Last Sunday my Dad went to bed with a headache and when he woke up the next morning he had weakness in his left side and slurred speech. He went to the ER thinking he had a stroke. He was there all day and after the CT they said they didn't think it was a stroke. He was transferred to another hospital with a better neurology unit. We met with the doctor pretty quickly. She said he had five dark spots on his brain that she thought was cancer that had spread from somewhere in his body. We were all pretty devastated. I'd never seen my dad cry before.
The next day, after an MRI, they said his body was clear from the neck down so if it was cancer it at least hadn't spread from anywhere. They thought it was cancer or MS. They obviously didn't want to resort to a biopsy so soon so he had a spinal, another MRI and an angeogram (I think). It think it was after the angeogram that they found a malformation on his brain stem that had most likely been there from birth and might not have given him trouble ever, except the week before he fell off the ladder. The malformation is what caused the stroke-like symptoms. They still needed to figure out what the dark spots were.
Through the week they ran all sorts of tests, I lost track of everything. Friday, the doctor said my dad could go home since the stroke-like symptoms had resolved and they'd run all the tests they could at that hospital.
They scheduled a high def MRI for first thing Monday at the med school. It's at that appointment they told the test results from earlier indicated Marsburg variant MS or ADEM. BUT my dad never had a fever, and at the hospital they said there was no swelling in his brain. So I'm afraid it's going to be MS. They didn't wind up doing the MRI that day for whatever reason. I don't know if we find out after that gets done or what.
I apologize if that's confusing. I'm not certain about timing or exact tests. Also, the brain stem theory, not sure where, how or if that fits in with the MS.
I'm just so worried about helping my dad and stepmom through this while also being a good mother to my son, who has autism and is nonverbal, which makes things a bit more challenging.
The next day, after an MRI, they said his body was clear from the neck down so if it was cancer it at least hadn't spread from anywhere. They thought it was cancer or MS. They obviously didn't want to resort to a biopsy so soon so he had a spinal, another MRI and an angeogram (I think). It think it was after the angeogram that they found a malformation on his brain stem that had most likely been there from birth and might not have given him trouble ever, except the week before he fell off the ladder. The malformation is what caused the stroke-like symptoms. They still needed to figure out what the dark spots were.
Through the week they ran all sorts of tests, I lost track of everything. Friday, the doctor said my dad could go home since the stroke-like symptoms had resolved and they'd run all the tests they could at that hospital.
They scheduled a high def MRI for first thing Monday at the med school. It's at that appointment they told the test results from earlier indicated Marsburg variant MS or ADEM. BUT my dad never had a fever, and at the hospital they said there was no swelling in his brain. So I'm afraid it's going to be MS. They didn't wind up doing the MRI that day for whatever reason. I don't know if we find out after that gets done or what.
I apologize if that's confusing. I'm not certain about timing or exact tests. Also, the brain stem theory, not sure where, how or if that fits in with the MS.
I'm just so worried about helping my dad and stepmom through this while also being a good mother to my son, who has autism and is nonverbal, which makes things a bit more challenging.
Tira
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