As many of you may know I had an issue with vertigo. That was on March 8th and here two months later I am still dealing with it. While I cannot do the things I used to it was a blessing in disguise as my emergency room visit resulted in an MRI. When two doctors and the nurse come walking into your emergency room with grave looks on their face it is never good news. They found a mass in my brain. After meeting with several doctors and finally getting a referral to OHSU we have a plan of action. My doctor (Dr Dogan) said, you are 47, that is not supposed to be there, it will keep growing, we need to cut it out. So May 31st I will head up to OHSU for surgery to cut out my tumor.
Sorry so many of you have to hear this via email but unfortunately I cannot call everyone. So our plan of action is pop in on the 31st, 3-4 hours later have it removed, a night in ICU, probably two more days in the hospital, then home to convalesce. Pathology will follow in 5 to 7 days. Dr Dogan said it is in a great spot, the front right lobe and that area is not really vital. It does not affect any motor skills or speech. Front right is more short term memory and some personality stuff. Good news if there is such a thing is that area is no longer functioning tissue so I should stay about the same – I hope. You never know when they cut into your brain. I just hope he does not have to sneeze while working in there!
OHSU is very well regarded and they approach this as a team. All the surgeons get together on Friday to review all the cases for the upcoming week. Plus, there is a team of oncologists that check out the tumor once resected to identify and develop a treatment plan. I feel very lucky to have a great hospital in the area.
OHSU Brain Institute -> http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/health/services/brain/about/overview/awards-and-recognition.cfm
What was I talking about again… I seem to have forgotten… Sorry short term memory humor.
Since we have family and friends all over we thought it would be best to setup a Facebook group and a blog to keep people updated. The Facebook group is private so Jessie and I will be sending out invites over the next couple of days. If you want to add someone to the group go ahead but we have to approve them. I am also (along with Jessie) going to start a blog – if I get this setup right the blog should update the Facebook group. Feel free to forward this email to those I may have missed and I cannot remember everyone’s email. That memory thing again.
Facebook Group -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/1686613004934867/
My Blog – ha! Like I am going to keep up on this. -> http://teamfoodbaby.com
In doing research on my brain issue I came across two other blogs that have really helped me out. I have included them below in case you are interested. I really like the one titled 20 things to expect after brain surgery. I cannot say I really look forward to this list but it is a nice resource from someone that went through it.
- http://www.everywhereist.com/20-things-you-can-expect-after-brain-surgery/
- https://thebrainchancery.com/
Now below this line is details that you may want to skip – the two blogs above will both say – DO NOT LOOK UP THINGS ON THE INTERNET. I both agree and disagree. I want to know as much as possible so with that said this can sound worse than it is as every case is different, every study is old, not everything is an apple to apple comparison.
They think it is an Oligodendroglioma – that is a tumor from the supportive tissue of the brain. There are 4 types of gliomas and mine they think is a type 2 thus the Oligo. They tend to be in adult males in the 30’s to 50’s and are often in the frontal lobe. They are very slow growing and thus can take a while to find. Mine is filled with calcium deposits so they think it has been there a very long time. I would guess 7-10 years given the research I found. When asking my Dr how many of these things he does in a year he could not really say as he normally works on more difficult cases. The Brain Institute does 300-400 tumor surgeries a year and my doc does a couple hundred. He feels I should be back at work in 6 weeks and on my bike in 3 months.
Fingers crossed he is right.
Pictures for those visual people…
