Hello friends and family. Some of you know I have been doctoring lately. Basically, two weeks ago I began experiencing what I thought was cold symptoms that I couldnt shake. Most notably, my nose was running like a faucet but only out of the left nostril. Cold and allergy medicines wouldnt touch it. I collected a sample of this drippage and presented it to my doctor. I imagine that due to the volume of my sample my doc got right on the horn to the neurosurgeon in Billings. I went to Billings for an MRI and a fresh sample was collected and sent to the Mayo Clinic for testing. As my doctor and I both suspected, the sample tested positive for cerebrospinal fluid. The MRI did rule out a brain tumor. After a CT scan in Glendive on Friday, the neurosurgeon ordered a lumbar puncture yesterday and my spine was injected with a radioactive fluid that helped the radiologist identify a pencil lead-sized hole between my eyes, closer to the left eye. We met with the Ear, Nose, and Throat surgeon last night at the Billings Clinic and he explained my situation. I have been diagnosed with psuedotumor cerebri. This condition is increased cranial pressure in the head in response to a brain tumor, however, there actually is no brain tumor. What needs to happen next is that the hole between my eyes that is leaking the cerebral spinal fluid into and out my left nostril needs to be repaired. I am on a new medication that will reduce the pressure in my head and reduce the production of cerebral spinal fluid so when the repair is made the patch wont blow out by the fluid leakage. I have to be off my blood thinning meds for a while before the surgery can be completed. Waiting now for an appointment with the neurosurgeon and the ENT docs assistant to phone me on Monday after she was coordinated a time for the ENT and the neurosurgeon to do the surgery. I am off work for now because I am still dripping a lot still and need to remain stationary in a recliner to keep the dripping down. No bending, lifting, sneezing is also supposed to keep the pressures in my head from becoming too elevated. The hole in my head leading up my brain also elevates my risks for meningitis so keeping away from public places and germs is also a priority. I am at my moms in Billings for now while I am waiting to hear from the docs office. Allen and my mom have been taking great care of me and I am in good spirits. Please keep us in your prayers as we do what it takes to get this resolved. The doctors are pretty baffled by all of this as cerebrospinal fluid leaks are usually the result of some kind of head trauma. I assure them that I havent skated roller derby in years and havent succumbed to listening to Allens head banger music yet.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 22:30:52 +0000
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