Friday, October 16, 2009

more thinking about Morphometrics...

...actually, more thinking about what the data is showing.

I wrote in my last post that my C1 must have slipped forward...but I'm realizing now that I was wrong. The C1 must have slipped BACK, which allowed the skull to slip forward as Dr. Milhorat said it had.

Which would really account for what I was shown in my 3D CT scan, where the back of my skull is actually resting on the back of the C1 (there should be something like half an inch between the two).

IF the C1 slipped back, that would place it further from the basion or clivus bone. And that is what the morphometrics state...

And if the C1 slipped back, it would allow the skull to slip forward, which would place the clivus closer to the tip of the dens (C2)?

As I said, it's all so convoluted. Nothing applies to me. And I just can't be that person who says, Oh well, it is what it is! I have this drive inside me to understand, to KNOW where things are. I don't know why. Perhaps other patients reading this can relate to what I'm saying. I have this deep NEED to know what is going on and why.

I feel that striving for that understanding will help me if surgery is ever offered to me. I will know the right questions to ask, and I will have more information on which to base my decision.

That is, IF I can remember what I learn. That is not a joke. I seem to be in a constant state of relearning. I learn something, I have those AHA moments...then get all "AHA'd" again a few months later, learning the exact thing again! I take notes, I write here and print it out, I try to keep it all organized, but I can't seem to keep it all in my memory.

What I also got from studying these morphometric findings is a clearer understanding that my anatomical situation IS something that baffles all doctors. It's simply not in the medical journals and studies and articles online. Oh, info on Jefferson Fractures can easily be found...but what happened with my skull and all of that, it's almost unheard of. So, who would know what to do for it?

The graphic on my last post, which is right below this, shows a Jefferson Fracture with 2 breaks. Mine had four breaks. You can see that "dens" or odontoid bone of the C2, sticking up through the C1.

Okay, dear readers, any questions? You'll be tested on this in a few days, so study hard!!

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