May 11, 2009 7:10 pm US/Eastern
Go! New York Report: Dr. Max Goes Under The Knife
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
We all know about lower back pain and sciatica, but many don't know that the same thing can happen in your neck.
You get pain in the shoulder or arm, and a numb, pins-and-needles feeling, like you hit your funny bone.
It might be nothing, or it could be a pinched nerve from a bulging disc. For me, it was arthritic bone spurs.
My story is Monday's Go! New York Report.
It was only two weeks ago that I found myself being examined by Dr. Ronald Moskovich at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases.
He found something even I hadn't realized.
Apparently, I had developed muscle weakness in my left hand and wrist.
I knew I'd been suffering pain in my left shoulder blade for months. But I didn't know that the two symptoms were connected.
The problem actually originated with an arthritic joint at the lowest vertebrae in my neck.
The nerves to the arm and shoulder come out between the vertebrae, but in my case, the area had grown too much bone – arthritis, essentially – and was crushing the nerve, causing pain and muscle weakness.
"Progressively, that nerve is getting more compressed and will probably become more damaged over time, unless we get the pressure off," Dr. Moskovich said. "It is possible, you can get permanent damage to the nerves.'
So that's how I found myself, just a few days later, getting ready for surgery.
How often do you see a doctor interviewing his own surgeon minutes before going under?
"It certainly should get the pressure off the nerve, and then it'll take time," Dr. Moskovich said. "The nerve itself will regenerate and heal up."
There's the usual preparation for general anesthesia, IVs, positioning, etc.
Then they flipped me over and made about a two inch incision near the base of my neck.
And then came the delicate part: Dr. Moskovich brought in a surgical microscope to get a close-up look.
Then he took a tiny dental drill and grinded away the millimeter of bone to decompress the pinched nerve.
It was all done in just over an hour.
"This is really a motion-sparing operation, and I would expect you to get back to full activity," Dr. Moskovich said.
That was eleven days ago and, since then, I've had remarkably little pain.
I've needed only over-the-counter stuff since two days post-op, and I've been a little sore between the shoulder blades, but the really nasty nerve pain was gone immediately.
I've been wearing a neck collar, mostly for comfort and to let people know to take it easy around me.
The real point of my story is not that you should run and get surgery for every ache and pain.
If that pain is a compressed nerve, or worse, living with the pain can lead to permanent damage.
I still have some numbness and weakness in my left hand, and it's getting better – but it could have become permanent.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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