Was St. Alexius Hospital this morning for my first series of test on my legs to try to figure out why they twitch so much. I was scheduled for a Nerve Conduction Velocity (NCV) and electromyography (EMG) test.

For the first time since this whole thing started years ago, somebody actually said something that made me feel "better", because at least it was something.

She (the neurologist) was doing a quick physical before we started to prodding. She started manipulating the soles of my feet to measure my reaction when my left leg twitched. She was able to recreate the twitch on command. She stopped, thought a second, and said to me "I'm going to do this test, but this test isn't... it's probably a problem higher up, in the spinal chord". (I asked later about what could it be and she said something like a disk out of line or even a vitamin deficiency, and she recommended a full spine MRI.)

So we started the NCV. I had forgotten how painful/upsetting that test is (yes, I've had them before), because they are applying POWER to the nerve, with increasing voltages. Holy crap, I just LOVE that feeling, plus having your extremity involuntarily flailing all over the table. Though the doctor always apologized for dong it, she kept doing it. The EMG is no fun as they put needle-like sensors into the skin, into the nerve, and you have to move your leg/ankle/toes to measure how well the nerve is firing. To top it off, they also have it amplified on a speaker so you can hear the nerve firing. Great. I was glad it didn't last long and I went back to work quickly.

The report should be at the Doctor's next week, in time for my physical.