The Amazing Dr. B.

We left off (below) with Dr. B arriving in my office at school because his child was going through the application process. He overheard me talking about my herniated disc. Since he had time to kill while waiting for his child, he engaged me in conversation--just some generic comments about herniated discs. I asked him why my Drs'. shirt said "Orthopedist" while his Dr. shirt said "Neurosurgeon." He explained that both do spine surgery, but for the Ortho it's the smallest surgery, but for the Neuro, it's the largest. And before Dr. B left, he handed me his business card in case I wanted a second opinion.

That night I noticed I had lost the movement in my leg and realized I'd probably be looking at surgery. While I mulled that over, I thought about Dr. B and the neurosurgeon aspect. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to have a neurosurgeon operate on my spine. So I e-mailed him the next day, a Thursday, asking how I would get my records to him. The next thing I knew his office was calling me. Dr. B had wielded his magical powers, found my MRIs and moved his schedule around so I would see him first thing Friday morning. He later told me when he saw the size of the herniation, he felt we shouldn't mess around and he would have scheduled surgery right away (while the Ortho was still talking about a 3rd nerve root injection).

When I arrived on Friday, Dr. B spent a lot of time talking with me and examining me. Understand this was the fourth Dr. I saw (1. The ER Dr., 2. My regular Dr., 3. The Orthopedist). Dr. B did the usual (low tech) neuro exam--using that darn hammer on my various joints. But he also watched me walk, and stand on my toes, and do some hand-eye coordination things and he checked my hearing. Then he tested my feet. Low-tech again, he used the end of the hammer to run up the sole of my foot. My toes flared. He did it again. Toes flared again. Then he looked at his assistant who was in the room. They made significant eye contact. At that point he told me I had a positive Babinski reflex, which in anyone older than 2 means some sort of neurological problem. I was scheduled to come back that night for additional MRIs and blood tests.