“We found a mass on your spine.” Those were the words spoken to Rachel, my 17-year-old daughter, by the ER doctor last night.

Rachel had been having pain in her upper back near her shoulder blade for a few months. A visit to a nurse practitioner resulted in a diagnosis of a torn rotator cuff and a referral to physical therapy. Having had a torn rotator cuff before and knowing that Rachel had no pain in her shoulder, I knew this was ridiculous and didn’t follow through with any PT. Several visits to a wonderful chiropractor initially seemed to be helping the pain. Her spine appeared to be curving to the right, so it looked like she had some degree of scoliosis and an X-ray of her spine was ordered.

Shortly thereafter, Rachel started having numbness in her chest. This past weekend the numbness got much worse and went from her chest down to her feet, causing great difficulty walking leading us to head to the ER yesterday. Doctors performed some physical neurological tests and sent her for an MRI of her spine, which discovered the mass. They immediately ordered a CT scan of her chest and admitted her to the inpatient children’s unit of the hospital.

One of the medical personnel (not sure if it was a nurse or someone from neurosurgery) told us that the CT scan showed the mass was benign, so now we’re just waiting to see if she’ll have surgery today or tomorrow. And of course, the poor girl hasn’t been able to eat because they aren’t sure if she’s having surgery yet.

Oh, and might I add, happy birthday to me, as today’s my birthday. Not exactly how I wanted to spend it. 😦