Received MRI result, MSK call back, I have day/time,ready to get futher evidence

Dear fellow members and moderators,

I suppose you know by now from my previous posts that I always seem to go on about preparing little by little evidence I will be required to provide in the future whenever that is.

Whenever I get a call from a GP, MSK for instance I am ready pen in hand as I know the day and time of callback. If I get a call back and I was not ready I asked them to call back in 5 minutes.

I am very prepared for that and it is not hard at all as little by little I print the evidence and keep it in a file as it keeps coming in.

Well I had my open MRI results and I am not too happy about the way the Consultant Radiologist phrased the sentence from beginning to end “ No severe spinal canal stenosis “

…”bilateral neural foraminal “narrowing” …irritation upon both L5 nerve (narrowing is another word for stenosis, and online it says when I google it that “ “ Neural foraminal stenosis, or neural foraminal narrowing, is a type of spinal stenosis”.

I first read it as not having stenosis at all as I was not diagnosed with it years ago.

I requested this MRI because I am suffering a great deal and I told them I could feel a pinch in the lower back/sacrum preventing me from bending my leg among other things.

However when I read it again I realised that if I did not have it, stenosis would not be mentioned.

I have asked the mri place to get clarification from the radiologist if from that comment it is meant I do not have stenosis, or that I have it but not severe.
Maybe I will be able to speak to that radiologist on Tuesday as we are in full raining bank holiday week-end here.

I requested that if I have it maybe it could be written in a way not opened to interpretation or doubt.
Ie “ spinal canal stenosis but not severe” or “ moderate/mild spinal canal stenosis”
I do not know if the radiologist will amend the mri report but it costs nothing to ask, just a quick email.
Maybe it will not be changed but either way I will get a reply that will confirm if I have stenosis or not.

Either way when the MSK Orthopedist Clinician calls me back I will be ready and know if I have stenosis or not. If I do not have the reply, I will postpone MSK call, as it is good to remember from al the medical records I got for free from my GP I saw internal documents from MSK adressed to my GP commenting about how they saw me walking, etc.

If I have it, I will be prepared to get all the proof I have it.
- waiting for email/phone call confirmation that I have it or not.
- may get report amended or not
- by the time I get my MSK callback, I have the day and the time of the callback from the orthopedist clinician (which reminds me I did not write his or her full name, so I will call MSK and ask them to spell the full name)
- when I get the MSK call back at the specific day and time, I will be ready pen in hand.
- I have already circled, enlighted many new diagnosed conditions on my mri report.
- I have already looked up what these health condition mean and their symptoms.
It is worthwhile double checking certain words as at first I read some of them thinking all was normal like “ straightening of the normal lumbar lordosis” and then I realised that it is not because there is the word normal that all is normal with me, on the contrary it is another health condition I will add to other health conditions.
And if maybe when I first read the mri I think there is nothing wrong, maybe the person receiving my report like a DWP assessor will think I have nothing wrong.
- so I make sure I do not miss any health conditions as I realise they explain why I cannot do certain things according to the esa or pip criteria.

Those symptoms match mine and inability to do certain things.

I am very careful what I say to a GP or MSK as at times they could interpret things the wrong way and write this down and I will not be able to use that as future evidence, which at times is a pity as the rest back up what I and other medical practioners say, yet I cannot use this piece of evidence.

I will note things relevant to me and future claims that MSK will mention.
I will discuss my limitations, pain and inability to do certain things.
I will bear in mind MSK clinician will write down some of the things I say, and some of the things they interpret from what I say and from the MRI report.
Whatever they write down I will be able to retrieve to use as evidence back up for esa or pip review, as long as it does not say anything that contradicts what I say.

If I refuse a treatment I will ask them to note why.
I remember that before being referred for the mri, the person from MSK said but if he would refer me for an mri of the back, would I be prepared to have a back operation, I said of course as I sensed a reluctance to give me that mri unless I agreed.
Now seeing the person calling me back is an Orhopedic Clinician if he asks me if I will have a back operation I will say no but I have my mri with a lot more health conditions of my back noted.
I will see what other alternatives they have to try an alleviate my pain and render me more mobile maybe.

Even when i sent a inch full of medical evidence and 2 pages long of health conditions for my esa review, the assessor who saw me face to face recommended i got a zero and be taken off esa support group I had been on for years alongside with a worsening of my health conditions and new health conditions.
It is the dwp who called me and told me that base on all the health conditions I had, and all the evidence I had sent, she had decided to go against the recommendation of the person what had seen me face to face for my esa review and she let me remain on esa support group. That was a few years ago.

