A New Chapter…almost

“Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect.” ~ Alan Cohen

Wow has it been a long time since I’ve written. Life just has a knack for getting in the way. Juggling marriage, chronic illness, special needs parenting, etc. has required dropping a few balls. This blog was, unfortunately, a casualty of the process.

I went back to work in February! …And now I’m out on medical leave. It’s not directly because of Long Covid, though, but rather because I just had surgery to address yet another underlying etiology of my various symptoms.

Turns out I had an occult tethered spinal cord, meaning my spinal cord was under tension, but it didn’t show up on imaging. Spinal cords don’t like being under tension because it causes decreased blood flow, tension-related nerve injury, etc. In my case, this showed up as abnormal reflexes in my legs, some bathroom issues, some intermittent numbness in my feet, and possibly my autonomic nervous system issues (aka my POTS, temperature regulation issues, etc.). No one knows exactly how or why this happens in adults, and, frankly, it’s a very controversial diagnosis. The surgery itself is considered experimental in cases like mine, and I had to go to an out-of-state neurosurgeon for it. That being said, when my surgeon was operating, she noted my filum (piece of connective tissue that helps anchor the spinal cord) to be 3x the normal thickness, and it “snapped back significantly” when cut, indicating it was indeed creating tension on the spinal cord.

Post-surgery, I immediately had an increased range of motion in my neck, and my reflexes in my legs were not quite as brisk. Now we wait and see how my nervous system responds to the release of tension on the spinal cord. Nerve injuries heal on the order of months to years rather than days to weeks, so it’ll be a while before we know the full extent of what the surgery improved. That being said, my resting heart rate (RHR) dropped 5-10 BPM, and my heart rate variability (HRV) increased immediately after surgery and stayed that way, suggesting my system was under less stress despite the surgery.

I’m hopeful this surgery will allow me to get off some of the ridiculous number of meds I’m on to function. Polypharmacy (aka lots of meds) is a risky thing long term, so I’d love to be able to simplify. For now, though, it’s lots of R&R and time flat on my back. Speaking of which, I’d better go lie down now. Maybe next time I’ll actually get into what going back to work has been like…