Adding another doctor to my repertoire

So I went to my local neurologist today to get the ball rolling on a couple of things. I got the go ahead from my Houston neurologist to get a Baclofen pump, and I now have a referral to a local neurosurgeon. I love having so many doctors. Two neurologists, two hematologists/oncologists, and now a neurosurgeon. I wonder how thick my medical files are? :-)
Apparently the neurosurgeon will do some sort of trial run, injecting Baclofen directly into the spinal fluid to figure out dosages, etc., and then do the actual surgery implanting the pump. I don't know a lot of details about it yet, but I'm sure I'll learn. The pump involves implanting a device under the skin, I think in my abdomen somewhere, that will deliver Baclofen directly into the spinal fluid via a catheter, also under the skin. This will be good because I'll be able to be on a lower dosage of Baclofen, but it will hopefully have greater effect, since it will be going right where it needs to be. My doctor told me that the Baclofen pump works pretty well for M.S. patients with primarily spinal cord involvement, which is me.
For those who don't know, Baclofen is an antispasticity medication. Spasticity is a very common M.S. symptom, and my biggest annoyance right now. Spasticity just means muscle stiffness, brought on particularly by sudden muscle movements. Walking is really hard, because the muscle movements involved in walking trigger the spasticity in my legs. If I've been still for a long time (in the car, sleeping at night), and then get up, my whole body will go rigid for a few seconds until I can loosen up again. Also, with prolonged spasticity, tendons can actually shorten leading to other problems. My achilles tendons have already shortened quite a bit which just makes me MORE stiff and awkward.
On the other hand, spasticity can be a helpful thing for M.S. patients, because it can actually lend strength to the legs to help bear weight. So we'll have to find the balance between enough medication to minimize the spasticity, but not so much that I can't bear weight on my legs at all.
I'm just about on the highest dose of oral Baclofen right now, and it's just not controlling it very well, plus it is such a pain to have to take pills 4 times a day (yeah I know, wah, wah). And there are some scary side effects possible with the oral Baclofen (seizures and stuff). I hope the pump will work well for me.
I also have a referral to the St. David's rehab clinic to arrange for hand controls on the van. I have been putting this off for too long, but it really is only a matter of time before I will get in a wreck, and that's not cool. I'm putting myself, my kids, and other people on the road at risk, so I'm not putting this off any longer. I don't think it will take too long. Apparently Ben will still be able to drive, even with the hand controls installed, but it will mean I can only drive the van. That's ok. Ben almost got in a wreck this morning going to work. It was raining really heavily and there was a four car pileup RIGHT in front of him. He saw the whole thing, and he was the first car that DIDN'T also crash. It really shook him up, and me, too. Driving is by far the most dangerous thing we do every day, and we take it for granted. Well, I'm not anymore, and I'm getting this taken care of ASAP.
It kind of stinks because it just makes me realize more now abnormal I am. I'll never be normal again. I have to get used to that. On the other hand, the hand controls will really free me up. As it is, I only dare drive during the day, and only for short distances and NOT in traffic. Limits me a lot. And other drives just love me, since I leave about a quarter mile between me and the next car in front of me, LOL!! Maybe I should have a sign in my back window saying, "I have slow reflexes, so BACK OFF!"
I have not heard back from Baylor about my MRI results from a couple of weeks ago. I don't know when results will be in, or if I'll even hear anything about it. I'm going on the assumption that no news is good news. If there are huge changes from last June, before the transplant, I expect they'll tell me, but if everything is stable, I probably won't hear anything.
That's the report from today!