neck pain was abscess on spine

Hi all
My husband (dx rectal cancer 2002 - mets to lungs/liver - on Erbitux and Xeloda) had neck pain for four or five days that became increasingly severe. He was completely ambulatory and self-sufficient on Tuesday. He saw his Oncologist on Thursday and his blood work showed a high WBC. The Onc wanted to give him flagyl and I asked how he knew that was what he needed. The Onc said "That's what always works on intestinal infections" and I asked "How do you know that's what he has?" So the Onc got a little huffy and said he'd do a stool culture first, but it would take several days. The next day, at chemo, we requested a neck x-ray because the pain was worse. They told us they would call us if the results were remarkable. By Sunday, he could walk, but needed assistance and the pain was worse. We went to the ER at 10:45 am. They did another neck X-ray and a CT-Scan and told him he had arthritis (we knew this - he's 74). I reminded the ER doc about the high WBC that we told the admissions clerk about and she wrote on the chart. The ER doc "didn't read the chart" and said "we'll have to start over again - I thought he only had neck pain". At 7:30pm, they admitted him for 23-hour observation as an outpatient. I had to go home to feed our animals, but when I came back Monday morning, my husband was almost paralyzed - he couldn't move anything on his left side. I thought he had a stroke and insisted that the doctor come back and evaluate him for stroke. They took him for an MRI and found a large mass pressing on his spinal cord. The neurosurgeon said he thought it was cancer spreading and that an operation would only cause my husband much discomfort with only a very small possibility of benefit if he survived the surgery, so I elected to move him to another hospital for high-dose radiation to try to reduce the mass. After a few hours, his blood culture came back showing a staph infection and the doctors said he might have an abscess in his neck instead of cancer. The operated at midnight and got done at 4am Tuesday morning. I saw my husband at 5:30am and he was moving BOTH arms trying to get the ventilator tube out of his mouth. The neurosurgeons said the movement is coming back to his legs, although he's still very weak. The staph was NOT the anti-biotic resistant kind, so we caught a good break there. They think he got the staph from his port-a-cath, that was installed in late October. Sorry this is so long, but I never would have thought that he would get an abscess on his spine and I am officially butt-wipe for thinking he was just in pain from his arthritis. (I told him for a couple of days to tough it out - I thought he'd strained his shoulder). So- insist on an MRI if there is increasing pain and weakness and do it as early as possible. We may have waited too long and we don't know the extent of remaining paralysis because of the spinal cord compression.
Take care!
Vonnie.