My grandma has been in quite a bit of pain lately. It started in her lower back but extended down her legs. The doc first thought it was a pinched nerve and she had physical therapy for a couple of weeks. The pain got worse.
They did an MRI, but it was a closed MRI and she had a panic attack leading to massive anxiety issues for several weeks and time spent finding the right medication for the anxiety. Once that was taken care of, she was given valium before an open MRI.
The MRI showed a cyst (synovial cyst I think?) on her spine -- kind of inside the spinal column and it was irritating the spinal cord and causing the pain. The cyst is about 1/3 inch. It requires a neurosurgeon to remove and clean up the bone surrounding the cyst. Major pain, intense surgery.
But now comes the real problem. My grandma was diagnosed Type II diabetic several years ago. She's had some issues with swelling in her legs/feet in the past. Apparently those issues aren't so much "in the past."
Tuesday night her legs swelled to the point that, as my grandpa said, "they don't exactly look like legs." Swollen to the point that they were reddish purple. And then water actually started seeping from her legs. She saw the doctor first thing Wednesday for that. He put her on an antibiotic and some intense diuretic for the swelling that is either the cause of or is going to cause or is a side-effect of* some sort of infection in her legs. And she's diabetic. So...yeah.
Her back surgery that was going to happen immediately is now tentatively scheduled for 11/19. This is presuming that the infection in her legs is cleared up. And I don't even want to think about what it means if it isn't. I just can't think about that happening to my grandma.
*By that point in the conversation, I was upset enough that I wasn't exactly clear on that point.
**One small silver lining...at least I won't be spending Thanksgiving with my in-laws.
