I had my MRI yesterday. It was a three month follow up to my Gamma Knife Radiation treatment in December.
The night before my MRI I was sleeping peacefully until I had a dream I was recieving my results from the doctor. I said, "Now, that looks about the same size, right?" And he said, "Well, actually it's about four times the size it was. This is actually quite unexpected. I've never seen anything like this before." Apparently my subconscious is evil.
Flash forward: I recieved my MRI and went directly to the doctor for the results. It went a little something like this.
Doctor Watson: Well, it looks like it's shrunken to about half the size it was.
Jonna: WHAT?! I thought you were going to tell me it had quadrupled in size.
Doctor Watson: Well, no. However, this is quite rare. We generally don't see any improvement at three months, and we certainly don't often see shinkage. I think it will be completely gone in about six months.
Jonna: So what you're saying is that I am a miracle.
Doctor Watson: Well, a 33% miracle. However, you do have a sinus infection.
Jonna: I know! I thought I could beat it on my own.
Doctor Watson: So what your saying is you can beat a brain tumor but you can't beat a measly sinus infection?
Jonna: I know!
RELIEF.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Monday, December 13, 2010
Gamma Ray
If anyone wants to hear what it's like to have a Gamma Knife procedure by someone who is slightly overdramatic and exaggerative I will tell you.
They went on and on about pain medication and numbing the exo skeleton, however, pain meds or not--it felt like having someone screw four screws into your skull.
Immediately following the the screws and...head harness (roll eyes when read)...I was wheeled off to recieve a 40 minute MRI which in flashbacks was....the worst...alien abduction/mental institution in the 20's-esque. To top it off I was being tossed around like I was unconscious when I was only unsuccessfully medicated.
After that a CT Scan, followed by my Gamma Ray Laser Treatment.
Now; I had spent the day prior arranging the ultimate Jo's relaxing playlist on my ipod, and corresponding CD, which consisted of;
I'll be your man, Black Keys
Closer, Kings of Leon
Baba O'Reily, The Who
and other musical gems...
I envisioned it being a glorious spa day sailin as high as a kite. My bar was set a little too high when the drugs sucked and the assistant said they could not figure out how to turn my IPOD on. "But we have Pandora!" :)))) "Oh that's....lovely." The only time I'd tried Pandora I'd put in Yeah Yeah Yeah's and 10 Tegan and Sarah songs came up...ick. So rather than having a diva moment where I insisted they bring me my IPOD so that someone smarter than a neurosurgeon could turn it on--I said Flogging Molly. Big Mistake. My spa day was ruined by wanna-be-horribly-live Irish jig alternative tween music. There is a mic in the machine and I was very close to saying, "Please....just turn the music off...this is giving me more anxiety than this torture chamber."
And that was the day. I got screwed and they sent me home without even a IBProfin 800 prescription. While I was looking through my medical bills for 2010 the other day I couldn't help but think how much more fun it would be looking at them if they were put towards the best boob job of all time. Or even better...a vacation.
They went on and on about pain medication and numbing the exo skeleton, however, pain meds or not--it felt like having someone screw four screws into your skull.
Immediately following the the screws and...head harness (roll eyes when read)...I was wheeled off to recieve a 40 minute MRI which in flashbacks was....the worst...alien abduction/mental institution in the 20's-esque. To top it off I was being tossed around like I was unconscious when I was only unsuccessfully medicated.
After that a CT Scan, followed by my Gamma Ray Laser Treatment.
Now; I had spent the day prior arranging the ultimate Jo's relaxing playlist on my ipod, and corresponding CD, which consisted of;
I'll be your man, Black Keys
Closer, Kings of Leon
Baba O'Reily, The Who
and other musical gems...
I envisioned it being a glorious spa day sailin as high as a kite. My bar was set a little too high when the drugs sucked and the assistant said they could not figure out how to turn my IPOD on. "But we have Pandora!" :)))) "Oh that's....lovely." The only time I'd tried Pandora I'd put in Yeah Yeah Yeah's and 10 Tegan and Sarah songs came up...ick. So rather than having a diva moment where I insisted they bring me my IPOD so that someone smarter than a neurosurgeon could turn it on--I said Flogging Molly. Big Mistake. My spa day was ruined by wanna-be-horribly-live Irish jig alternative tween music. There is a mic in the machine and I was very close to saying, "Please....just turn the music off...this is giving me more anxiety than this torture chamber."
And that was the day. I got screwed and they sent me home without even a IBProfin 800 prescription. While I was looking through my medical bills for 2010 the other day I couldn't help but think how much more fun it would be looking at them if they were put towards the best boob job of all time. Or even better...a vacation.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Fall Back Down
I met with my neurosurgeon last week to discuss the discovery of my recurring tumor. He is the best neurogurgeon in the state of Utah so I trusted him when he recommended that, due to it's size and position, I undergo a gamma knife treatment. I will basically be placed in a MRI like machine which positions a laser of radiation directly into the tumor which will hopefully control it's growth. The machine and my new doctor are in this video:
www.intermountainhealthcare.org/hospitals/imed/services/cancer/Pages/home.aspx
We went in to meet with the doctor in charge of my gamma knife treatment and he informed us about the risks involved in targeting radiation into a person as young as I am, and that bit of news has been a hard pill to swallow. I've been reading a book about a 17 year old boy in the 40's who had a brain tumor. After removing as much as they could they injected mustard gas into the nerves that were feeding the tumor. Figuring the tumor was 'killed' by the mustard gas they expected the tumor to expel itself through the opening they had left in the skull. WHAT?!~ Needless to say I am truly greatful that I live in a time with such amazing medical technology.
