It’s winter, and there’s no mistaking it. Sometimes there
are benefits to being cooped up inside in the cozy warmth, listening to the
rain outside.
Only sometimes…
Last night I had a phone call from Tiew Han (neurosurgeon
at St Vincent’s Hospital).
He had ordered a full spinal MRI last week, as he was a
bit suspicious of the possible development of further tumours on the spine, but
the good news is that the spine is completely clear apart from the two tumours
causing collapse at T7 and T12. It seems the upper collapse is touching on the
spinal cord but not causing serious compression, the lower one is looking ‘safer’.
Because these two discs are relatively close together, any surgery would need
to involve and connect with both vertebrae (webbing and screws), otherwise there
would be too much pressure on the remaining weaker disc. It is not to be taken
lightly, and so he is recommending that we wait another month and I will have
another MRI to determine if the collapsed vertebrae are stable or if there is
further compression. If there is no change, we will leave it alone for the
present. If not, the surgical option will probably need to proceed.
Meanwhile he is fully supportive of the exercise that I
am doing.
He also suggests we follow up on the hip option to
hopefully establish better mobility for me. Whilst we may do more fact-finding
about the hip procedure, I do not anticipate any progress with this until after
Brian has recuperated from foot surgery which he is having on 15 June. Unfortunately
his recuperation necessitates spending two weeks with his foot elevated for 23
out of 24 hours of the day, so that will be fun! We are confident we can manage
at home during this period, with careful preparation and a little bit of
assistance here and there.
No comments:
Post a Comment