I have finally convinced a doctor to order to an MRI of my ribs and my chest.
You know, the actual part of my body where the insane amount of pain is coming from? Ya. There.
You’re probably all, “But Crystal, you’ve been in pain for SIX MONTHS? How have they not already done this?”
Well, here’s the thing. While I have had two chest X-rays and two CT scans of my chest, the only MRIs I’ve ever had were of my spine and then a totally unrelated one of my head to make sure I didn’t have a random aneurysm causing my headaches. (I don’t).
My understanding of the situation is that the doctors thought that the nerve pain in my front right rib should be connected to my spine, and therefore would show up on a MRI images of my back.
Those all came back normal though.
And then my pain specialist (who I hate) told me that an MRI of my ribs wouldn’t show anything anyway, so I shouldn’t get it.
But in the back of my head, this whole time, I’ve been thinking I should probably get one just in case.
And now, my neurologist (who I love) has finally decided to order one.
The good news: It could show the nerves in my ribs and it might even show the problem.
The sorta bad news: The nerves are so small in that part of the ribs, and so close to the blood vessels, that there’s a chance the MRI won’t show anything useful at all. The neurologist says that doesn’t mean nothing’s wrong, it just means nothing showed up on the MRI. But basically, I shouldn’t get my hopes up.
In other news, he’s also upping my nerve medication. And then, depending on how that goes for the next week, he says I can call him and he’ll put me on another steroid pack if needed.
Ya, my neurologist is pretty awesome.
He cares.
So now I just have to wait for the insurance company to approve the MRIs of my ribs and my chest, and then get them scheduled, and then get them done, and then hope something shows up.
Because the next test my neurologist wants to order is a spinal tap, and I’m not exactly sure what’s all involved in that, but the only times I want to combine the words “spinal” and “tap” are in reference to a parody rock band.