Herniated disc and shingles - surgery actually urgent
Multiple herniated discs and shingles!?
Briefly, the situation is as follows:
A family member suffered from multiple herniated discs before Christmas (confirmed with an MRI in Dec. 2015), which initially caused severe back pain.
In early January (presumably as a result of the stress caused by the herniated discs), shingles appeared, which improved with treatment in the hospital until mid-January.
Now, 5 days ago, the pain suddenly shifted from the back to the left leg and has since been so severe and the leg so weak that the patient can no longer even walk. (The back pain, it should be noted, has almost completely disappeared).
The patient has been in the hospital since the weekend and is receiving pain medication - another MRI was done on Monday of this week.
Surgery on the discs was scheduled for today - Wednesday - but was cancelled last minute due to suspicion of recurrent shingles. Unfortunately, this has neither been confirmed nor ruled out - the patient is "waiting" with severe pain for information from the dermatologist, who has not yet been on site...
The hospital said they cannot perform the blood test for shingles, that must be done by the dermatologist, which seems suspicious to me.
Question:
If it really is shingles, what would be the further course of action?
You can't just leave the patient lying with pain medication for 2 weeks or longer and do nothing - especially since the condition of the leg is deteriorating increasingly as well as the overall condition of the patient!!
Is there perhaps a way to temporarily relieve the pressure on the nerves in the back at least partially until surgery, so that both the pain and nerve damage are reduced?
Who could one possibly turn to locally to receive help/information in a timely manner regarding this matter?
I am grateful for competent assistance.
