Diagnosis & Planning

After reading my MRI, Dr. John Schmidt, the neurosurgeon, returned to my bedside at General Hospital to give us the bad news. One tumor, on the left temporal lobe needed to be removed as soon as possible. The tumor, the size of half an orange, was squashing the entire left lobe to the extent it had penetrated the brain tissue causing the edema (swelling). Had the tumors been discovered earlier, the removal of this tumor would have been a straight forward, relatively simple, operation. Now, the surgery on my abscessed brain was complex and risky. Not only was there chance of compromising my ability to communicate but also my ability to walk.

In hindsight, I realized I'd had symptoms related to speech, language processing and balance for some months, but noticed only the most obvious symptom - my speech. As Dr. Schmidt questioned me I recognized that I'd been having difficulties remembering a well as comprehending what I was hearing, and difficulties in maintaining my balance when out for my morning walk. I'd blamed my memory struggles on aging and my several falls, I attributed them to crooked sidewalks.

Gulp! Impossible for me to absorb.

Dr. Schmidt continued by asking if my insurance covered out-of-state medical care.
Struck dumb for the moment, I looked at Mike until he answered, "Yes."

With that settled, Schmidt explained he did not have enough experience or medical staff support here in Charleston to do the surgery; what I needed was a highly skilled neurosurgeon with extensive experience in this type of brain surgery. Dr. Takanori Fukushima was one of two doctors he could unequivocally recommend. He went on to say that he knew Dr. Fukushima at WV University's medical school and had even assisted him in surgery. Since he was st WVU only one week a month, I might have to travel to Duke's Medical School in Raleigh or Durham in North Carolina where he also taught. Dr. Schmidt said he would make the referral the next day, Monday, and thereafter I would speak directly to Fukushima's office manager, Lori Radcliffe.

Dr. Schmidt had described Dr. Fukushima as 'the best in the world' so we decided to check that out. AFter we "Googled" him on the web, we had no doubts that he was as described, that he indeed did 'write the books' for the field. Bolstered by our confidence in this specialist, we returned home to prepare for whatever was ahead.

During my hospitalization, family and friends were eager to hear the latest news. Since what we knew changed from hour to hour it became obvious that we needed to organize communications with our friends in a manner that would satisfy them and not wear us out. My children and my mother needed voice contact.

Mike and I also needed a way to stay sane; to keep our emotions checked enough that we weren't bouncing from highs to lows and back each time new information was revealed. Already we'd been caught in that carnival of emotions when conflicting information was received or our expectations weren't being met.

To ease the communications traffic, Mike set up two group listings on e-mail where he could provide bulletins to family and friends, greatly reducing the time spent answering phone calls.

To save our own sanity, we chose to hold to an attitude of curiosity and wonder instead of dread and worry. We would learn as much as we could about brains and tumors and research as well as write about our experiences as they occurred.

Mike's e-mail bulletins (including photos) kept him busy and useful. His appreciative readers were many. Intimidated by being married to a man who has made his living as a writer for fifty years, I chose a small audience of one to read my accounts of the brain adventure. Skratch has been a trusted friend for almost twenty-seven years now. Encouragement is what I asked for and he has provided enough that I have not only continued writing these last six months but he's given me the courage to expand my audience by starting this blog.