MRI tomorrow! Wish me luck & Keep me in prayers!

Medical Tests 🔬
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Hi Greg, glad it was good news! It’s not surprising that you were worried about the aneurysm all year–who wouldn’t be? Of COURSE you think about it!

I remember 10 completely lost days out of my life in 1999. I had had a sudden hearing loss in my left ear and had to get an MRI (my first ever) to rule out an acoustic neuroma (benign inner-ear tumor). I wasn’t worried because I’d initially read that acoustic neuromas cause gradual hearing loss, and mine was sudden, and anyway, if it was a benign tumor, I thought, no big deal, a little surgery, they take it out, I get my hearing back.

THEN I came upon information that said up to 25 percent of ANs present with a SUDDEN hearing loss, patients may recall a remote episode of dizziness–and I remembered that huge dizzy spell from 16 years earlier–AND I found out that you can DIE during the surgery (they gotta open your skull) or end up with no hearing and permanent deficits–and all of a sudden I couldn’t think about anything else!! I had already had the MRI but had to wait another 10 days to see the ENT and get the results.

I remember sitting in the ENT’s waiting room reading a book, trying not to hyperventilate, reading a novel in which a character suddenly mentions a brain tumor–ack!! I was literally holding my breath waiting for the doctor to come in, and when he told me I didn’t have acoustic neuroma, I must have audibly let out a huge sigh of relief!!

It’s just human nature! :slight_smile:

So glad you got good news! They do indeed find odd stuff when they go to look… when I had an MRA (magetic resonance angiography, to look at blood vessels, they were wondering if I had a vascular loop causing my dizziness, which I did have but on the opposite side to my hearing loss and probably not the cause of my dizziness), I read the report and found out that, near as I can figure, all the blood flow returning from the top of my head downward goes down the right side, the left “sinus” and “vertebral artery” being practically not there. I guess it is of no consequence (doctor never mentioned it) but there is probably SOME kind of weird stuff in EVERYONE’S head! :slight_smile:

Nancy

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— Begin quote from “Nancy W”

when I had an MRA (magetic resonance angiography, to look at blood vessels, they were wondering if I had a vascular loop causing my dizziness, which I did have but on the opposite side to my hearing loss and probably not the cause of my dizziness), I read the report and found out that, near as I can figure, all the blood flow returning from the top of my head downward goes down the right side, the left “sinus” and “vertebral artery” being practically not there. I guess it is of no consequence (doctor never mentioned it) but there is probably SOME kind of weird stuff in EVERYONE’S head! :slight_smile:
Nancy

— End quote

Hi Nancy, as I understand it there is a relatively large amount of variation between people’s arterial anatomy. If one part in an individual isn’t working then the corresponding mirror-image part should compensate. However such a weakness in one part makes one more vulnerable to any problems which may occur in the good part (if you see what I mean).

In addition to this, there is a phenomenon called “watershed infarct” in which the blood flow from the arteries supplying the head is not quite sufficient to flow into the furtherest parts of the network of capillaries in the brain. This insufficiency is classified as a form of transient stroke but one which is not caused by a blockage but rather blood insufficiency.

If you want to read more then a very authoritative and detailed recent account by a joint committee of several professional associations is available called Management of Patients With Extracranial Carotid and Vertebral Artery Disease.

One of the many places where you can get this document is http://my.americanheart.org/idc/groups/ahamah-public/@wcm/@sop/@spub/documents/downloadable/ucm_430166.pdf or else use Google. There is also a summary version available.

-Wexan