Saw Dr. R this afternoon. Everything still looks good.
As usual, he did blood work, and everything continues to be within normal range. He did a physical exam, and thinks the most active node cluster might be a little flatter, if not smaller -- certainly not bigger. All of that is good news.
The only area of concern is one that I brought up. I'm still having the slight dizziness every now and then that I've been having for close to two months now. Dr. R wants to get it checked out. I have an MRI scheduled for Tuesday.
I've been to an Ears/Nose/Throat doctor about it, and a few weeks ago, the ENT did some tests. He found nothing -- brain, inner ears, eyes all seem to be functioning just fine. His best guess now (as it was a month ago) is that it's stress-related. Jaw and facial muscles can tense up, causing imbalance and dizziness when the pres against the inner ear (or something like that). I've been to the dentist to talk about getting a device to wear at night to keep my jaws relaxed.
A diagnosis of "stress" seems to me to be the kind of thing they say when they don't know what else to say (like the pediatrician saying "it's a virus"). I was actually doing much better with the dizziness until Wednesday night, when it flaired up again, which maybe gives some support to the whole stress theory (as an oncologist appointment comes up).
Dr. R thinks it could be stress, or it could be a bunch of other things, though it's unlikely to be lymphoma-related. Still, he'd rather be sure (and maybe take off some of that stress) by getting some pictures. I'm good with that. I'm not much of a fan of MRIs -- too squishy in that tube -- but it's better than another barium milkshake and intestinal distress. Plus, it's at 10:45, so I can go for a nice big pastrami sandwich at Katz's Deli across the street when I'm done.
Mmmmm....pastrami.....
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5 comments:
Bob - glad to hear things are looking good. On the dizziness, I've had anxiety reactions that include dizziness or light-headedness, as well as visual disturbances (when it's more severe) and eventually racing heart, etc. Stress/anxiety is not a bad guess. That said, I've never turned down a diagnostic test the oncologist recommends - too stressful! Good luck with the MRI. -Philip
Bob what degree of dizziness do you have? Do you have tinnutitus? For the longest time I just thought I had very good hearing that caused me to hear industrial noise from a long distance. Come to find out it's all in my head. Also get a swooshing noise when it's quiet. Sort of like listening to a sea shell.
We can compare head MRIs this summer. Have they mentioned Meniere's at all or seeing an ENT about it? For me stress, allergies,getting dehydrated, and not enough sleep set off my vertigo.
Have fun with the MRI. I think between the two of us we might be able to create an entire MRI person. ~Mary
Philip, Thanks for the reassurance. I've had the dizziness, but not the heart-racing or other sysmptoms. We'll see.
Mary, the dizziness is fairly mild -- no full-blown vertigo, and I don't really even lose my balance. And I spent a week writing down what I ate, how much I slept, the pollen count, etc, etc, and found no pattern to when the dizziness came on.
I have a nice MRI of my liver. You're an artist -- isn't there some kind of show we could put together with all of thise images?
Sounds like a challenge. I have an MRI of my head, neck, and lower back now all we need are limbs.
Buck reunion project?
~Mary
I had an MRI taken of my elbow once, when my arthritis was worse. So we'd have one limb except that I didn't get a copy of the image.
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