Neurologist #5 (Dr. S)
Then I finally got accepted into Johns Hopkins Medicine, which is like the end all be all for Neuroscience in the United States. I remember the long drive up to Baltimore and being all excited to finally skip all this BS and get somewhere in this process. Well, that turned out to be false hope. I remember my wife and me talking to the doctor, he had me walk once back and forth and then sit at the table.
He talked to my wife for 10 minutes, never looked at me, never touched me, nothing, and then ordered several tests. The first was nerve biopsy, which is actually just as fun as it sounds, good thing I can’t feel shit. Basically, they use this really fun miniature “melon baller” tool and remove small sections of your skin so they can look at the nerve endings under a microscope, fun stuff. They removed some from my legs and my arms, it was fun. The next fun test was yet another EEG on my left arm and right foot. Then it was all done and back home. In several weeks we found out that those tests were inconclusive. This is getting old really quick, I promised my wife that I would see one more doctor and if he can’t help, then screw it I will live with it and see where it goes.
I took a break from seeing neurologists in 2007 and that lasted for 7 years. During that time my symptoms came and went, and many new ones came and decided to hang around for a while.
That sounds so painful and totally unnecessary, they just love to torture you.
They do this to look at the tissue under a microscope to see how they nerve endings look. It isn’t all that painful really.