Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Seriously?!



THRIVING WITH DEGENERATIVE DISK DISEASE

We were asked several times if Bailey had been in some kind of accident....Has she experienced any trauma to her back....If there could be ANY explanation for the condition the imaging showed.  There MUST be SOME explanation....Right?!  One would hope....

The doctor explained to me, that the imaging showed a severe form of 'degenerative disk disease'...and that if he had never met my 16 yr old daughter....He would have thought he was looking at an image of a 70+ yr old woman.  *nice--eh?  I think I've heard this from another Dr-->  Blog about the findings in MY MRI

So what is DDD?

The first thing I read, when I began researching this was that as a person ages, their body obviously begins to break down.   Spinal discs are soft discs that separate the interlocking bones (vertebrae) that make up the spine. The discs act as shock absorbers for the spine, allowing it to flex, bend, and twist. Degenerative disc disease can take place throughout the spine, but it most often occurs in the discs in the lower back (lumbar region) and the neck (cervical region).  Bailey's pain is in her lower back.

Web MD lists the following as to WHY DDD occurs-


  • Loss of fluid in your discs. This reduces the ability of the discs to act as shock absorbers and makes them less flexible. Loss of fluid also makes the disc thinner and narrows the distance between the vertebrae.
  • Tiny tears or cracks in the outer layer (annulus or capsule) of the disc. The jellylike material inside the disc (nucleus) may be forced out through the tears or cracks in the capsule, which causes the disc to bulge, break open (rupture), or break into fragments.


  • OK...REALLY.....I want an ENGLISH reason for WHY my 16 yr old daughter has a "Severe" case of DDD....

    As I searched more....

    Those with DDD, are typically very active, sport playing individuals who are older and have lived a full life of 'doing stuff'.  This does NOT describe Bailey at all.

    This promted Bailey's doctor told us that Bailey's case is very rare.  *wow - if only I had a dollar every time we have heard the word "rare", when telling us about a new diagnosis.*

    Sometimes-- there isn't a "WHY".  Sometimes, things just are what they are.

    So what do we do?  

    We Thrive Anyway.  And continue to spread a message of hope.  We don't let another diagnosis stop us from living.

    5 comments:

    1. I am in AWE of you Kristy. You truly are inspirational and amazing! NOTHING will stop you! (or your daughter)
      You and your blog have helped me to stop pitying myself. I appreciate you helping to teach me how to THRIVE.

      I'm praying for you and your family!

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    2. Omg Kristy I'm in tears of fear of anger of idk what else. This reading this made me get so more nervous and scared and mad. My lil princess had an MRI about 2 months ago and disk disease came up. They said it was very very veryyy little that they don't know how the MRI picked up on it. They were shocked at her having it since it is a elderly diseases. I asked if it had to do with Nf and they said no. I am scared the same pain Bailey has, I'm scared my daughter will later get it. I hope you don't mind me bringing Bailey up in my next Dr visit to children's. Thank you for sharing your stories. If it wasn't for this blogg I would have tought my daughter would have never gotten pain. I take Nf serious, I really do I just now think the disk diseases is related to Nf and now I see how serious disk diseases is. What a beautiful scary confusing world we live in.

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    3. Well this news just sucks! I don't really have a better way to say it then that. I'm so sorry to hear that Bailey is now going through this too with everything else she has already experienced.

      Hopefully it isn't so painful that you all won't be joining us at the NF Walk on Sunday! We've been working hard to make it the best one we've had yet. Hope to see you there!! :)

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    4. Anyone up for a gift card slam on this family? A gift card slam just means u buy gift cards to all kinds of places and send them annoymously to a family in need. Grocery store, restaurants, gas etc......

      Please lets do this. Kristi inbox me your address

      Kmartin@gmail.com

      ReplyDelete