An interesting thing came out when I visited the neurologist…my neuro-oncologist had sent him a report on my case in which he described my tumour as an anaplastic oligodendroglioma. Since I’d not heard that from Dr Mason directly, I now had some questions for my next clinic appointment. That clinic appointment was last week. So I asked Dr. Mason, if this diagnosis made any difference after eleven years of survival. He replied in typical fashion, (paraphrasing) “well you’re still here aren’t you?” The clear implication being that if I’d really had a gbm then I wouldn’t have survived this long. Now that’s something I have long suspected, but that’s the first time I heard it from my neuro-onc.

By the way, when I asked if the diagnosis made a difference, I wanted to know if it made any difference to my treatment options if the tumour came back. Dr Mason said it would make little difference.

Meanwhile, I had a Doppler-ultrasound of the carotid arteries done on Sunday morning. And today I took my first cholesterol medication.

One disturbing possibility that has been mentioned this time around is focal seizures. It that’s the consensus, then I might have my driving license pulled for a year, which would not be conducive to me working in Toronto and living out here in the ‘burbs. Oh well, an MRI and an EEG might give a clue as to what’s going on. I’ll update this after the latest round of medical appointments.

Update: August 29th, 2007
I had an MRI last evening and I saw Dr Mason this morning. The scan once again showed no change. Dr Mason’s opinion, from my description of the numbness episodes, is that this is unlikely to be seizure related. I will now make another appointment with my family doctor and look for other reasons for what I have recently experienced.

I’m not sure how many people read this website as I rarely get comments or e-mails anymore, which is a stark contrast to the early days. If you have visited this site and found it useful…please speak up so I know you’re out there. The guestbook is moderated, which means that nothing appears until I’ve had a chance to review it (usually about once every couple of days.) If I didn’t review it there would be about 10-15 spam messages for sexual performance enhancers, hot stock tips and all kinds of porn showing up every day. I wonder who actually buys any of that stuff…or if the spam is just some neferious plot to render the internet useless. It’s certainly annoying.

My wife recently had a suspicious mole removed and the biopsy came back “Melanoma, Stage 1″. I hope the removal is the end of it, although she’s been scheduled for a wider excision just in case.
I’m also going to see the same surgeon in early December for a mole removal (been there, done that.) Here in Ontario such procedures are not covered under our provincial medical plan unless there is a suspicion of malignancy.