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Good news everybody
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
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I'm somewhat elated because my second contrast MRI came back negative. My first two MRIs showed a lump that appeared to be growing on the left hemisphere of my brain. Turns out it's protruding from the skull and not the brain, so everything's OK.
I'll be going in for surgery to have it removed and get a biopsy, but since my bloodwork was negative as well, everything's looking on the up and up.
Just a big sigh of relief. My family has a huge history of cancer, both my grandparents died form cancer (they weren't smokers; grandmother from breast cancer, grandfather actually died from the radiation therapy rather than the cancer itself), and my mom had two separate bouts with breast cancer. So I was really nervous going in for a third MRI.
If anyone's interested, I'll post pictures of my brain once I get the images.
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"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: May 2001
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Wonderful news olePigeon!
OAW
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: planning a comeback !
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Good news indeed. Glad it's nothing serious.
-t
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Washington, DC
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I'm happy to hear this. Best wishes for a successful surgery.
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"One ticket to Washington, please. I have a date with destiny."
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Garden of Paradise Motel, Suite 3D
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Wonderful news, indeed. Good luck with the surgery stuff. Medical technology is really miraculous these days, ain't it?
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Los Angeles
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"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
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Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: inside 128, north of 90
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Great news.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Baltimore, MD
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Pics or it didn't happen!
(But that's great news, happy for you and your family!)
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Vacation.
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Dammit. I thought for a minute that this was going to be about another Firefly film.
(Joking. Congrats man.)
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
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I have to say that the MRI machine was awesome. It's like it's right out of Star Trek. It's large, white tube with blue-white accent lighting and a robotic bed. You sit on the bed and it slides you in automatically. Then on the inside it's all white with a cool blue-white strip along the top that spreads light out the edges so you can see. Pretty relaxing with a light, cool breeze coming in on the machine. I'm sure all the accent lighting is to keep you calm. Fortunately I'm not claustrophobic so I actually had fun.
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"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Boston, MA
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Emergency Medicine & Urgent Care.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
Status:
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I might have, the machine they used does all the major scans. As far as I know it was just an MRI.
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"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jul 2001
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Science has concluded your brain is normal, but you've got a thick head?
Congratulations. I guess.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: yes
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Awesome news! I'm interested in seeing those pics! I think we should all get pictures of our brains so that we can compare sizes and shapes with each other.
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: sic semper tyrannis
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great news, happy for you and your family
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one post closer to five stars
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Your Anus
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Came in expecting Futurama news... was momentarily displeased, and was then pleased...
Glad to hear your good news!
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My sig is 1 pixel too big.
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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Good to hear. Congrats and best wishes in getting your life back, especially since you didn't apparently have a disease in the first place,
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: UK
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Medical imaging is cool. I got to tour the university department where they invented NMR once.
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I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: midwest
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Excellent news olePigeon.
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ebuddy
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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I may have related this here before...
Just before I retired, I noted to my Air Force doctor that I had a ringing/tone sound in my ears. He said it was probably just due to "aging and exposure to high noise levels" but that there was a remote chance it was a brain tumor, so he scheduled me for an MRI to check. It was not a tumor, but when he told me the results he asked "are you married?" He offered to give me an official statement that the MRI had indeed verifies that I had a brain, just in case my wife wanted proof.
I've had 3 MRIs so far, one to make sure I didn't have any spinal problems before centrifuge training (9 Gs is rough!), the "it's not a tumor" test, and more recently to determine whether I had a recently acquired neck injury (I did not). Before the first MRI, in 1997, I had to describe any potential metal in my body, from metal splinters to how many fillings I had. Before the last one, last fall, I didn't even have to completely undress. Pretty amazing improvements over just a few years...
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: 888500128, C3, 2nd soft.
Status:
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Originally Posted by ghporter
I may have related this here before...
Just before I retired, I noted to my Air Force doctor that I had a ringing/tone sound in my ears. He said it was probably just due to "aging and exposure to high noise levels" but that there was a remote chance it was a brain tumor, so he scheduled me for an MRI to check. It was not a tumor, but when he told me the results he asked "are you married?" He offered to give me an official statement that the MRI had indeed verifies that I had a brain, just in case my wife wanted proof.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Louisiana
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Great news, olePigeon! I'm glad things are looking up.
And yes, I most definitely want to see your brain.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Louisiana
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Originally Posted by ghporter
I may have related this here before...
Just before I retired, I noted to my Air Force doctor that I had a ringing/tone sound in my ears. He said it was probably just due to "aging and exposure to high noise levels" but that there was a remote chance it was a brain tumor, so he scheduled me for an MRI to check. It was not a tumor, but when he told me the results he asked "are you married?" He offered to give me an official statement that the MRI had indeed verifies that I had a brain, just in case my wife wanted proof.
Haaaaahahahaha...
As for the ringing in your ears, did it ever go away? My dad has had a ringing in his ears for several years, and the doc indicated it would probably be with him the rest of his life without offering a solid explanation as to what it was. Weird.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: 888500128, C3, 2nd soft.
Status:
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Caught in a web of deceit.
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Meningioma? Or is it actually from the bone?
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep
Medical imaging is cool. I got to tour the university department where they invented NMR once.
I attended a lecture by a mathematician whose life work was the development of functional CT scanning technology. He said their very first real-world human CT scan image (not a whole organ scan, but just one image) took three days for their mainframes to calculate.
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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Originally Posted by Jawbone54
Haaaaahahahaha...
As for the ringing in your ears, did it ever go away? My dad has had a ringing in his ears for several years, and the doc indicated it would probably be with him the rest of his life without offering a solid explanation as to what it was. Weird.
Sadly, I continue to experience tinnitus. There is no way (right now) to determine which of several theorized mechanisms are at work with me. Considering that I have had very little unprotected exposure to high level noise and that I have no other real neurological problems, these two "expected causes" aren't very strong contenders. I just go on living and try to ignore (or more likely cloak with background sound) the irritating symptoms.
Back to the thread's core issue, olePigeon, what exactly was the diagnosis?
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: inside 128, north of 90
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Originally Posted by ghporter
Before the first MRI, in 1997, I had to describe any potential metal in my body, from metal splinters to how many fillings I had. Before the last one, last fall, I didn't even have to completely undress.
I've had two in the last 3 years, and they still asked me the metal question (also had to remove earrings of course. ) I had a bit of exacto knife snap off in my eye long ago so I had to get an xray before the MRI to prove it was gone.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
Status:
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( Original, one of hundreds of images. I'll post a few more of the more interesting ones.)
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"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
Status:
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Originally Posted by ghporter
Back to the thread's core issue, olePigeon, what exactly was the diagnosis?
I had a "nodule" or bump that looked like it could be either on the skull or the brain, but they couldn't tell from the normal MRI. So I got a contrast MRI, and fortunately it turned out to just be an enlarged lymph node on my skull, but not too big as to be of concern. We'll just monitor it for growth, and if it gets any bigger, they'll biopsy it. However, when I first got my MRI I also went in for all sorts of blood tests and everything looks OK from there, too. So as of now it's nothing to be concerned about.
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"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
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Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Louisiana
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Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
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Excellent news. Lymph nodes are fairly easy to deal with-and typically are redundant enough that having to lose one is usually no big deal, even inside the skull.
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Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Isle of Manhattan
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That's great news olePigeon, these kinds of scares are difficult to go through. Glad things worked out!
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"Faster, faster! 'Till the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death." - HST
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