Surgery went really well. I came out of it intact (well, I hace a 2 inch hole in my brain,but that was all already destroyed. Nothing important was ruined, and it seems like they got everything they wanted to out, and there was nothing super scary I didn’t know about hiding in there. THankfully, angioma resection is easy, since they have a clear outline, an the damage done in the surgery was jut taking out all the crap that had already damaged by brain and cause a bunch of scar tissue to dorm. Therefore, I work jsut as good as I did before the surgery. As good as i did 2-3 years ago? I’ll never know, because Ill neverk now the life cycle of my lesion.
Anyhow, they let me go home today since i was healing well, can move around fine and such. Hurray for being home!
I have some pics of my funny head to post tomorrow.,
neil
Surgery is tomorrow, Stanford Hospital, 11:10 am. But I need to get there at 6:30 AM, so they can do an MRI first, so they know how to drive around my brain properly. I’ll probably be there until Monday or Tuesday, then back in apartment and online and such.
So, as if I didn’t have enough stress, I got a letter from my insurance company saying that while the facility, Stanford Hospital, was in the network, the provider for my upcoming REMOVAL OF BRAIN LESION surgery was not in the network, and I could incur sizeable out-of-pocket expenses. Nevermind the fact that they’ve been paying for the office visits for the past month. So I call them and the guy says “oh yeah, I see your doctor right here, he’s in the network. But to finalize the resolution I had to fax them the letter. Yesterday was a day off, so I did it today. So I did it this morning, called them back, and they said it would take 2-3 days for hte fax to get into the system and go to the right person. And then they’ll call me back. Meanwhile, I get to stress about it. Reading the message boards at the angioma alliance it seems like insurance companies like to dick around with people expecting brain surgery. FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC. The high point of yesterday was dinner with at Ti Couz in SF. He was near the end of a conference trip from hell, and had a long layover at SFO on his way back to Boston. So going to Ti Couz was a natural way to spend some time.
Then I woke up today at 5:45am (I start work at 6am on Tuesdays, from home) with no hot water. I left voicemail for the landlord. I heard from him around noon, he thinks the pilot in the water heater went out. He was playing phonetag with a plumber. But as of then he had no ETA for hot water. I came home around 4PM< and still no hot water. Grumble, I feel so dirty, I really want a shower!!!!
I heard from my Neurosurgeon today (what a phrase that is, eh?). He told me that, pending next THursday’s MRI being as expected, that he’s planning surgery fro 3/1. So, knock on wood and cross fingers, it looks like I might live that old adage about March!.
I had the angiogram on Tuesday. It was a long day (thanks !!!). And I’m still recovering from it (big bruise on my right thigh, and pain and tenderness there). The angiogram itself was negative. The implication of this is no aneurysm or AVM ready to go boom, good news.
I went back to the neurosurgeon today. He said “It’s probably a cavernous malformation. But I can’t be certain because it is obscured by the clot in the MRI. It could be a low-grade/benign tumor – high grade tumors show up on contrast and this did not. So, the best thing to do is wait a few more weeks and take another MRI. The clot will have evolved and we’ll have different detail then to see what/where/what size of a thing we’re dealing with. But prepare yourself mentally for surgery in March. Expect to be taking a significant amount of time off of work. Have you parents come here…”
So I have another MRI with contrast on 3/1 and I see him again on 3/6. And then I learn my fate. But no matter what it is, he believes that removal is called for…. skull crackin’ march.
After waiting two weeks, my test for today was postponed due to some emergency involving a “poor old lady” that was wreaking havoc on their schedule for the day. So now i wait until next Tuesday. SIGH SIGH SIGH SIGH SIGH.
So, on Tuesday, my friend lb told me that our friend Jarett was coming up from LA to SF for a few days.
Yesterday, aka gweeds came on IRC and suggested lb and I head up to SF to hang out with them. I was at work, but feeling less than effective, so i decided I would cut out a bit early. Meanwhile, lb headed up from the Southbay. When I was out of work at 4pm, I called them up, and met them at Ocean Beach (I took a crappy pic with my new camera phone, but not worth posting, i think). We hung out a bit (they had already been there a long time). So we soon headed off to Green Apple Books a phenomenal bookstore. I got a copy of the Seamus Haney translation of Beowulf. Afterwards, lb called headache, and decided to head home. I recommended he get a CT scan, just in case. The rest of us then headed over to Weird Fish in the Mission for dinner. The whole drive, gweeds affirmed my driving prowess despite my recent brain issues. How lovely! Dinner was yummy. Fried oysters, Tilapia fish and chips, some fried pickles. and ginger lemonade. Then, it was off to Mitchell’s for ice cream. I tasted the avocado (weird but ok) and Lucuma before deciding on the Holy Mango. Then it was back to Unicorn Precinct (gweeds’ house) where we watched an episode of Man 2 Man with Dean Learner discussed esoteric H.P. Lovecraft and William s. Burrough lore, and finally ended the evening with gweed pulling out a stash of old photos. Included was a random shot of an old ex of mine, who was best friends with one of his ex’s. Other blasts from the past were included as well. We also saw some videos of his cat as a kitten (adorable) and his trip tom japan. Then it was time to go home.
