My Neck

(Initially posted on Facebook in October)

Got the results of my MRI today. Apparently I have a congenital defect -- the C2 and C3 vertebrae are partially fused.

There is disk bulging at several points, and spurring at several places produces "slight contact with the anterior cord and deformity." There is also narrowing and some "rotational" stuff (not sure what that is).

And most interesting to me because I have NO idea what it means: The tip of my odontoid lies quite close to my clivus. (I'm writing this straight from the report. I didn't even know I had a clivus and odontoid. Certainly wouldn't have put them in my neck if someone asked where they went.) I really like that sentence, though: The tip of the odontoid lies quite close to the clivus. It tickles me.

So I'm going to get a CT scan next, and my doctor has referred me to a neurosurgeon. Whee. I got my MRI films today -- neat. Although I can't tell what everything is, I can see my brain. I've seen all sorts of pictures of brains, but this one is *my* brain. It's weird how that makes a difference.

But anyway, in short, this is all my parents' fault. :-)

Oh! And I found out that the itchiness that I always got when I took hydrocodone is actually an allergy to codeine and I'm not supposed to take it anymore. You know, I knew that itchiness indicated allergies -- I even took an antihistamine every time I took hydrocodone. But I guess it just never connected. Anyway, my doc says no more codeine. Darn. :-)