Starting about March 6th,
2013, Patti started having headaches.
Not the killer headaches that might send you to bed, but the nuisance
type that you soldier through. On the
morning of the 8th, Patti tried to do a bank transaction over the phone (Mary
Catherine was headed to Spring Break and needed some…). She could not get the words or the numbers to
come out. We were in the bedroom and it
was sorta scary.
We called Dr. Teresa Clarke, Patti’s primary care doctor and
she sent us to Piedmont Emergency. We
were in ER for about eight hours as tests and CT Scans and MRI’s were run. There was a neurologist on call who
identified a ‘mass’ on the brain. The
nature of the shadow would not be known without surgery. Piedmont had recently brought in Dr. Howard
Chandler to open a Brain Tumor Center and we would wait at Piedmont until
Monday awaiting his return from out-of-town and observing for seizures,
etc. We really did not need to be there.
On Monday PM, Dr. Chandler came to see us, relayed the
diagnosis (but not the nature of the tumor) and we scheduled surgery for
Thursday the 14th. We went home and
enjoyed a visit from Patti’s brother Tim who drove up from Tampa.
Surgery Thursday was successful in removing the tumor, but
the nature of the beast was still not known.
Patti recovered overnight in the Intensive Care Unit and was sent to a
regular room Friday afternoon. The
surgeon and oncologist came on Saturday late morning.
Patti has an aggressive Glioblastoma Multiform or GBM
Tumor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glioblastoma_multiforme
The normal course of treatment is radiology and chemotherapy
with regular MRI’s to follow the comings and goings of the cancer. Miracles happen and we will need a big one.
Starting about March 6th, 2013, Patti started having headaches. Not the killer headaches that might send you to bed, but the nuisance type that you soldier through. On the morning of the 8th, Patti tried to do a bank transaction over the phone (Mary Catherine was headed to Spring Break and needed some…). She could not get the words or the numbers to come out. We were in the bedroom and it was sorta scary.
We called Dr. Teresa Clarke, Patti’s primary care doctor and she sent us to Piedmont Emergency. We were in ER for about eight hours as tests and CT Scans and MRI’s were run. There was a neurologist on call who identified a ‘mass’ on the brain. The nature of the shadow would not be known without surgery. Piedmont had recently brought in Dr. Howard Chandler to open a Brain Tumor Center and we would wait at Piedmont until Monday awaiting his return from out-of-town and observing for seizures, etc. We really did not need to be there.
On Monday PM, Dr. Chandler came to see us, relayed the diagnosis (but not the nature of the tumor) and we scheduled surgery for Thursday the 14th. We went home and enjoyed a visit from Patti’s brother Tim who drove up from Tampa.
Surgery Thursday was successful in removing the tumor, but the nature of the beast was still not known. Patti recovered overnight in the Intensive Care Unit and was sent to a regular room Friday afternoon. The surgeon and oncologist came on Saturday late morning.
Patti has an aggressive Glioblastoma Multiform or GBM Tumor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glioblastoma_multiforme
The normal course of treatment is radiology and chemotherapy with regular MRI’s to follow the comings and goings of the cancer. Miracles happen and we will need a big one.
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