Today, I woke up, played a bit of WoW, then went for a walk. The important part of the walk was a stop at THE PEZ Museum. for $3 I got a guided tour of Pez history, and learned more than I could ever wish to know about the candy and dispensers. I noticed the Museum the day I moved in, but I felt like it was time to finally check it out. The best description I can come up for the visit is weird. TOo bad my camera is in the shop (but it’s been shipped back to me, hope to have it back tomorrow!), because I’m sure my phone pics will just suck (But i’ll check them out later).
That is all.
The middle of last week my wonderful friend asked me if I was free this Saturday to see a movie, I said I was free, and we made some time plans…
Saturday comes a long and I am surprised by her plus several other people (WoW guildies, actually. some of them current/former coworkers, others just locals I know from the game), who had come to help me clean, and unpack and neaten my apartment, which had been long overdue – I moved in 1.5 months ago after all. It’s as neat as it’s been since the minute I moved in. i still have some unpacking to do. but not too much. And some papers to go through, But the heavy part were done in one afternoon, as opposed to days for just me to do it. And then we had a great dinner at a local sushi place.
It’s too bad she forgot to do before and after pics!
It has been confirmed, i will be getting an Cerebral Angiogram on 1/31. It’s a pretty involved test, an all day affair. After that I’ll learn more about corrective measures.
Additionally, I’m on a course of prednisone now. Which seems to have helped with pressure in my head, and i think also reduced my fatigue, it has had one annoying side effect – hiccups.
That is all for now.
First, the back story. I had been suffering from Sinusitis since the middle of December. I had taken 2 courses of antibiotics for it, and prednisone, but it wouldn’t go away. SO, Tuesday I had a CT scan of my sinuses. THursday night (1/11/07) I talked to my GP, and he told me that my sinuses looked pretty good, butt that the scan showed an abnormality on my right frontal lobe, he also otld me a sinus ct scan didn’t really cover that area proprely, so it was likely an artifact, but a full head ct scan was called for. SO, th next day (1/12/07!) i went back in and had the head ct scan. After the scan i get called back up to his office, and he shows me it.. there is something obviously wrong in my brain. At the time he called it a tumor. Ugh, i felt really scared. He referred me immediately to the neurosurgery department (This is at an all-in-one non profit medical center, THe PAlo ALto Medical Foundation. SO I mope up to the neurology.neurosurgery dept, and sit and wait to be seen…. amidst a bunch of old people. FInally I get called back, and we look ove the scan again. And he calls it a clot. and tells me I neeed to get more tests (MRI and MRA) done ASAP. ASAP ends up being yesterday 1/15/2007)at 6:45 am. The GP gave me a scrip for valium to keep me from going nutso over the weeekend. So I went and got the tests done a the crack of dawn on monday… I also had a followup with the neurosugeon today at 4:15pm. Today was hard to deal with, since i couldn’t use any of my benzos, as I had to drive.
Well, I went in, and was told the following;
There is a definite hemorrhage in your brain, that has bled multiple times (Based on some email I’m pretty sure 12/13/2006 was one such time, as I had a terrible headache that kept me awake that night which required vicodin for me to sleep. He also said there was no indication of a tumor on the MRI with contrast. So, the MRA test is a study of hte brain’s blood vessels. He said that what he saw looked ok, but he believes there is a malformation at the heart of hte hemmorage, which is too small to seen by that test, since the big (4cm?) hemmorage just blots it out. I Am waiting to see if i need to take a cerebral angiogram to get more detail on my blood vessels. BUt, he believes I Have a Cavernous Malformation He’ll get back to me in the next few days letting me know if I need the test 80% likely. If such an anomaly is found, it is likely that it will require surgery to fix it.
in the meanwhile I am taking the next fe days off of work as sick days, as I’m just wiped out lately (likely a symptom of the cerebral hemmorhage).
that is all for now.