Astrocytoma

Astrocytoma doesn't seem like a very scary word, but it should. The beauty and the curse about the internet is that there's more information than is possible (or needed) on any subject that you care to look up. Words that you didn't know existed, suddenly become part of your everyday existence, and change the way you look at your life and the people around you. That's what happened here.

A couple of weeks ago, I began to have symptoms of vertigo. I had had the flu or something like it recently and attributed my sudden equilibrium problems to an inner ear instability. My brother had suffered through this and I first assumed it was something like this. My problem was that my imbalance would last for three or four days, and it was all I could do to work my way from the bed to the couch. I had migraines and the muscles at the back of my neck ached incessantly. After four days I was able to go to work, but the vertigo never totally left me. It just subsided to a point that I felt competent to move about and not look like I was on something.

I functioned reasonably well for a few days, when I woke up one day and it was back with a vengence. I spent the next four days barely able to negotiate from one point in my house to another. I was nauseated from the vertigo so bad at times that I found it necessary to scurry on my hands and knees to the bathroom the vomit.

The doctor ordered a CT scan and called me the very same evening to inform me that I had an astrocytoma on my cerebellum, or in simple language, a tumor at the base of my brain. At this point I am waiting to see him again to come up with a plan to deal with it, but knowing it's there and the cause for all my balance problems has changed my life.

Of course I went out the the internet right away and did my research. However, not having any specifics yet raised more questions than it answered. I now know that my vertigo will not pass on its own and that surgery is the primary method with dealing with an astrocytoma. The grade of severity is as of yet unknown to me, but I'm hoping from the sketchy information the doctor gave me, that my own problem is not as bad as it could be.

At this point, I am functioning on a level that's a fraction of what it was. I've always pushed my physical abilities when I hit the gym or taught martial arts, or even working in the yard around the house. For the moment, those times are all on hold and I just do what I can without aggravating my condition. This is not the way I viewed the beginning of this year, that's for sure.