We thought that since we have not been doing a very good job of communication, this Blog might be the best way for us to share with you our expiernce and the staus of my tumor. Specificlly, where we are in the treatments and thoughts I /we have been going through on a daily / weekly basis.
Most of what will be written is done by my husband Paul. The medication that I am taking makes my vision blurry and challenging for me to write and read.
Please know that every call, every note, and every prayer has a deep appreciation for me and our family. I want to thank everyone for their support and love and we will beat this.
My story: Our little girl Sloan was born on Aug 2nd. Absolutely beautiful. However, a bit of a handful, colicky baby. For the first few months of her life she cried from sun up to sun down and a whole lot in between. Not being able to calm my baby, I was depressed and frustrated. And with this new depression and frustration, I started getting terrible headaches. I thought I was going crazy. All of my friends where worried about me and thought I had postpartum.
As my headaches got worse and I slowly started seeing random abstract objects, I broke down and went to an urgent care on the 18th of October. The doctor gave me a nice shot of Tramadol and my headache went a way for the rest of the afternoon. He also gave me the number to a Neurologist.
That following Monday, October 20th, we saw the Neurologist, Dr. Wong. He tested my strength and coordination; everything seemed to be normal, except for the headaches. At this point he scheduled a MRI for the following Friday.
Friday, October 24th 2008
Our induction into the brain tumor world…
It was late in the afternoon when I got the MRI. I originally thought, this is a waste of time, I am fine, and I just have postpartum. However, the MRI technician insisted that I get scanned. Thirty minutes after the scan was done. The head technician asked Paul and I to come to the back as he wanted to show us the scan. He sat down and with a very heavy sigh said “I have some news, we found a large mass in your brain."
As he showed us the images and outlined the mass, we both were stunned, shocked... (Paul writing) The first thing Marni said was "See, I am not crazy."
As the technician explained the situation, the only thing I heard him say was, "if this was my wife, I would take her straight to the ER." "I'll gather the images and report, give you directions to Scripps in La Jolla and let them know you are on your way.” And off we went...
We went directly to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. On the way to the Hospital, we made calls to family members and explain the situation. I am surprised Paul did run us off the road with the conversation we had to have with our family. But we made it to the Hospital.
After spending about and hour or so in the emergency area, I was sent directly to the intensive care unit, where they proceeded to put me on steroids, to bring down swelling around my tumor; anti-seizure medication and a whole lot of pain medication for my headache.
The following day we met with multiple Doctors. A few Neurologists, a Neurological Surgeon, a Radiation Oncologist sprinkled with a Notarizing Minister for good measure.
All, except the Notarizing Minister were very concerned and had very heavy faces while speaking with us about my Tumor. The way the Tumor looked on the MRI, the concern was that it was a Glioblastoma Brain Tumor. It was tough to tell from the MRI, and could not be certain until a dissection was performed and they would be able to biopsy the tumor.
Our Neurological Surgeon Doctor at Scripps La Jolla, Dr. Scott Leary, was fantastic. Paul and I both had a strong connection to him right from the start.
Dr. Leary, explained to us the procedure and the risks associated with the operation; and scheduled the operating room for that following Wednesday the 29 of October. Roughly 5 days after finding out about myTumor.
No comments:
Post a Comment