Hello. The question above is incomplete. The full question is:
My leg is on fire: a case study on spinal and peripheral nerve anatomy
Sarah Mitchell is a 68-year-old female who is normally healthy. However, about five days ago she began to feel very fatigued and started to experience a burning and tingling sensation on her right thigh.
You ask to see the area and upon visual inspection you notice 3–4 small, red, swollen areas with vesicles on the posterior aspect of her right thigh. She describes the pain to you, saying "it feels like the back of my leg is on fire and it hurts so bad." She denies being exposed to any excessive heat sources, any changes in her diet, and any changes in the type of body soap, lotion, or laundry detergent she is using. All other physical findings are within normal limits, but her oral temperature is 100.6°F. She complains about being under a lot of stress for the past three months because she has been helping take care of her husband, who is in the end stages of Alzheimer's disease. She has no known drug allergies, is a non-smoker, and attends a water aerobics class twice a week. You suspect she may be suffering from a particular viral infection, so you ask if she had chicken pox as a child. Sarah confirms that she had chicken pox and measles during childhood. Her answer confirms your suspicions that she is likely suffering from shingles (herpes zoster) due to varicella-zoster virus infection.
Define the following terms, used in the case and also in associated questions.
paresthesia
skin vesicle
dorsal
ventral
dormant
Paresthesia: Term describing the loss of sensation in some region of the body, usually on the tongue, lips and buccal buccal. This loss of sensation occurs with the application of anesthesia in the desired location.
Skin vesicle: Term that refers to the appearance of bubbles in the skin. These bubbles may have different sizes, but they all have a liquid inside them. The skin blister can cause itching, tingling and even a burning sensation.
Dorsal: Term that refers to the region of the back in the body. It covers the back muscles and is present in the internal and external skeletons.
Ventral: Refers to the front of a body and is related to the entire belly.
Dormant: Refers to the lack of sensitivity in a muscle. This term is associated with the sense of something that is asleep and unavailable at the moment.
