spring, when did you get here?!

   

It has been two months since my last scans and instead of not changing at all since January, it seems the status has reverted to that of the autumnal months - my chest CT was perfect but the same pesky spot is once again showing up on the brain MRI.  It was nice not worrying about it for the past two months but I'm not really too worried now.  Once again I am basing my reaction 100% upon that of my doctors and their opinion is wait and watch. I will have another MRI in a month and we will see whether the spot has grown.  Because I already went through the emotions of having the spot there in the first place, today I am feeling much better about the situation.  It comes as much less of a shock.  If it had been located in a different spot, or had been three times its previous size, then I'd be in a different place mentally.  But for now, things are alright.

In the past couple of months I've had plenty on my plate as I struggled a bit more with vertigo.  What starts as a terrifying experience attempting to navigate the world while it appears to spin out of control all around me, eventually subsides into feeling like I am stumbling around the deck of a ship in a storm.  I have confirmation from my ENT doc this is the most common form of vertigo (BPPV) and it is tough to say whether I'll continue having episodes or not.  Treatment involves repositioning my head through a series of rapid movements.  I've also started taking a vitamin D supplement - the root of the problem are calcium crystals being knocked out of one portion of my inner ear and into another.  The hope is the vitamin D will help my body absorb the calcium instead.

In case that wasn't fun enough, a couple weeks ago I was diagnosed with radiation retinopathy, which basically means part of my retinas are being starved of oxygen and eventually present as dark splotches in my vision.  Again, we are taking a wait and watch approach, as the current damage level is not even high enough to warrant treatment.  I'll be seeing the newest member of my always-expanding team every three months.

Somewhere in that time I managed to get out of town for one weekend, and pretty much laid low the rest of the time, trying to rest and recuperate.  I've gotten in some really great cross-country ski days and spend at least a couple hours out of the week grinding away on the bike trainer, listening to music and wishing the potholes would all be filled. 

I hope you've had a good end to winter and that spring has greeted you well.  Everyone around here was complaining about the snow on the last day of winter, but here in West Chester it stopped snowing just as spring officially arrived at 6:45 last Friday evening and I couldn't have been happier to have it here.  Nothing like greeting spring on skis.