below you will find information on some of the major tumors that effect me daily (i still need to get spinal mri's on here)
...this info will include; my tumors name (or group name... or 'band' name) its location, its habits, its picture. i will also include an image of an mri on the same location but on a non tumor-ey body.
Big Bertha:
so i have this plexiform in my chest. it is coming out of my T spine (thorax/chest). it goes into my right side of my chest, as of april 09 it was taking up 40% of my entire lung capacity. its huge. big bertha is causing me great pain. my shoulder constantly aches and my right arm is numb and tingly from the arm pit down to my middle finger-pinky. i am constantly dropping things. p.s. all the other white stuff you see is tumor as well. you can see her (big bertha) as she starts to come out of my spine looking like a hose. and then waBAM her humungo body was given life. here is her lovely self, smiling for the camera back in 09, she is such a ham. i had a 2010 mri of her and she had shown growth since 09 and now 2011 i know she's grown even more because of my breathing problem now and more aches and pains in my shoulder and arm.
*i only searched for comparisons for the sake of the blog...upon seeing this one, i couldn't help but weep. who am i kidding, i waled and screamed. it was bad. id like everyone to think that i am tougher than snot, but the reality is i'm a baby. i can fall apart at the drop of a hat, or seeing the land of a beautiful triple axle. the truth is, i've lived in my pity pool and it never got me anywhere. i MUST make it all about perspective, or else i will never get anywhere in life. im doing good. just the initial shock. sometimes ignorance is bliss. im still the same, i just have a better look at what im saying when i say 'its all about perspective'. i am on the left...
Little Creeper:
i also have one in my spinal canal...which is different than 'in the spine'. the canal actually is the protective cavity that your spinal cord flows through. eeeek. it is in my upper c-spine level (neck) causing mild stenosis. this one scares me! i mean, its touching my spinal cord itself! if this tumor starts to take over i would be paralyzed from the neck down.
Scranton Strangler: when i talk, sometimes people (strangers) ask if i'm sick. i don't blame them. at times it sounds like i have bronchitis... and i PROMISE i used to be able to sing on key. i may have even gave Jewel a singing lesson or two, but not anymore. i've got these tuuumah's on my vocal cords too...i said i was thorough didn't i? well, my left vocal cord went paralyzed around april of 2009. this is actually what led me to initiate going back to the doctors. which led to seeing specialists and the specialist then finding big bertha in my T spine. (which is a very important discovery)
my right vocal cord has a much bigger tumor on it but is surprisingly still working for me! oh yes, and these tumors on my vocal cords just totally mess up my swallowing and breathing. i will randomly choke and start coughing not being able to stop. at times it feels like someone is strangling me. a great way to describe this pain and choking sensation, is to compare it to what it feels like when you inhale a powder. it cinches up your throat ya know? *i am on the left...
Climbing Monkeys: to me, my spine looks like a ladder. and these tumors are the monkeys that never stop playing on the ladder. these little suckers are small but they are brats! they are in clusters and are plexiform tuuuuumah's. the radiologists say they are "virtually innumerable on every level of the spine" these ones are the ones that cause me a LOT of back pain. this is my lumbar and my sacrum...my whole spine looks like this...
*i am on the left...
*i am on the left...
Acrobats: these would be the tumors that flow down my sciatic nerves in my legs just as acrobats swing around and do tricks on ropes...my sciatic nerve is 1-1.5+ inches wide in some places. these bad boys are makin my darn legs and ankles get weaker and weaker, i trip very frequently and recently i even fell over because one of my legs just simply gave out.
*the white stuff on the other mri is her femur bones and hips joints. i am on the left....
