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Friday, August 25, 2006

I'm normal!!! Well....sort of.

Well folks it turns out that I not only have a normal looking brain and brainstem but it also looks like I have a normal spine as well. For those who don't know I have some pretty weird neurological problems of unknown origin. We, family and close friends, were all thinking for sure that I had MS. Even my neuro doc last month thought I was a shoe in for the disease. In July, I was restricted by my doc from running or biking "long" distances until we get a diagnosis. He said, "Go exercise but limit yourself to how long you are out in the heat and the humidity. Oh, and you need to scale back your marathon training and consider not running in New Mexico." I was in like week 12 of the schedule. Now I will give you that it was NOT going well, but I was doing it. My training has been at a total stand still since then. I have been running minimally, bike moderately, and swimming moderately. I think I have run/walked the regular 5 mile loop with runnersusan and massoman only 2 times since July. This has been tough. I had 4 MRI's of my brain, brain stem, and spinal cord. Guess what??? No MS!! No signs of past lesions, stroke or brusing. (I think I spelled that wrong, but whatever). I demanded that I get released so that I can go outside and play with my friends and try to build back to where I was. I am struggling psychologically with no limits to break through or marathons to train for. I keep hearing everyone talk about what they want to train for and run this spring and all I can think about is how I am not allowed to train. This has been my adiction for sooo long!! My doc's assistant told me that he could not release me to play outside; that I'd have to wait until September 18th (my follow up appointment). I told him that I was frustrated and was going to ride my bike to work tomorrow (which was actually today). He said he'd note that in my chart. Hahahaha!!! I had a great ride this morning and afternoon. Sorry runnersusan for not calling you last night. I was really upset that I did not get any answers from the MRI's. Today I am thankful I have no MS, cancer or tumors. There is something else wrong, but we don't know what yet. For those who don't know, I only sweat on one side of my body (from head to toe), and my pupils dialate independently. That is only letting you know about 2 symptoms. I could go on forever. I don't have time or the desire to divulge more info!! Bottom line....I am normal so far!! That is definitely something to celebrate.

Blog on friends!!!

3 comments:

massoman said...

this is great news. now you can check MS of your list. onward!

Dubs said...

Wow - stressful to have those tests! So glad they have come out good so far - just hope they can identify the issue so it can get addressed!! I'll stop my wining about not being able to run for a measly week and a half now. :)

Have you tried googling different symptoms and writting them in different orders/formats? My sister found a possible diagnosis for her son - which was not it - but lead them to Williams Syndrom at the appointment. Had she not done that, they still would have had him mis-diagnosed. I'm not a fan of lables - but a huge fan of getting a diagnosis so you have a list of the symptoms so you can figure out how to address it and move forward as well as research on what works/doesn't work.

The doctors must love how great of shape you are in. Maybe you can go for walks if you are stir crazy. I did that today and it helped my mood.

Take care & keep me posted!! Thank God it isn't cancer or MS.

Erica said...

I sweat like this, and have miosis (pupils that are not equal). I was diagnosed with Horner's Syndrome... while it can have a lot of causes, mine is a benign tumor on my carotid artery. I would definitely discuss with with your neurologist!