i can totally understand why you are not a big fan.  i'm sorry that happened
to you, ari.  that was beyond the pits for you and tragic.

my radiologist reports are about my thoracic MRI series.  somehow, my pcp
and my rd just read the report; and even my neurologist didn't seem to pick
up on the extent of the damage after his looking at my MRI films.  though to
be fair, he made a vague reference to needing to take more risks with
medications--not sure if he meant me or my rd.  but my rd, who only read the
report, told me my spine is normal for my age and acts as if it is no big
deal.  which, to be honest with you, even though i didn't know the correct
extent of the damage, shut me up (with anger), because why was i given the
choice by my neurologist of lumbar epidurals or surgery, if it was sooooo
normal?

my pain clinic doctor sat down with me before my thoracic epidural (which is
a little riskier procedure than lumbar epidurals because of the proximity of
the spinal cord and they can't use anesthetics near the spine itself because
of the risks).  he told me the MRI films indicated that my thoracic spine is
at the advanced stage of degeneration.  he was very annoyed that the
radiologist's report minimized the damage and ignored a lot of particular
information that was evident in the films.  he used the phrase,
"radiologists are nihilists when it comes to thorasic films,"  and stated
that is for the reasons i posed as questions above.  being a radiologist
himself, i felt that he was probably very valid in his judgment.

truthfully, i thought he was just a radiologist, himself at the clinic, with
specialized epidural training.  but his degrees, on the wall of his office,
from cornell, dartmouth, yale and the university of california medical
schools indicated he is an m.d. and a surgeon, who specializes in pain
management and who also has radiology certification from several other
notable schools and boards on all kinds of imaging systems and spinal
procedures.  now, it makes sense to me that he has a radiologist tech in the
room with him during epidural procedures.  it isn't just convenience and
redundancy, he's a doctor doctor.LOL  duhhhh . . .

he said he was going to rewrite the radiologist's report in the form of
addendums to it, so that my pcp, rd and neurologist know they are dealing
with advanced stage thoracic degeneration of my spine.   he felt i was under
medicated for the levels of pain he said he knew i had to be experiencing,
though he said he was impressed by how well i was coping with it.
LOL---ummm . . . it's not like i have a choice.<smile>  well, i suppose i
have the choice of being grumpy about it or not.LOL

kate

Well, it sounds like you've either jumped to a conclusion (a spinal
ganglion is part of the nervous system, but ganglion is a descriptive
term) or you should have less faith in your doctor:

http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/diseases/ganglion.html

egads!  even i can spot a new hairline fracture, anywhere!  i learned how to
because a doctor's assistant, at an HMO we belonged to for only a very short
time after this incident, misread my shoulder xray in the '80s and told me
there was no fracture and no apparent damage to supportive ligaments--must
have been a strain, he said.  the HMO didn't get me in to see an
orthopaedist until two weeks later.   that whole time i was doing gravity
rehab on my shoulder on my own, cuz i knew what to do and knew it was
gentle.  that caused me to get yelled at by the ortho for the danger of
displacing the fracture and possibility of needing surgery because of moving
it.   grrrrr . . . hmo's are "group death" instead of group health in my
book.

y'know, it's the other way around for me here.  i find that the dr. who
orders the imaging generally looks at the images, but my other doctors, who
didn't order images, don't ask to see them and just want to see the report.
now that i know what i know, or think i know based upon my pain management
doc, i think i will insist that the other doctors look at the films,
especially my rd who frustrates me at times, by being so dismissive.

kate

thanks, sweetie, i appreciate it and your hug.

kate