Post by burchhome on Sept 3, 2014 8:13:49 GMT -6
Greetings,
My wife was just diagnosed last week with an Intramedullary Tumor in her lower back. I believe it's L1-L2 but i'm not sure. We are new to the terminology and don't know the questions to ask so please excuse my ignorance as I my not include necessary information for advice as I don't know what the necessary information is.
The story
She has had this tumor for 9 years. She was bed ridden with it for 4 months before we were married and though much prayer she pushed though the pain and dealt with it. Her body adjusted and she just became known as a person with lower back pain and hamstring issues which flair up when she's standing still for more than 20 mins or gets too cold. This was all before I knew her. After married we went to a few drs and was diagnosed with sciatica (do exercises and deal with it). She had rough pregnancy and birth which we thought was just normal but apparently was not. After having our first baby she was unable to walk and hold the baby for about 3 weeks but healed and decided no more children if that's how bad it would be. But we do want more children. I got fed up with the pain hurting her and noticed she was starting to loose feeling under her feet and having belly cramps every now and then, and I was fed up with DRs in our city all saying "it's sciatica just do exercises and deal with it", I and forced her to go to a dr outside our city at UVA where they gave her an MRI and found something wrong inside her spinal cord in 2 weeks.
First visit with the Neurosurgeon:
Neurosurgeon we went to started looking her over on the first visit and then after noticing we didn't know what he was doing he said. "it's a tumor... oh nobody told you that? Well it's a tumor and we are going to get it out." Then he said "There are always risks but we can get it out. It will be 4 days in the hospital, 2 weeks recovery, and after 3 months you will have less pain than you have right now." We weren't asking questions because we were in shock and didn't know what to ask. he said "you'll probably have questions so wright them down and bring them to the next appointment." He scheduled us for another MRI but with contrast this time, as the MRIs done in my home town are not very clear, and we scheduled the surgery 1 week after the blood work to be done next week.
That was the end of the appointment.
What we know now:
It's a Tumor inside the spinal cord. The nerves go around it which puts pressure on the nerves. It's located in the L section of her back I think it's L1 L2 or L1-L2 but not sure.
Question:
Has anybody gone though surgery like this in recent years (2012 or more recent)?
Many surgeries on this site are for large tumors and from people in extreme pain, however my wife is not in EXTREAM pain and the tumor appears to be smaller. Is this a minor surgery in comparison, or should we have similar concerns?
Would it be wise to get it out now while it's small or wait longer risking have it damage her body more and take it out only when there's no other options because of the risk involved with surgery now would be too great?
This site is good for personal experience, which is very valuable, but what might I do to get answers from professional experience as well?
Thank you all and Blessings,
Burch
My wife was just diagnosed last week with an Intramedullary Tumor in her lower back. I believe it's L1-L2 but i'm not sure. We are new to the terminology and don't know the questions to ask so please excuse my ignorance as I my not include necessary information for advice as I don't know what the necessary information is.
The story
She has had this tumor for 9 years. She was bed ridden with it for 4 months before we were married and though much prayer she pushed though the pain and dealt with it. Her body adjusted and she just became known as a person with lower back pain and hamstring issues which flair up when she's standing still for more than 20 mins or gets too cold. This was all before I knew her. After married we went to a few drs and was diagnosed with sciatica (do exercises and deal with it). She had rough pregnancy and birth which we thought was just normal but apparently was not. After having our first baby she was unable to walk and hold the baby for about 3 weeks but healed and decided no more children if that's how bad it would be. But we do want more children. I got fed up with the pain hurting her and noticed she was starting to loose feeling under her feet and having belly cramps every now and then, and I was fed up with DRs in our city all saying "it's sciatica just do exercises and deal with it", I and forced her to go to a dr outside our city at UVA where they gave her an MRI and found something wrong inside her spinal cord in 2 weeks.
First visit with the Neurosurgeon:
Neurosurgeon we went to started looking her over on the first visit and then after noticing we didn't know what he was doing he said. "it's a tumor... oh nobody told you that? Well it's a tumor and we are going to get it out." Then he said "There are always risks but we can get it out. It will be 4 days in the hospital, 2 weeks recovery, and after 3 months you will have less pain than you have right now." We weren't asking questions because we were in shock and didn't know what to ask. he said "you'll probably have questions so wright them down and bring them to the next appointment." He scheduled us for another MRI but with contrast this time, as the MRIs done in my home town are not very clear, and we scheduled the surgery 1 week after the blood work to be done next week.
That was the end of the appointment.
What we know now:
It's a Tumor inside the spinal cord. The nerves go around it which puts pressure on the nerves. It's located in the L section of her back I think it's L1 L2 or L1-L2 but not sure.
Question:
Has anybody gone though surgery like this in recent years (2012 or more recent)?
Many surgeries on this site are for large tumors and from people in extreme pain, however my wife is not in EXTREAM pain and the tumor appears to be smaller. Is this a minor surgery in comparison, or should we have similar concerns?
Would it be wise to get it out now while it's small or wait longer risking have it damage her body more and take it out only when there's no other options because of the risk involved with surgery now would be too great?
This site is good for personal experience, which is very valuable, but what might I do to get answers from professional experience as well?
Thank you all and Blessings,
Burch
