Da Nile ain’t just a river in Egypt

June 3rd, 2008 · No Comments

I received my MRI last week but it did not include the report. That is of course the best part! The reports are filled with wonderful medical knowledge which you can look up on google and feel insanely smart. So I called first thing on Monday and in my mailbox today was the glorious report.

FINDINGS: Diffusion-weighted imaging shows no areas definitely identifiable as an acute infarct. On the T2-weighted diffusion weighted imaging, there are several areas of T2 shine through due to T2 lesions which will be described. On FLAIR, there is a small less than 5 mm lesion in the right parietal white matter image 21 which is also seen on T2 and does not enhance. On FLAIR there is an oblong enhancing 6 x 4 mm lesion in the position of the left motor strip image 26. At the same level there is also a nonenhancing 5 mm lesion adjacent to the left lateral ventricle in the white matter image 26. Adjacent to the posterior horn of the right lateral ventricle image 24 there is a large nonenhancing area 1.4 x 1.1 cm immediately contiguous to the ventricle. No further lesion is seen in the cerebrum. The cerebellum and medulla appear clear on FLAIR T2 and enhanced T1.

The globes and optic nerves bilaterally appear normal. No unusual enhancement is seen in either right or the left optic nerves.

Flow-voids around the base of the skull are normal. Cranial nerves are normal. The sinuses are clear.

IMPRESSION: Multiple enhancing and nonenhancing lesions right and left. The majority are on the left and several on the side are enhancing particularly one in the left motor strip. There is a nonenhancing lesion around the periphery of the posterior horn of the right later ventricle. Appearance is consistent with multiple sclerosis with both active and quiescent lesions.

The diagnostic criteria for MS is odd. The Neurologist says I am very high risk for developing MS so lets call it MS and get on treatment. The Radiologist says I have MS. Anyway, I must say I prefer the Neurologists opinion more than the silly Radiologist. Note to self: It is much easier to be in denial when you hear it instead of read it.

Anyway, I must say this made me a bit sad and very angry. I was not prepared for that. Tom is out of town so he is not around to help me laugh about my black holes. He certainly helps me stay in touch with reality.

I keep thinking that if my doctor listen to me three years ago when I went in for numb legs and I had gotten on the treatment, would I be here now? How about a year ago when I went in for numb hands? Or 6 months ago when I went in for dizziness? The key of this disease is to control the relapses to prevent the damage. That is three or so relapses which might not have happened if my doctor didn’t ignore me. Ok, technically she classified my dizziness as “depression” and my numbness as me “twinging a nerve” even though it lasted for over two months.

I really would love to write her a letter with my MRI report. I know she is a good doctor (or I hope) but I know she works at a large cooperation and she sees too many people in a day. She has a set of guidelines where I am sure numbness twice doesn’t mean MRI until you have whined enough to go through all the other treatment options. None the less, she should have been better at puzzles.

In other health news, my Vitamin D is back down and now I have to add 10,000IU of Vitamin D everyday. She just went to a conference and asked about Vitamin D and MS. It was suggested that someone with MS be on the high side of normal for Vitamin D. At this point, I hope I can just get in the normal side.