Kyphoplasty, Multiple Myeloma and Other Obscene Words

I believe I’ve learned more medical terms in the past month than I’ll ever want to hear for the rest of my life.

My wife started complaining about a sore back a little over a month ago. She went to a chiropractor a couple of times, but the pain kept getting worse. Finally, she went to see her MD. A CT scan was done, and she had a compression fracture of a couple of vertebrae. A procedure called a kyphoplasty was performed to separate the vertebrae and fill the fracture.

She was sent home to recuperate and we thought she’d be back to work in a few days, but in less than two weeks the pain was back worse than ever. We decided to get her to the hospital emergency room where another CT scan was done. Because of osteoporosis, she had more compression fractures on different vertebrae and a second kyphoplasty was scheduled for that same evening.

I went home because she would be in surgery for a couple of hours and then in the recovery room for another hour. When I went back to the hospital, she told me they had postponed the kyphoplasty because her blood was “too thin.”

The medicos at Kadlec Medical Center started scheduling and running tests. Why did this woman have no iron in her blood? One test “spiked” indicating the possibility of multiple myeloma (a rare form of bone cancer). When we heard that, both Alma and I began fearing the worst.

After a restless and fearful night for both of us, one of the doctors told us that the multiple myeloma had pretty much been ruled out. I went home feeling like the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. Shortly after I got home, Alma called me to say that another doctor had just been to her room and told her that multiple myeloma had not been completely ruled out. Talk about yo-yoing emotions!

So, why was she so anemic? A colonoscopy got performed as quickly as they could shoehorn her into the schedule. No cysts, polyps or tumors in her colon – just diverticulosis (little sacs which can collect seeds and kernels which she must avoid for the rest of her life unless she wants to have an emergency surgery to remove part of her colon).

Finally, Thursday afternoon, about 5:10, Alma was wheeled into an operating room for her second kyphoplasty. The procedure was a success again. Friday she was infused with iron and Saturday, she was released to come home where she is once again recuperating.

Oh, yeah – I didn’t mention the MRI they wanted to do to take a closer look at some kind of cyst or growth on her liver. With all the back pain, she just didn’t feel like trying to lie motionless on a narrow little slab with some kind of pad stuck under her butt for 45 minutes. That can wait for another time.

Well, that’s how we’ve been spending our time the past few weeks. This has been a very abbreviated version of all the events and the emotions they caused in our friends and family. If nothing else, this has been a real wakeup call for Alma to start eating right and exercising. It has always been easier to put off the weight loss program until tomorrow. Tomorrow has arrived.