Positive power/prayers

[Celtic Lady]

I received a phone call from my doctor this morning regarding an MRI that I had on New Year's Eve. They found a small (9 mm) spot on my brain. My doctor has me scheduled with a neurologist on Thursday.
For about the past 3 or 4 weeks I've had a tingling numbness in my right hand and arm. My arm has been getting weaker and I'm starting to lose some use in it. I've been quite tired as well.
My sister has MS and it's been known to hit siblings. I researched the symptoms that were list on WebMD for MS. Alot of mine match the list that they have.
I've been quite frustrated due to my right hand and arm being affected... naturally I'm right handed. Things that I took for granted/never thought about are very hard to do now. I think the the one of the worst things for me was not knowing for sure if there was something wrong. Now we just have to find out what and go from there.
Anyway, thank you for letting me ramble and for your thoughts and prayers/positive powers.

[MacLaren]

Candles are lit for you. I hope there's nothing serious going on. But if there is, I hope all is taken care of in very short order.

[Lady Amy of York]

My dear lady, my heart goes out to you. I have been in the same exact situation. I  suffered from numbness and tingling and pain in my arms , and hands and legs  for almost three years.  I saw a neurlogist who did serveral diiferent nerve tests on me  and MRI's etc.    They found a couplevery, very small spots on one MRI scan, but said it was nothing conclusive, and continued to monitor  me, and hand me pain meds as if i was some guinea pig.   My symptoms  only got worse.   
I have a cousin with MS  and i started to recognise   some of the symptoms i was experiencing.  I ended up going to a special  MS  clinic  in Rochester, New York.   It was probably the best  move I  could have made.  The neurologist i saw there had MS himself, and he was very compassionate  and  understanding. He orderd  some more MRI    scans  done  along with some  cat scans   and it ended up  showing a tumor on my spine . I had it removed this past spring,and the terrible  pain is  gone ( knock on wood ) although i still suffer from some numbness and tingling, which makes me think there is still something going on.
     

  I have had just about every test  there is  for MS, so if you have any questions or just want to talk feel free to renmail me  hon  anytime.  I know what you are going thru, the uncertainity can drive you crazy.
     

I recccomend a couple  things :
                  -ask for copies of  your MRI  films
                  - did you have a closed  MRI or open MRI. FOR  EVERYONE WHO EVER HAS  TO HAVE A MRI DONE, I HAVE LEARNED FROM EXPERIENCE THAT  CLOSED MRI'S ARE MUCH BETTER THEN OPEN MRI'S. THEY GIVE A MUCH BETTER PICTURE.   mOST DOCTORS  DO NOT LIKE THE QUALITY THAT OPEN MRI'S  GIVE.
                   --  also   ask for a contrast MRI. they also show much more detail.

                    -find  a neurologist who knows what he is  doing. i have learned that there are good neurologists  and  bad  neurolgists.

                      -If they want to do a spnal tap, make sure it is someone who knows what they are doing, and ask that it be a guided  spinal tap.  This means that they use what looks  like a  cat scan machine  to detect  the right spot  in you spine.   I  say this becuse i have had three   spinal taps   done. The    first one  was unguided and went okay, but   The second  one  again was unguided, and  i ended up leaking spinal fluid  and was in alot of discomfort.  The third one was guided  and   went very smoothly.

Not trying  to scare you, just trying  to help you, and keep you from going what i went thru.

Hugs and best of luck  to you.  Keep us  posted !



                   Your neurlogist will probably  want to do a nerve evoke  test. it is not as bad  as it sounds, and is pretty accurate on  detecting   MS.


Hugs and love- Amy

[lordwriothsley]

Celtic Lady I am sorry to hear about this.Boy what a way to start the new year huh. I will send you lots of love,hugs and prayers and also pray that nothing serious is detected and if something serious is detected then I hope that they can take care of it in a timely and painless manor.

Hugs and Love to you dear lady.

[Celtic Lady]

Thank you all so much.
I've been trying to keep a positive attitude about all of this. Sometimes it's hard and the one I complain/cry to is taking it harder than me. Sir Morgan (my fiance') sometimes looks to the negative in situations where I look to the more positive. Funny how that is. When the doctor first called to tell me that they saw something on the MRI my first thought was "oh good I have a brain". I told Morgan what was said and he voiced my thought after a bit to lighten the mood but it was he that needed the light humor. He worries so about it. I'm worried, too, but realize that there's nothing I/we can do until we see the specialist(s). For now the only hands that I can put my "problem" in are God's (or whatever you call the Higher Power).

