First, I thought you might want to see what we've been looking at for the last two months, as well as the latest image. You'll notice two weird xray looking images in this post. The profile shot which appears on top is from the MRI in February. You can see the white blob near the center of the top of my head. The second shot is the CT scan, which is shown more from the top of my head. Again, you'll notice the big white blob right on top.
We saw neurosurgeron #2 again today. He saw the same thing we
did. The mass is there on CT scan as well as the MRI, so here's what it means. It's bone or some sort of calcification. That's why it showed up on MRI and on the CT scan, just like an xray. This is what raised the initial questions. Most meningiomas will only show up on MRI and then, only when they inject die to give it contrast. Now we know that this mass contains bone-like structure. That's something, but it doesn't get us a definitive answer.
It could be a bone abnormality which has been like that my whole life. If that's the case it won't grow. I'm an adult so my bones are pretty much done getting bigger, we can monitor and see if the size increases. We know it has not grown since the MRI two months ago, so he suggests we wait 6 months and have another MRI to evaluate. If nothing changes, we wait another 6 months and do it again. It could never change, and if that's the case, we have nothing to worry about and nothing needs to be done.
It could be a meningioma, which was the original diagnosis. Those are really slow growing tumors and sometimes they calcify or ossify, which basically means they turn partly to bone. If that's the case, it will, at some point, grow. But it could be years before it's noticeable. If and when we see ANY growth, they'll know it's not a bone and at that point, radiosurgery can stop it from growing any further.
I asked if we're taking any risks by doing nothing. He said the only way to know for sure what it is, it to cut it out, and he said "I wouldn't let you cut into my head at this point. I'd hold off until we know there's a reason to get it out." He also says while her can never say "never" he is 99% sure that this is not anything worse than a benign tumor. He says he's never seen anything malignant turn to bone, those types of cells just grown and replicate too fast for that.
So for now, we watch and wait, and if anything change in my symptoms, they'll do an MRI sooner. Otherwise, we'll schedule an MRI in 6 months and learn more then. We hope. Thanks for all your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers. We feel like we're out of the woods for now, regardless of what it is, it seems it's nothing to panic about, and nothing that will require anything more than the radiosurgery. That's a huge relief for this busy family!
We saw neurosurgeron #2 again today. He saw the same thing we
did. The mass is there on CT scan as well as the MRI, so here's what it means. It's bone or some sort of calcification. That's why it showed up on MRI and on the CT scan, just like an xray. This is what raised the initial questions. Most meningiomas will only show up on MRI and then, only when they inject die to give it contrast. Now we know that this mass contains bone-like structure. That's something, but it doesn't get us a definitive answer. It could be a bone abnormality which has been like that my whole life. If that's the case it won't grow. I'm an adult so my bones are pretty much done getting bigger, we can monitor and see if the size increases. We know it has not grown since the MRI two months ago, so he suggests we wait 6 months and have another MRI to evaluate. If nothing changes, we wait another 6 months and do it again. It could never change, and if that's the case, we have nothing to worry about and nothing needs to be done.
It could be a meningioma, which was the original diagnosis. Those are really slow growing tumors and sometimes they calcify or ossify, which basically means they turn partly to bone. If that's the case, it will, at some point, grow. But it could be years before it's noticeable. If and when we see ANY growth, they'll know it's not a bone and at that point, radiosurgery can stop it from growing any further.
I asked if we're taking any risks by doing nothing. He said the only way to know for sure what it is, it to cut it out, and he said "I wouldn't let you cut into my head at this point. I'd hold off until we know there's a reason to get it out." He also says while her can never say "never" he is 99% sure that this is not anything worse than a benign tumor. He says he's never seen anything malignant turn to bone, those types of cells just grown and replicate too fast for that.
So for now, we watch and wait, and if anything change in my symptoms, they'll do an MRI sooner. Otherwise, we'll schedule an MRI in 6 months and learn more then. We hope. Thanks for all your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers. We feel like we're out of the woods for now, regardless of what it is, it seems it's nothing to panic about, and nothing that will require anything more than the radiosurgery. That's a huge relief for this busy family!
(Thanks to Troy for helping me pull the images from our hospital cd-rom copy of the CT scan and MRI. If I violated any copyrights, sue me! It is my brain you're looking at , I think that should give me squatter's rights or something.)
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