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June 10, 2013
Feb 14 Email: First Visit with my Neurosurgeon
I had a clinical visit with my second expert spinal neurosurgeon on February 13, 2013. The next day, I put this email together to update select friends and family of my neurological condition and status. Some people knew about my issues from personal conversations, but I wanted to capture my experience in written format.
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:14:48 -0500
From: Jon Nathan
Subject: Neurological issues
Hi all,
Thanks for being so supportive as I've tried to diagnose and treat
my strange neurological issues. I saw an expert spinal neurosurgeon
yesterday and he looked at all my previous test results. His
diagnosis is that I probably don't have a tumor, but likely have
cervical spinal stenosis. He did not agree with my previous doctors,
who thought the compression of my spinal cord was caused by a tumor.
Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal, usually caused
by old age, wear and tear, or injury, that compresses the spinal
cord and degrades neurological functions. It's not great, but it's
less serious than a tumor.
The next step is to have an MRI of my cervical spine with tractography
in 2-3 weeks. The doctor will then compare those results to the
previous ones and hopefully make a more definitive diagnosis. If
it's a tumor, it should be clear and more well-defined by this time
and with this methodology. If not, the stenosis should clearly be
the only thing going on.
If it is stenosis, it still may require surgery. But that surgery
is less invasive and less dangerous than removing a tumor. I'm
also looking into non-surgical treatments, which would definitely
be preferred. The doctor advised that I take things easy, which
means that I still can't play soccer for a while.
I'd still like to keep this information private for the time being.
Thanks again for listening to me and supporting me. I really
appreciate it.
-Jon
Posted by jon at June 10, 2013 12:01 AM