Yesterday, Cheryl and I visited our GP doctor. This guy was recommended to us my Austin "top doc", He is pretty cool. He worked as an ER doctor for many years, taught ER procedures for many more years before he decided he just wanted to be a doctor. He knows his stuff!
I was sitting on the exam table in a room at his clinic with Cheryl when he came in.
"Well, Mr. Black, what brings you in today?"
"Well, someone needs to help you doctors pay for those Mercedes and Aston Martins!" (Just joking. Of course, my Radiologist does drive an Aston Martin!)
"I don't have an Aston Martin, and my car is paid for!" was his reply.
Then he told us a story about seeing a classic James Bond Aston Martin in his parking lot a few weeks ago, and found out it belonged to a pain medicine company representative. He found out the owner had trained in medicine at some pretty impressive medical schools, but went to work for this company instead. He asked him why he did not become a "real doctor" and his meeting went downhill from there.
Then he said:
"Well, thanks for getting sick enough to come in today and help keep me in business!"
Yuk, Yuk, doc!
We went over the fun I had been through since my last visit with him, which included losing my left eye and jawbone. He was surprised by all that, but it had been a while since I had seen him.
We showed him the field of vision test chart, and my Ophthalmologist's notes and talked about the events leading up to the vision problem.
Basically the symptoms set in on the first real walk outside of my house I took after we got home from M.D. Anderson, and it felt like a migraine headache setting in, something I have dealt with most of my life. The walk was not that stressful, so I doubt anything on the walk caused any damage.
The doctor said that migraines can cause vision loss like this, but he was unwilling to jump to any conclusions before we did more testing to see what is going on. He said he hoped whatever was going on was something we could treat, and make things better.
Exactly what we needed to hear.
More Vampires
He left the room to start ordering up an MRI which will show the blood flow in my head. He wants to see what is going on in the flow to that eye. Physically, the eye is probably fine (except for those "floaters"), but if the blood flow to the eye is compromised, that could cause the issues.
I started to wonder if the recent surgery, which included plugging new tissue into the blood flow in my neck might have contributed to any of this? We will need to wait and see. There I go again. Your mind comes up with all kinds of new things to worry about. It is best to wait and get real information before going there!
Then he sent me to his clinic's vampire to steal some blood.
This particular vampire was pretty good at sticking that rusty 10 penny nail in my arm. But she took FOREVER to get enough blood for the tests. She took four big vials (let's see, that works out to about 4 gallons) of blood before she was happy. She must have been really hungry.
We could not find an MRI machine in Austin we could get to yesterday, so we will get that test done today.
MRI
This is another big donut. These machines are all pretty amazing in their power to look inside your body and show all kinds of things going on. Depending on how they do the test, they might inject something to make certain things stand out. That is how my cancer scans go, but those are CT scans, not MRI. I think I have had an MRI, but with so many under my belt, I am not sure.
I wonder if titanium is magnetic. I do not want my new jaw to stick to the MRI machinery. That would be weird. Funny the new things you think about as you become more "bionic"!
Our testing center is in an area pretty far West of Austin, closer to Lake Travis, so the drive up there is about an hour. We headed out after a stream of visitors this morning, including our pastor, who is a good friend. When Cheryl was on the church Board, she was his advisor as we set up a church campus in South Austin. This man is the lead pastor for that South Campus. He spend some time visiting. I have not been to church since the surgery, so he was just checking in to see how we are doing. He offered a prayer for us then we headed out for the test.
Alien Turn Signals
The MRI is one of the noisiest machines I have ever ridden. It buzzed like an angry turn signal! They tried to mask it with country music in some headphones. I had another IV so they could inject some more "contrast" to get a better view of blood flow. That answers that question!`
I lay on that machine for about an hour while it buzzed and clicked away, sending radio waves through me and bending them with a huge magnet. When it was over I told them:
"That sounded like an alien turn signal at a busy intersection near Neptune!"
I think the technician chuckled. I was hearing that noise for hours afterward.
Not So Good Results
My GP called tonight with his findings. They are not good. Apparently I did have a minor stroke, and the treatment is trying to avoid another one, and waiting to see if it heals itself.
Not what we wanted to hear. This could affect my whole life-style.
The good thing is I can still see well enough to function, but driving may not be possible. I might be able to continue teaching, but only if someone, whose name is probably Cheryl, can get me to my campuses. My jet ride is most likely off the list. I will not want to be doing extreme loading of my body, and fighter jets are famous for sucking the blood out of your brain! That is why fighter pilots wear "G" suits to force blood back up into their heads.
Once again, there is only one word for all of this:
Damn!
A few other famous sayings also popped into my head:
"Life sucks, then you ..." Nah, it ain't over until it is over!
"Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you like the play?" Not sure how that applies. The news was not what we wanted to hear, but it could have been much worse! The options are few, but many a folk has improved from things like this, so we will wait and see.
And pray!
Version 6.0
I suppose this means I am at version 6.0. Boy, version 5.0 did not last long!
Let's see, according to techie tradition (specifically those surrounding M.S. Windows) Even number versions are never very good, but odd numbered versions are always better. Windows 7 was pretty good, Windows 8 was a mess, they skipped 9 (we do not know why) and the jury is out on Windows 10. I suspect they are trying to squash this tradition!
I am definitely ready for another version to come out soon!
Next Steps
We have more doctors to see now. We notified M.D. Anderson of these new findings, and will see what they have to say. We will work with them and my GP to get started on the treatment plan. That will minimize chances of this getting worse. Other than that, we will just try to cope. Both Cheryl and I are reeling from this news. We were definitely hoping things would look better, and that there would be treatments that had a better chance of fixing things. It is always hard to deal with a major change in your state of living.
Know what? Once again, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade! (Sheesh, another silly saying!)
We must Remain Strong
This is especially hard on my companion on life's journey, and I need to thank her and comfort her as best I can. Cheryl has been a rock through all of this, and I pray she can stay strong for what is to come.
I just hugged her, and she asked:
"What is going on? Are you scared?"
"Of course!"
"Are you angry?"
"Not really. If I were going to be angry, I would have been yelling at God for the last eight years. I am more disappointed than anything."
I am sure we both are. Still, we have to press on. I left her sending out email messages to the dozens who have checked in tonight. We are so grateful to all of you who pray for us Doing this alone would be unbearable.
God be with all of us!
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