Discussion of the 6 month checkup

I went back to Stanford for an MRI and a consult with Dr. Jackler in late February. I timed it to coinside with a business conference on MicroLithography by SPIE.

For a discussion on my concerns with drawing too many conclusions from an MRI, please see this page

On Sunday I had the MRI in an experimental facility. I did sign a release saying that my results could be used for research. For the most part this MRI  was the same as the one I had in Denver, but there were some differences. At one point, my muscles were contracting (especially my diaphram) with the pulsing of the machine. I don't know if the pulses were the main magnetic field or the smaller magnetic field that rides on top of the main one that trys to flip the spin of the nucleus.

On Tuesday, I then went to see Dr. Jackler. On the basis of their comparison of the MRIs, it was felt that the schwannoma had shrunk. This of course is good news.

During the 6 months, the "tick" under my left eye became somewhat worse. My hearing expericenced two quantum drops. One was immediately after the cyber knife treatement, and one was after a quick trip to Chicago for a football game. That trip had two rides on a jet with not much time in between and a noisy football stadium. After that experience, I now bring hearing protection for jet rides and any other noisy environment. The hearing tests have shown no noticable degradation since then.

I will go out again in another 6 months and then drop to a yearly basis (assuming no turn for the worse of  course).

The CD that I received had more images, some of which were clearly expeimental and looked like a picture that was out of focus.


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This page last updated on Feb 26 at 11:20 am MST

Copyright 2006 - D. Samuels