Second MRI, continued health issues, help from Jean

On Tuesday, 11/16 Holly and I went to get the second MRI with topography. This seemed to be a bunch of Hype, It did not seem any different than the first.

I continue to have serious anxiety attacks, severe heartburn, and tightness in the chest. I also have been having serious night sweats - OMG waking up at 4AM soaked!

My sister Jean did some investigation for me, and suggested (if you can call it that) that I switch doctors from Dr Sani in Aurora to Dr. Munoz at Rush University Downtown Chicago. She was able to get him to look at my MRI and get an appointment with a couple phone calls. Dr. Munoz presented my case in front of a 'tumor board' at Rush and I got an appointment with him on Wednesday morning to discuss the course of action.

Some normal activities

This weekend I tried to get some normal activity in. My band (Unbalanced) came over and jammed for a couple hours on Friday night, and I had my BFF's from growing up come over to watch the Bears and Vickings play on Sunday. A few of the neighbors also came over Sunday, and Holly's Cousin Kurt and his family stopped by. All in all there seemed like 30 people here.

It was rally nice for everyone to come over and show support for me. I really appreciated it. I Thank each one of you.

Daily life between tests.

The time waiting for the drugs to take effect and get the second MRI are horrible.
There is all the worrying about collateral damage, morality, not being to provide for the family, on and on.
Then add on the effects of the drugs. My gut is wrenched anguish, severe heartburn, headaches, can't sleep.I really do not think any of this has to deal with the tumor, but more related to the meds and anxiety of the unknown. I also noticed that I started getting hiccups every day, and my teeth were very sore. My teeth are so tight together, I cannot get a piece of floss between them.

I kept going to work, but the confusion episodes are getting longer (again, maybe from the anguish). It does keep my mind off things, but I really do not get anything done.

OMG - what do you do now????

Well thats a lot to swallow from going to work on a Tuesday morning to finding out you have a brain tumor on Wednesday. There is a bit of denial at this point. I feel fine, but my first order of business was to make sure all my finances are in place in case of the worst. 401K laying around, bank accounts, etc. I need to make sure all of this is set and in good order.

I also have some issues with short term disability at work. I just started a new job in June, and their STD starts after 6 months. There are some extenuating circumstances here, I hope it will work out.

CAT Scan

I had the CAT scan on 11/10. This is A LOT more pleasant than a MRI. This came back with 'no calcifications' meaning that there are no calcium deposits (I think) in the tumor. Not sure what kind of news this is.

Dr Sani Visit

Me and Holly had an appointment with Dr Sani at Rush Copley on 11/10/2010. He reviewed the MRI I had taken the the day before and indicated that there was a tumor and what appeared to be swelling in the area.
He indicated that the course of action would be to
1) put me on anti - inflammatory drugs to get the swelling down
2) put me on anti-seizure to stop symptoms
3) take another MRI in a week, with reduced swelling, and a 'tracktogophory' to map the nerves in the area.
4) have a CAT scan done.

He said that the surgery would be in 2-4 weeks, in hospital for 3 days, then off work for a month. NO DRIVING during this time.

I asked him about some statistics:
Mortality rate = 1/2000. Much lower for someone otherwise healthy.
Occurrence = 1-20K to 1-200L people get this.
Complications / collateral damage = 5-7%

He said a biopsy was needed to further qualify what this was.

The Complications / collateral damage could be:
-left side weak, numb
-ignore right side vision
-loose ability to concentrate (ouch for an engineer)

He said that it was a little smaller than a golf ball, but the swelling made it look bigger.

First MRI

So, On Tuesday, 11/9, I stopped at the clinic at 7am on the way to work to get the MRI Dr. Dreyer ordered. Bada bing bada boom, the MRI was done and they asked me to take a seat in the waiting area till the radiologist and take a  look-see. 20 minutes goes by, 30 minutes goes by, 45 minutes goes by. I get up to ask whats going on and they tell me the radiologist wants to talk to me. He pulls me in an office and asks why I was having the MRI done. Bla,Bla Bla I go through the history, he says "OK....well.... there is an anomaly on the scan and you need to go to the emergency room. If you cannot get a ride, I will call an ambulance."

(my jaw drops)

I call Holly, She grabs Izzy (do drive my car back home - Thanks Izzy) and off we go to ER. We did stop at Micky D's for breakfast - I was feeling fine. This was clearly a CYA at the clinic.


The ER doctor was quite an experience. He took the liberty of looking over the MRI and scaring the pants off Holly and I. He apologised that we was not any good at delivering tragic news. WTF!


Finally, after 3 hours sitting there in ER, a PA came down from Neurosurgery and told us to ignore what the ER doctor had told us, come back in the AM to see Dr. Sani and he would advise us.  Very stressful day.