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Welcome To My "Personal Profile" September 1996 - February 1997 You are visitor

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In September of 1996, I scheduled a hearing test due to a hearing loss in my right ear. The Physician, Dr. Doyle, recommended scheduling an MRI, (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), in order to determine the reason for a hearing loss on only one side. The MRI was scheduled approximately two weeks after seeing Dr. Doyle, and a follow up appointment was scheduled for the month of October.

During the follow-up appointment in October, I was informed that I had two tumors, both of which were affecting the audio nerves in my brain. The one on the right side was about 4cm, (1/4 inch), in diameter and less than a 1/4 inch away from the brain stem. The one on the left side was about 2mm in diameter. The prognosis of the one on the right side was that I had 6 months to a year to live if it was not removed immediately. A consultation was set up for brain surgery in January 1997. The brain urgery was scheduled for the 24th of January 1997.

After the surgery, the Neurosurgeon told me that the tumor was already hitting the brain stem and that they had gotten the whole tumor. In the process of removing the tumor, they removed the inner ear, middle ear and the audio nerve. Well, all was going well until about three or four days later. That was when C.S.F., (Cerebral Spinal Fluid), started leaking out of the ear canal on the right side. They packed some material in the ear canal in order to try to stop the fluid from leaking. When that didn't work the surgeons suggested a Spinal Tap to try to relieve some of the pressure in order to stop the fluid would stop leaking. I agreed.

They assured me that it wouldn't hurt, so I agreed to the Spinal Tap. I was in the Fetal position when they inserted the needle. At that point a sharp, shooting pain went from my hip all the way down to my foot on the right side, and my leg immediately straightened out of it's own volition. After 30 - 40 minutes the Spinal Tap was aborted because they couldn't get the catheter inserted. I was sore for a good week to a week and a half. I was so sore that I could barely walk. I would not wish that sort of thing on my worst enemy.

The very next day, the surgeons came back and wanted to try another Spinal Tap. I said, "No way!" The surgeons kept coming back every day for about four more days wanting to try another Spinal Tap. It was on the fourth day that I told them to stop suggesting it, that when I was ready I would let them know. I had no intention of going through that again. Sometime during those first four days after I started losing Spinal Fluid infection had set in and I started running a very high fever and extremely severe migrain headaches. The fever was, on the average, between 104 - 106.8, and my blood pressure was between 180/120 - 220/180. The headaches felt as if someone had taken a knife and heated it up until it was red hot and the stuck it into the top of my head and commenced to start stirring the knife around much like stirring a spoon in a cup of liquid.

It was about the fourth day after the fluid started leaking that the surgeons told me that they needed to get some fluid from my spine so they could run some tests in order to determine what type of infection I had. I asked if they couldn't just take a sample from the fluid that was leaking out of my ear, then I realized that they needed pure, uncontaminated fluid for the tests, so I agreed on the condition that the surgeons guaranteed I would feel no pain. All they needed to do was get about four vials of fluid and that there would be no need for the use of a catheter. All the were going to do was insert the needle into my spinal column and let the fluid drip into the vials.

I was given two pills for pain, (vicadin), and 20cc's of Morphine. After the medication took affect, they inserted the needle and let the fluid drip into the vials. I was wide awake during the entire process. About 2 - 3 days later, (February 4), I was given a cat scan to determine if there was any brain damage. The results of that test showed no brain damage. That same day the results from the testing of the spinal fluid came back. Ther tests showed that I had contracted "Staff", "Strep", "Bacterial Meningitis", and I had been exposed to "VRE", (all I know is that it is some kind of viral infection). These infections had set in about 4 -5 days before they were able to start any antibiotics. The reason antibiotics were unable to be administered earlier was because they were not certain what infection I had until after the results of the tests came back. I was administered antibiotics every three hours 24/7, for a month.

The surgeons decided that the only was to stop the fluid from leaking, was to remove the ear drum and sew up the ear canal. On February 6,1997, I was scheculed for another brain surgery. As I lay on the operating table being prepped for surgery my blood pressure was 220/180, and my tempature was 104.6. I half jokingly said to one of the surgeons at that time that I was ready to go home. It was then that I got a slap in the face, so to speak, from one of the other surgeons who was assisting. She said, "Don't talk like that! It's not your time and you know it!" That, I knew, was very, very true, because I was shown my own destiny about 25 years earlier.

After the second surgery, I was kept in, what is called "contact isolation". I could have visitors but they had to stop by the nurses station first, in order to get a gown, latex gloves and a mask. After I was released from the hospital on February 22, I had to return about three times a week for follow-up appointments. These follow-up appointments lasted until July-August. What was supposed be originally a three to four day stay in the hospital ended up being a one month stay.