HCS and Me

Today, there are a few things going on. I don’t know where to start so why not go from system to system and give the details about what is wrong or going wrong?

Skin issues:

Connective Tissues:

Credit: https://www.pharmacy180.com/article/connective-tissues-3464/

• Both of my feet are in bad shape and I am barely able to walk anymore. I had surgery to try and help my right ankle but the fusion was unsuccessful and all 3 screws broke in half. 1 of the halves was removed after it tried to come out on its own.
  • My Right foot has a bone growing out the bottom from a deformed joint. It makes it very hard to stand, keep balance, walk, and causes a lot of pain when I try.
• My hips are stiff but otherwise fine
• My back has seen better days. There are some small older fractures and a wedge fracture at my T8, some hardware in the upper back that change the way stresses feel and it concentrates movement to fewer vertebrae. There is an osteophyte at T8 as well.
• My shoulders are almost dislocated. The right one is barely holding on because the clavicles and scapulae are essentially gone.
• My Left Thumb is dislocated in a few places, my ring finger is partially dislocated too. almost all my finger tips have dissolved away too.
• My shoulders do not raise higher than my head, there are bone fragments in one and both never ever worked 100% right – I couldn’t raise my arms vertically straight like everyone seems to.
• Both wrists do not bend backwards
• Both feet have very little up and down rocking movement left, the arch is gone and the metatarsals have a lot of erosion. There is a bone spike growing out the bottom causing a lot of pain for me.

Nerves:

I have a nerve somewhere on my back behind my shoulder. Because of the degeneration and lack of support my shoulder has nothing except my muscles to keep it in place. Recently it stopped firing so maybe some swelling from a fall was causing it.

The last nerve before this was a different one in my shoulder back in 2018 and 19, it was brutal and after wearing a brace and some physio with rest I was able to let it heal. I also needed to take nerve blockers like Gabapentin and Pregabalin to get over it. I found Pregabalin easier on the side effects side of things but both helped.

Before this was a nerve in my elbow back in 2017. Ever hit your funny bone so hard it feels like you’re on fire? Had shingles before? Nerve pain is so not cool. I also had shingles 2 x, once when I was in my 20’s and again in my late 30’s.

Bones:

Hands – My finger tips on both hands are quite dissolved and a few are gone. The other finger bones are quite thin with big knuckles. My right hand is more degenerated bone wise but my left hand is degenerated and has a dislocated thumb and ring finger so it’s not a lot of use. It is difficult to imagine that I was a great chef and worked until 5 years ago full-time.

Shoulders – Degenerated badly on my right side. My clavicle and scapula are essentially absent and there are fragments of bone left in the joint. On my left the clavicle is gone and the scapula is degenerating slower.

Ribs – On the right side 1-4 are fractured, 6th is fractured and the 7th has a displaced fracture. On the left the upper 2 ribs as well as my clavicle are gone. I also have a 7mm pneumothorax somehow.

Head – I think it is fine, my family will say otherwise jokingly. I have ringing in my ears and use glasses sometimes to read or use the computer now. My smell is off and not the same for the last 3 years since I had my accident tobogganing 2021 January 16th. My taste is more messed up than my smell is. Nothing is the same anymore. Occasionally I taste and smell things that aren’t there and don’t smell natural, like I’ve never smelled before. Coffee is ruined, beer – no good now, hot foods are killer, I cannot handle the heat at all, ketchup potato chips are spicy enough.

Jaw – Both my left and right jaw bones are dissolving too. on the left side the Glenoid Fossa and temporal bones are eroding, on the right side mandible the superior 1/3rd of the right ramus was missing back as far as 2018. There are also bony fragments in both joints

Neck – Well it is fused from my skull down to T3. There are 3 rods, 12 plates, and about 40 screws. There are a couple plates in the front but most is on the backside. We used donor bone, bone graft, and enough bone glue for 3 people to try and stabilize my neck.

The spine on my C2 is destroyed and pieces of C3 can be seen floating around in the soft tissues. You cannot see it but there is something called foraminal stenosis going on. On the left side the outlet for one of my nerves is narrowing and causing some balance issues and affecting the feeling in the ends of my feet.

My Occipital Bone fused itself to the base of my skull some time ago. This probably explains why I could never turn my head all the way. There is a small bone called the Odontoid Process, mine broke off and fractured and then has probably reattached at a bad angle. IDK to be honest because it is not like I could turn my head or look up and down if I wanted lol.

On the left there is one vertebrae entirely pushed out front of the one above and the one below. This is another Blessing in a way that I somehow survived a broken and dislocated head. There are fractured off pieces of bone floating around and I don’t doubt one of those suckers is why my taste and smell are messed up so much. It may also explain a lot of the lost mobility in my right shoulder, though that could just be degeneration in the joint.

On the MRI we can see my Blessing in greater details. If it wasn’t for all that extra white space around my spinal cord it would certainly have been the end for me!! Behind it you can see a mass of soft fibrous tissues as Hajdu Cheney does it’s thing back there breaking down bones and bad tissues as well as any good cells caught in the cross-fire. There were a lot of small fragments that my body will absorb back in or form a Cyst around it.

Further down at my T8 there is an Osteophyte growing and it can be really uncomfortable against hard chair backs or hard surfaces like the floor. It is weird not to be able to lay flat on my back and I miss it even though I sleep on my sides.

My hips and legs are weakening because I cannot run or jump or do anything really strenuous with them. My feet are a dumpster fire too.

There is a lump again on my left butt cheek. I fell quite hard once and fractured a piece of bone off and it ended up forming a cyst around it. It felt like I was sitting on a large marble or golf ball towards the end before I had it cut out. It is just scar tissue but every time I fall on my ass it gets bigger. I am averaging 3x a year for the last while.
When I had the stitches out I decided to have a bath after a few days, I thought I would be safe. NOPE, I reached forward and felt a rip and then the water turned red. I quickly jumped out and Mel wrapped in a towel. We had just had our 2nd daughter so with the 3 kids she couldn’t wake them up to drive me and wait in emergency so I drove sitting sideways with my ass wrapped up half hazardly. The triage nurse wanted to see so I reluctantly pulled the towel away right there in front of everyone and was rushed in for new stitches.
A few months after I woke up and my right arm was swelling from a DVT. After treatment and investigation the Dr of internal medicine and I concluded it was likely because I have no clavicles and when I slept I pinched the vein closed and it clotted.

My Guts are always hurting and it is probably a combo of the osteoarthritis and Meds that have caused IBS for over 4 years now. Almost exactly since going onto disability benefits in 2019. I don’t chew my food all that well because my jaw is so eroded out of the sockets and my teeth don’t line up either.

I think I am anemic and have a high heart rate as a result. I am also always low on energy and stamina too which makes sense. With some diet changes I am hoping to see improvements because I have lost 20 lbs since my cervical fusion.