If you were forced to have a condition that contained paralyzed in it's description, according to my experience, this is the one to pick. I am a runner (or was) and in late October of 2015 I started becoming unusually and extremely breathless. This seemed to happen overnight.
My primary care physician sent me to a cardiologist and within a week it was determined this did not involve my heart. That was the last thing that happened quickly in my search for a diagnosis. I think it was March of 2016 when it was determined my right diaphragm was raised (breath out position) and paralyzed. The phrenic nerve was damaged by something. Surgery in the area can damage it but I had had none. The default cause is then considered to be a virus of some sort.
Whatever the cause, it is permanent. There is no cure and it is not common so I doubt there is any research occurring. Besides, nerves typically don't come back to life. There is a surgery called Imbrication of Diaphragm. Think of the diaphragm as shaped like an arch as it crosses the thoracic cavity under it's lung. The surgeon puts pleats crossways into the diaphragm which shortens it which causes it to lower. This means it will no longer press up on the lung or least press up on it less. The lung will expand more and process more air.
I consulted with two surgeons, neither does this procedure using the laprascopic method. A rib will be removed and the others spread to gain access to the diaphragm. Then he puts in the pleats. Yes I'm having a tailor do the surgery.
I will be in the hospital 5 days maybe more. I will have an epidural that will be feeding me kick-a-poo joy-juice while in the hospital and pain meds to take at home for another 1-2 weeks. Recuperation is 6 weeks and after that I imagine I will still be a bit slow for a while.
When my pulmonologist diagnosed me after he first diagnosed asthma, he briefly described the surgery and recommended I not get the surgery. He referred to to a surgeon to discuss it so I get get it out of my head. Dr. Burnett described what would happen, and not guarantee positive results, and said it's surgery, so it's a risk. He said if it was him (he's going to retire very soon), he wouldn't get the surgery. But, he added, I don't want what you want.
That last statement really gets to the heart of the matter. I don't want to be what I am now, a person who can't run, who gets breathless by being over, or gets breathless with just a bit of effort, for the rest of my left. At least not without trying to improve the situation.
From several sources I have heard that Dr. Burnett is one of the best thoracic surgeons in the South, not just this AR. A person my wife knows at work used to work in his office and comment he had a region wide reputation. My veterinarian (yeah, my vet) knows of him said he's the best. My primary care doc said that he's going to leave a void in the state when he retires. He also says I couldn't do better. My primary care doc told me this morning that he'd asked a heart surgeon who also has done the surgery, that some patients get significant improvement and some don't. I did consult with two surgeons and both were consistent in description, attitude, and prognosis.
At the start I kind of belittled this condition. That's because it's probably not going to shorten my life and I can still be active. If I wasn't a runner, maybe I wouldn't want the surgery. I want to run again, so I'm getting the surgery. It will be the 26th of May in Baptist Hospital in Little Rock.
Wish me luck.
My primary care physician sent me to a cardiologist and within a week it was determined this did not involve my heart. That was the last thing that happened quickly in my search for a diagnosis. I think it was March of 2016 when it was determined my right diaphragm was raised (breath out position) and paralyzed. The phrenic nerve was damaged by something. Surgery in the area can damage it but I had had none. The default cause is then considered to be a virus of some sort.
Whatever the cause, it is permanent. There is no cure and it is not common so I doubt there is any research occurring. Besides, nerves typically don't come back to life. There is a surgery called Imbrication of Diaphragm. Think of the diaphragm as shaped like an arch as it crosses the thoracic cavity under it's lung. The surgeon puts pleats crossways into the diaphragm which shortens it which causes it to lower. This means it will no longer press up on the lung or least press up on it less. The lung will expand more and process more air.
I consulted with two surgeons, neither does this procedure using the laprascopic method. A rib will be removed and the others spread to gain access to the diaphragm. Then he puts in the pleats. Yes I'm having a tailor do the surgery.
I will be in the hospital 5 days maybe more. I will have an epidural that will be feeding me kick-a-poo joy-juice while in the hospital and pain meds to take at home for another 1-2 weeks. Recuperation is 6 weeks and after that I imagine I will still be a bit slow for a while.When my pulmonologist diagnosed me after he first diagnosed asthma, he briefly described the surgery and recommended I not get the surgery. He referred to to a surgeon to discuss it so I get get it out of my head. Dr. Burnett described what would happen, and not guarantee positive results, and said it's surgery, so it's a risk. He said if it was him (he's going to retire very soon), he wouldn't get the surgery. But, he added, I don't want what you want.
That last statement really gets to the heart of the matter. I don't want to be what I am now, a person who can't run, who gets breathless by being over, or gets breathless with just a bit of effort, for the rest of my left. At least not without trying to improve the situation.
From several sources I have heard that Dr. Burnett is one of the best thoracic surgeons in the South, not just this AR. A person my wife knows at work used to work in his office and comment he had a region wide reputation. My veterinarian (yeah, my vet) knows of him said he's the best. My primary care doc said that he's going to leave a void in the state when he retires. He also says I couldn't do better. My primary care doc told me this morning that he'd asked a heart surgeon who also has done the surgery, that some patients get significant improvement and some don't. I did consult with two surgeons and both were consistent in description, attitude, and prognosis.
At the start I kind of belittled this condition. That's because it's probably not going to shorten my life and I can still be active. If I wasn't a runner, maybe I wouldn't want the surgery. I want to run again, so I'm getting the surgery. It will be the 26th of May in Baptist Hospital in Little Rock.
Wish me luck.
