Discussion of the 6 month checkup
I went back to Stanford for an MRI and a consult with Dr. Jackler in
late February. I timed it to coinside with a business conference on
MicroLithography by SPIE.
For a discussion on my concerns with drawing too many conclusions from
an MRI, please see this page
On Sunday I had the MRI in an experimental facility. I did sign a
release saying that my results could be used for research. For the most
part this MRI was the same as the one I had in Denver, but there
were some differences. At one point, my muscles were contracting
(especially my diaphram) with the pulsing of the machine. I don't know
if the pulses were the main magnetic field or the smaller magnetic
field that rides on top of the main one that trys to flip the spin of
the nucleus.
On Tuesday, I then went to see Dr. Jackler. On the basis of their
comparison of the MRIs, it was felt that the schwannoma had shrunk.
This of course is good news.
During the 6 months, the "tick" under my left eye became somewhat
worse. My hearing expericenced two quantum drops. One was immediately
after the cyber knife treatement, and one was after a quick trip to
Chicago for a football game. That trip had two rides on a jet with not
much time in between and a noisy football stadium. After that
experience, I now bring hearing protection for jet rides and any other
noisy environment. The hearing tests have shown no noticable
degradation since then.
I will go out again in another 6 months and then drop to a yearly basis
(assuming no turn for the worse of course).
The CD that I received had more images, some of which were clearly
expeimental and looked like a picture that was out of focus.
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This page last updated on Feb 26 at 11:20 am MST
Copyright 2006 - D. Samuels