Post by alan on May 20, 2013 14:50:49 GMT -6
I am new to this site but have already found answers to many of my questions.
I began this journey in June of 2012 when after midnight I drove myself to the ER with severe pains in my chest just below my rib cage. The ER doctors could not figure out what was wrong and ordered some chest xrays and various other tests. Finally they figured it was walking pneumonia and sent me home with some painkillers and antibiotics.
Three days later the pain, more severe required an ambulance and a new trip to the ER. In the ambulance they worried that I was having a heart attack or a stroke and hooked me up to the EKG because my blood pressure was through the roof. No heart attack and no stroke. Again more tests to try and figure out what was going on. Again discussed pneumonia and or pleurisy. Home again with more pain pills.
Two days later another trip to the ER in the ambulance and again all they could determine was that it was probably pleurisy.
So from June to early November I was on vicodin, Percocet and a host of other pain killers. Experienced some relief and the pain killers masked most of the pain. However, in the second week of November the toes on my right foot went numb and began to tingle. My GP said no way was that due to the drugs or a case of pleurisy.
He immediately sent me to a neurologist who played with big electrified needles and determined that I had less than desirable nerve connections to my legs. Sent me in for an MRI with and without contrast. The MRI discovered a 3 X 1.3X1 cm intradural extramedullary tumor at T6-7 causing severe spinal cord compression. Within two days I was meeting with a Neurosurgeon who said it was a Schwannoma and very likely benign. He assumed it had been growing for between ten and twenty years. This diagnosis occurred on a Wednesday and the following Monday I was in the operating room to have it removed. The doctor was amazed that I was able to walk and that I still had bladder and bowel control as the spinal cord was massively compressed.
On Monday I walked into the hospital and had the surgery. They tell me it lasted about an hour and that they removed it all.
Now the fun started. Originally they indicated that I should be up and around in three to four weeks but that, of course, was before they discovered the tumor had reduced my spinal cord to the width of a ribbon.
For the next five days I was heavily drugged and remained in the hospital. On the sixth day I was transferred by ambulance to the Sutter Roseville Rehabilitation Institute in California. As I finally regained my senses I found out that I was paralyzed from the rib cage down and had lost all control of my legs, bladder and bowel. Considerably more of a shock than I expected.
I spent the next three weeks attempting to walk hanging from the ceiling and between parallel bars. I was on steroids for at least two weeks to help the swelling go down and various other medications. Surprisingly other than numbness and very annoying tingling I had no pain at all. Of course the indignity of being catheterized five or six times a day and basically unable to do anything on my own was a new experience as previously my only foray into the medical field was some dental work.
I remained in the Rehab until just before Christmas when I was allowed to leave. By that time the wonderful therapists had me taking some precarious steps with a walker. Unfortunately, I was at this time fearful, that I would never walk again but finally was reassured by my doctor that yes I already was walking and just had to work on my style.
At home I was greeted with a raised commode, a shower bench, a wheelchair and 350 catheters which I was led to believe may be a lifelong requirement. Fortunately, however the Christmas miracle occurred and I regained bowel and bladder control and immediately returned the catheters.
I then had a month of in home therapy although was mostly confined to the wheelchair and finally was given more rehab at the local hospital outpatient facility.
It is now coming on six months since the surgery and I am happy to report that I can now walk without a cane and have played two rounds of golf although I still need to work on my putting. I still have numbness in my butt and legs and in the evenings get some strong tingling in my legs but each day after the tingling I seem to have additional sensation and hope that normalcy is in my future.
In conclusion this experience has given me three good outcomes. First, I lost the twenty pounds that my trips to the gym never accomplished; second, all of the tests determined that the rest of my body is in very good shape and; third for the next three months I have a handicapped parking sticker that gets me close to the Costco front door.
I hope that my endeavors with the “schwannoma experience” are of some help to the others on this site.
I began this journey in June of 2012 when after midnight I drove myself to the ER with severe pains in my chest just below my rib cage. The ER doctors could not figure out what was wrong and ordered some chest xrays and various other tests. Finally they figured it was walking pneumonia and sent me home with some painkillers and antibiotics.
Three days later the pain, more severe required an ambulance and a new trip to the ER. In the ambulance they worried that I was having a heart attack or a stroke and hooked me up to the EKG because my blood pressure was through the roof. No heart attack and no stroke. Again more tests to try and figure out what was going on. Again discussed pneumonia and or pleurisy. Home again with more pain pills.
Two days later another trip to the ER in the ambulance and again all they could determine was that it was probably pleurisy.
So from June to early November I was on vicodin, Percocet and a host of other pain killers. Experienced some relief and the pain killers masked most of the pain. However, in the second week of November the toes on my right foot went numb and began to tingle. My GP said no way was that due to the drugs or a case of pleurisy.
He immediately sent me to a neurologist who played with big electrified needles and determined that I had less than desirable nerve connections to my legs. Sent me in for an MRI with and without contrast. The MRI discovered a 3 X 1.3X1 cm intradural extramedullary tumor at T6-7 causing severe spinal cord compression. Within two days I was meeting with a Neurosurgeon who said it was a Schwannoma and very likely benign. He assumed it had been growing for between ten and twenty years. This diagnosis occurred on a Wednesday and the following Monday I was in the operating room to have it removed. The doctor was amazed that I was able to walk and that I still had bladder and bowel control as the spinal cord was massively compressed.
On Monday I walked into the hospital and had the surgery. They tell me it lasted about an hour and that they removed it all.
Now the fun started. Originally they indicated that I should be up and around in three to four weeks but that, of course, was before they discovered the tumor had reduced my spinal cord to the width of a ribbon.
For the next five days I was heavily drugged and remained in the hospital. On the sixth day I was transferred by ambulance to the Sutter Roseville Rehabilitation Institute in California. As I finally regained my senses I found out that I was paralyzed from the rib cage down and had lost all control of my legs, bladder and bowel. Considerably more of a shock than I expected.
I spent the next three weeks attempting to walk hanging from the ceiling and between parallel bars. I was on steroids for at least two weeks to help the swelling go down and various other medications. Surprisingly other than numbness and very annoying tingling I had no pain at all. Of course the indignity of being catheterized five or six times a day and basically unable to do anything on my own was a new experience as previously my only foray into the medical field was some dental work.
I remained in the Rehab until just before Christmas when I was allowed to leave. By that time the wonderful therapists had me taking some precarious steps with a walker. Unfortunately, I was at this time fearful, that I would never walk again but finally was reassured by my doctor that yes I already was walking and just had to work on my style.
At home I was greeted with a raised commode, a shower bench, a wheelchair and 350 catheters which I was led to believe may be a lifelong requirement. Fortunately, however the Christmas miracle occurred and I regained bowel and bladder control and immediately returned the catheters.
I then had a month of in home therapy although was mostly confined to the wheelchair and finally was given more rehab at the local hospital outpatient facility.
It is now coming on six months since the surgery and I am happy to report that I can now walk without a cane and have played two rounds of golf although I still need to work on my putting. I still have numbness in my butt and legs and in the evenings get some strong tingling in my legs but each day after the tingling I seem to have additional sensation and hope that normalcy is in my future.
In conclusion this experience has given me three good outcomes. First, I lost the twenty pounds that my trips to the gym never accomplished; second, all of the tests determined that the rest of my body is in very good shape and; third for the next three months I have a handicapped parking sticker that gets me close to the Costco front door.
I hope that my endeavors with the “schwannoma experience” are of some help to the others on this site.