The days events include; anti-anxiety medication and sedative, having a halo screwed into my skull and being placed into the machine on a 'couch'(which is not a couch at all, but a slab), my head will then be secured into place for my hour long session. On a positive note; I will be able to listen to my own music while recieving the treatment. So what do I choose? After my 1st surgery three years ago my friend Ashley said she was going to make me a CD but could only think of one song for it; Insane in the Membrane. :) I'm going to have to come up with a few more I think.
www.intermountainhealthcare.org/hospitals/imed/services/cancer/Pages/home.aspx
We went in to meet with the doctor in charge of my gamma knife treatment and he informed us about the risks involved in targeting radiation into a person as young as I am, and that bit of news has been a hard pill to swallow. I've been reading a book about a 17 year old boy in the 40's who had a brain tumor. After removing as much as they could they injected mustard gas into the nerves that were feeding the tumor. Figuring the tumor was 'killed' by the mustard gas they expected the tumor to expel itself through the opening they had left in the skull. WHAT?!~ Needless to say I am truly greatful that I live in a time with such amazing medical technology.
The days events include; anti-anxiety medication and sedative, having a halo screwed into my skull and being placed into the machine on a 'couch'(which is not a couch at all, but a slab), my head will then be secured into place for my hour long session. On a positive note; I will be able to listen to my own music while recieving the treatment. So what do I choose? After my 1st surgery three years ago my friend Ashley said she was going to make me a CD but could only think of one song for it; Insane in the Membrane. :) I'm going to have to come up with a few more I think.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Softshock.
Blurggg.
I'm blogging. Why you may ask? When I was in elementary school I knew I was going to be a writer. I wrote amazing stories-generally about unicorns. I wrote all through high school and fell away from it in college during a short stint in writing my own songs. They sucked.
Why the blog sphere? I was recently informed that I have a recurring menigioma. As many of you know; I was diagnosed with a brain tumor in November 2007 and had a craniotomy to remove my golf ball size "Manny" (as my loving sister likes to call it) that was nesting on my right olfactory nerve. A menigioma is a slow growing non-cancerous brain tumor that is most often found in middle aged women. It was a shitty year to say the least. I began to have day long migraines, violent puke sessions, blurry vision, giant blind spots, weight gain due to lethargy, and loss of my sense of smell-oh yeah, and the cross eye-which ironically I always found cute in kids I knew growing up...on me...not so cute.
Three years later and I am graduated and have a sweet baby girl. I was back to my bubble of life being a breeze. I actually began making up drama due to my lack of drama.
My mother and I have a theory that the growth may coincide with the introduction of hormones in my body; which is backed by the fact that women with menigiomas can experience growth during pregnancy and that my life did a 360 directly following the introduction of the pill. This being my only theory it leads me to the obvious conclusion that I need to remove hormones, preservatives and MSG from my diet. Now, I know I have some more research to do, but now that I have my sweet baby girl, I am going to invest all my resources in making myself as healthy as possible.
I started this blog to document what I'm going through with my health--since I received a lot of flak for not letting people know what was going down the first time around, my dramatic extraction of my favorite foods (i.e. Baked Lays, Diet Coke), and the introduction of fruits and vegetables to my diet (which is also quite dramatic due to my dry heaving at the site of peas).
-Jo.
I'm blogging. Why you may ask? When I was in elementary school I knew I was going to be a writer. I wrote amazing stories-generally about unicorns. I wrote all through high school and fell away from it in college during a short stint in writing my own songs. They sucked.
Why the blog sphere? I was recently informed that I have a recurring menigioma. As many of you know; I was diagnosed with a brain tumor in November 2007 and had a craniotomy to remove my golf ball size "Manny" (as my loving sister likes to call it) that was nesting on my right olfactory nerve. A menigioma is a slow growing non-cancerous brain tumor that is most often found in middle aged women. It was a shitty year to say the least. I began to have day long migraines, violent puke sessions, blurry vision, giant blind spots, weight gain due to lethargy, and loss of my sense of smell-oh yeah, and the cross eye-which ironically I always found cute in kids I knew growing up...on me...not so cute.
Three years later and I am graduated and have a sweet baby girl. I was back to my bubble of life being a breeze. I actually began making up drama due to my lack of drama.
My mother and I have a theory that the growth may coincide with the introduction of hormones in my body; which is backed by the fact that women with menigiomas can experience growth during pregnancy and that my life did a 360 directly following the introduction of the pill. This being my only theory it leads me to the obvious conclusion that I need to remove hormones, preservatives and MSG from my diet. Now, I know I have some more research to do, but now that I have my sweet baby girl, I am going to invest all my resources in making myself as healthy as possible.
I started this blog to document what I'm going through with my health--since I received a lot of flak for not letting people know what was going down the first time around, my dramatic extraction of my favorite foods (i.e. Baked Lays, Diet Coke), and the introduction of fruits and vegetables to my diet (which is also quite dramatic due to my dry heaving at the site of peas).
-Jo.
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