the results are in....

I'm home from the neurologist. Home. Waiting for meds to kick in to relieve me from the pain of those two tests.
Here's what he found... there IS nerve damage to both of my legs below the knees... which is COMPLETELY UNRELATED to my back problems. I have compressed nerves from sitting "criss cross applesauce" all the time.
There is a problem with the muscles in my hips... completely unrelated to the back problems.
My bulging discs, osteoarthritis, etc... are not going to be resolved by surgery ... which is a relief in one aspect because, who wants back surgery, right? But discouraging in that ... there's nothing they can really do for it.
I'm supposed to lose weight, do yoga and walk, not sit cross legged and basically learn to live with things. This is ... according to the neurologist... the way it's going to be.
So... in short... we added two new diagnosis without resolving any of the others.
In addition to adding tachycardia to the list this week.... which also reared it's head today... go figure... send electrical shocks through my legs... stick a dozen needles in my leg muscles... and my heart goes haywire.
Because of the nerve damage in my lower legs, he took twice as long as he said it would take... trying to map out the nerves and try to figure out where the dead spots are. He kept apologizing... sweet man... saying he just wanted to find where the nerve stopped working.
Anyways... he'll send his findings back to the pain doctor. He told me to follow up with him as planned - on my birthday - and he'll help me draw up a long term plan for dealing with the back problems... which will be with me the rest of my life.
That's it for now... gonna just try to chill out.