U. of M. Trip

Hello everyone,
Yesterday was a long day with a trip to the University of Michigan hospital.

I met with two doctors, had a half hour review and exam, followed up with a one hour review of my previous MRI’s done at the hospital, and many answers to our questions that we have.

I had more blood drawn, to rule out nmo (Devic’s Disease, or Neuromyelitis Optica) , and we’ll be meeting with them again in six months with an additional brain MRI and follow up.

Basically, they agreed that I have Idiopathic (which means they can’t identify how this started) Transverse Myelitis, and the treatment that I have done was exactly what they would have prescribed, and it now is just a matter of ‘hanging’ in there as my condition will improve. This condition will take a long time, and will be measured in weeks and months instead of days. The odds of my reoccurrence of this disease are about 10% to 17%. If it does come back, there is a good chance that it could be the beginning of multiple sclerosis or nmo.

I am finally off all of the steroid treatments and will only be taking vitamin B12 as a supplement at this time.

As far as my hands and rest of my body goes, my hands are still not improving but my body is improving slightly every day. I am now driving, but still am very frustrated with my loss of senses in my hands. Occupational therapy will hopefully help, and I will be meeting twice a week to help improve my strength, balance, and sensory deprivation.

I received a new software (a voice recognition software called dragon naturally speaking), and hopefully it will be more accurate than the Microsoft software that I am currently using.