Janet's Blog

I don't often bring up my meningioma. It wasn't long after my initial diagnosis that I learned how the mere mention of it freaks people out, causing excessive worry and unnecessary concern. After all, my meningioma is a brain tumor the size of a marble--a slow-growing, benign tumor, but a brain tumor, just the same. After more than 30 years, I rarely even think about it because it has become a non-issue. Erin and Meagan were still in grade school when I began having frequent neurological symptoms that made my doctors think I might have Multiple Sclerosis. My primary care physician referred me to a neurologist, who subjected me to a series of tests, followed by my first MRI. The MRI showed no signs of MS, but it did reveal a meningioma sitting on (in?) my brain stem. According to my doctor, the tumor was causing no symptoms; its discovery was incidental due to the MRI. And, the doctor also told me that, if it were located anywhere else, I could simply have surgery to "pop i...

There I was, flat on my back, inside a tube, preparing for take off. 10, 9, 8, 7... It wasn't my first MRI, or even the second. I've had several over the years, just to monitor an anomaly in my brain that was discovered twenty-some years ago when my doctor was looking for something else. Nothing ever changes, but we have to check on it occasionally to make sure. So, there I was... According to  mayoclinic.org ,   "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a technique that uses a magnetic field and radio waves to create detailed images of the organs and tissues within your body. Most MRI machines are large, tube-shaped magnets. When you lie inside an MRI machine, the magnetic field temporarily realigns hydrogen atoms in your body." It works differently from a CT scan (cat scan), which  " combines a series of X-ray images taken from different angles, and uses computer processing to create cross-sectional images, or slices, of the bones, blood vessels and soft tissu...