Michael A.D.
I was an Army Airborne Paratrooper In June of 97 I had an accident while parachuting and as i thought injuried my left shoulder. In Sept of 97, I had surgery on my left shoulder which the doctors at Ft. Bragg thought was the problem since they found a couple bone spurs.. soon after the surgery I still had a great deal of pain so that ortho-surgeon sent me to the pain clinic where I met this doc, who asked me 3 questions and then sent me to have an MRI done. This showed that I had two herniated discs encroaching @ C5-C6 left ventral subarachnoid space, left side of the spinal cord and nerve root. with a C6-C7 with a slightly more prominnt herniated disc, encroaching upon the right side of the spinal cord, right ventral subarachnoid space. I know this might be long for some of you but please stay with me.. thanks. I had surgery on Nov 24, 98 in D.C., with the neurosurgeon did a Post-Lateral Fragmentation (PLF). then I was given a medical discharge from the army.. no bad feeling there ..I would do it again. I had one full year of feeling great and thought I was ok and healthy but this was shortly lived. In June of 2000 while just trying to lie on the ground to pet my dog my neck went pop! and I started to get that old feeling again of pain down my left side(shoulder and arms to hand) with some down my right as well.. soon after trying to work which I had a hard time trying to do.. I went to the V.A. hospital for my first time! My doctor set me up with an MRI which shows, there are psterior bulges of the C5-6 and C6-7 Intervertebral Discs. indent to the Thecal Sac and the posterior bulge of C5-6 is greater on the left side with sever narrowing of the left Neural Foramen. The posterior Bulge of C6-7 is greater on the right side, and also severely compromises the Neural Foramina on that side. at both of these sides there is slight flattening of the CORD. I am waiting for one more MRI which is on the 29 May,01.. and then I look forward to surgery so I can get on with my life.. but since coming home from the army and i am not blaming it on the army.. I loved it there .. but since coming home I have had only one job and had to give that up because of this.. so not I am fighting with the V.A. and waiting for some help with my disability that I should have been recieving long ago.. my doctors at the V.A. has strongly advised me and has put me on disability .. so here I am still waiting and its been almost a year and still nothing from the V.A. is there anyone out there with some advise? email me if you have the same injuries and would like to talk about it or advise in how to deal with the V.A. Thank you..