ongoing pain since the initial event in Dec 2009 and the secondary event in Dec 2010 has culminated in physical and mental issues that are totally impacting my life -- to the point that I am not going to return to work because I am not physically able to continue to do my job.
This is just wrong on so many levels.
Thanks for the info. I'll let you know what the specialist has to say whenever the follow-up appt is scheduled.
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