Lady Amy, thank you for the suggestions. I will definitely keep them in mind when meeting with the doctors. As for my MRI it was a open one. I did have the contrast MRI. At first I wasn't going to have it as I'm allergic to iv iodine dye but when the tech explained that they don't use iodine dye for this I agreed to have it done.
I'm so glad that they were able to find your trouble and remove it. I pray that you stay free and clear of it.

I will keep everyone posted... even if it's just to vent or cry a little.
Thanks again.

[Lady Amy of York]

Hang in there  hon.  keeping an positive  attitude and  your  faith and  sense of  the humor is   the best thing you can  do.
  Also you may want to pick up    any of  the books  by " Montel Williams  ."   He has suffered  from MS  for several years now, and  has worked  with doctors   to help others  going thru similar situations.   I  found his books  very interesting  and   resourceful.
  And  vent  and  cry all you want  to  !
                 Hugs--Amy
                     
           

[Tygrkat]

Keeping you in my thoughts...{{Hugs}}

[Fairyfly]

You are definitely in my thoughts hun! I'm so glad there are people like Lady Amy who can offer you some suggestions. It's great that you are keeping a good attitude, and humor is one of the best medicines! Nice when we can get confirmation that we do in fact have a brain in there. Lol Especially in times when you feel that you must have lost it somewhere along the way.

Keep your chin up hun. *HUG*

[Celtic Lady]

Well I had my appointment today with the neurologist. It was the standard "new patient check". Asked lots of questions, did a few tests (non-lab ones), and talked about what the next step was. He ordered a cervical MRI with contrast for me and talked about doing a spinal tap... the flouroscopically guided kind.

He says that the spot on my brain the the first MRI found has nothing to do with my hand/arm numbness and tingling and weakness. I already figured that.... learned in biology that the right brain controls the left body and the left brain controls the right body. He thinks we may be dealing with possibly two problems    .

Well that's all for now. Next Thursday is the cervical MRI and then I have to wait until February 4th to see him again. When I go in for the MRI I will be asking for a copy of both sets of MRI "films".

[Fairyfly]

I'm glad to hear you're getting somewhere at least. Even though it might be two problems, it's better to have someone who's willing to address them and get you feeling better.

You'll continue to be in my thoughts hun! *HUGS*

[Nyneve]

I very strongly suggest finding a neurologist who specializes in MS. 

As Lady Amy indicates: "there are good neurologists and there are bad neurologists"... but to also ADD to that:  There are good neurologists that specialize in MS. 

Speaking from experience - my husband was diagnosed with MS last year.  When his symptoms began, we were seeing an excellent, highly regarded neurologist.  When the diagnosis of MS was made, by coinsidence we found that he had much less knowledge of how to treat the disease than a neurologist with a specialty in MS.  In fact, the treatments he recommended and described to us did not even include one of the most recent medications, which is what my husband has ended up taking (with brilliant results).  We were fortunate enough to know somebody who referred us to The Mellen (MS Research and Treatment) Center here in Cleveland. 

Although his first neurologist was world class, there was truly a WORLD of difference between his knowledge and the knowledge of his current neurologist who specializes in MS.   

[RenRobin]

You are in my prayers.

[lordwriothsley]

Celtic Lady I'm so glad to hear that you are getting somewhere with this.Even though we are dealing with two problems here I am confident that the doctors will find a way to treat you and cure you so you will be back to normal.You still continue to be in my thoughts and prayers Hun.

Hugs to you!

[Celtic Lady]

I had my second MRI this morning. This after noon my neurologist called and told me that he received the results and they found an active lesion on my spinal cord in my neck. He talked with a colleague of his that specializes in MS and they both felt that I needed to have my spinal tap now. It was orginally scheduled for Tuesday (Sir Morgan was going to be home for me then) but due to the new findings it's been moved to tomorrow morning. Then after that I'll be starting my treatments. I don't know much more than that. Will let everyone know more as I find out.

[Nyneve]

Luck to you - you are in my thoughts...