So in case one is a bit to keen to take us off esa or pip, to save money and fulfill theirs stats to get a certain percentage off benefits, I believe it is my responsability to gather as much medical evidence of new health conditions or worsening of health conditions.
This is because if suppose one decided to take you off esa or pip or lower the money, I believe one would be in a stronger position to ask for a mandatory review or to appeal with all the medical evidence coming from so many health practioners. Or even better like in my case have the DWP assessor go against the person who saw me face to face for my esa review, and instead of taking me off esa support group as recommended by person who saw me face to face, let me remain on esa support group because of all my health conditions but also because of all the medical evidence I had sent in from various medical sources.

Best wishes

Hello,

After I have spoken to the MSK Orthopaedic Clinician, as extra evidence I also intend to get a GP callback to discuss my MRI and ask if the GP is going to add some of my new health conditions to the existing health conditions (among other things to discuss).

Ie I saw an internal referral from my GP to MSK, towards the bottom of that referral it was referring to a list of health conditions I have with ‘major’ or ‘severe’ just next to each of them, same with operations ets.

I will ask my GP if they will update my list of health conditions with my newly diagnosed health conditions that are very disabling and painful.
If they do, it will be helpful with my esa and pip review, but also when referred to MSK or hospitals as they need to have a summary of my health conditions especially the severe ones and it is likely they will take them into account as they build of ‘picture’ of me the patient when they write a letter which I may use as evidence,

It is only lately that I realised the surgery list our health conditions, and that it was not that updated on their system, or at least on my records.
So I will see if they will consider it fit to update my list of health conditions.
I do not know if it is selected from a drop off menu ie multi osteoarthritis, major.

Best wishes

Hello,
I will post an update.

Dear fellow members and moderators,

Here is some update.

I asked the MSK physiotherapist if I had spinal canal stenosis or not as the Consultant wrote I had ‘ NO SEVERE spinal canal stenosis.
He replied I did not.

I said that if I did not have it would make sense for the radiologist to write “ no stenosis’ instead of ‘ no severe stenosis’.
The same way in my report the radiologist wrote, ‘No lumbar scoliosis’ and ‘no fracture’.

It is like you if you say ‘no diabetes’ ‘no jaudice’ ‘no osteorarthritis’ .
A ‘No’ in front of a medical condition means you do not have that medical condition.

And even though I am no medical practioner if one write ‘ no severe’ in front of any health condition then this means that you have that health condition but it is not severe.

Well then the physiotherapist changed tune, and said every radiologist would use their own terminology and it was difficult him to comment on that and that the only thing MSK is interested in is if my nerves are irritated or not, which they are, to see I want injections or an operation.

1- Hence the MSK physiotherapist is not ‘bothered’ about the terminology of my mri, he said that I have arthritis of the lower back, disk bulging and irritation of the nerves which they suspected and they would like to assess me for injections or an operation and may be referred to the hospital for that.
I agreed I will make an appointment with them.

Honestly I have no intention to have an operation at this stage, however I do not mind having a surgeon letter commenting on my condition.

Even if I intend to refuse the operation at this stage, the surgeon’s letter could be extra evidence, as if a surgeon recommends an operation they will explain my heath condition to me. It also means it is not a small problem, and even if I refuse the operation, I have extra medical evidence about my back and sacruum from another medical practioner higher up than a physiotherapist.

2- I am querying the mri report where I had it done even though I am no medical practioner because I do not want any doubts about any diagnostic of any health condition I may have as it is about my health.
I am not happy with my mri report as me and the physiotherapist have doubts about the terminology used.

It looks like the only way to investigate which I am doing is to go through an investigating manager.

- If the radiologist means that I do not have stenosis, it should have read “ NO spinal canal STENOSIS” instead of “ NO SEVERE spinal canal STENOSIS”.

- If on the contrary I have stenosis, coming from a radiologist, I would expect it done professionally and instead of giving a vague confusing ‘no severe spinal canal stenosis” I would expect instead to be more specific and so that it either reads as Mild spinal canal stenosis or Moderate spinal canal stenosis.

Online everywhere there are 3 degrees.
Grade 1 Mild
Grade 2 Moderate
Grade 3 Severe

So until I get this sorted and know exactly if I have spinal canal stenosis or not,
And if I have it at what degree, everything is on hold.

Best wishes

Record your appointments with a voice recorder ,always!