Question Regarding Diagnosis...

Hello All...

I just came across this board and have been reading a lot of your posts. First I want to say "Thank You" to everyone who's been willing to share your stories and experiences.

This past Friday, Dec. 6th, my mom finally went to the Emergency Room after having dizzy spells and headaches several times previously in the week. However that Friday, she had 3 before it was even 11am. As I was talking to her, trying to convince her to go to the ER, we were talking about the symptoms she'd been feeling lately. Her activity level has been low for awhile, but even for her, lately, it was extremely low. She seemed to have enough energy to go to work, come home, and she'd be asleep by 8pm. She also mentioned being cold all of the time. As strange as it may sound, that is one of the things that really caught my attention. For so long, she's always been the one in the house who says it's too hot, while everyone else is running around in layers of sweats, freezing.

Once at the hospital, they ran the usual battery of blood tests, xrays, and finally performed a CT scan once everything else came back within normal ranges. At the time, she simply kept relaying to me that they had found swelling on her brain. That's what I was continually told until, while visiting her, her neurosurgeon walked in for his daily rounds. By then, they'd had her in ICU for several days, ran more tests, plus completed a full body CT as well as an MRI. Well, while the doctor was in the room discussing the next action, he was explaining that the next thing they were wanting to do was a brain biopsy of "one of the lesions". (While I'm not a doctor, I'm very familiar with anatomy, medical terminology, etc. as I'm working on my BoS in Health Science.) Once those four little words were out of the doctor's mouth, I pounced. Asking him specifically what it was he saw on the scans. He explained there are approximately 6 lesions on the left side of her brain. The largest appears to be about an inch long.

I don't think that either of my parents had a full understanding of what the word "lesion" was. Nor that there was a great deal of difference between "swelling" and "lesion".

So currently, they're in a holding pattern while they wait for the blood thinners (Coumadin) to go into a safe range for them to perform the biopsy. To add to that, my mom's 60 years old (she actually had her birthday in the hospital), she's morbidly obese, smokes like a chimney, has some lung scarring & hardening of the lower lobes from asbestos exposure, as well as moderate edema of her legs that has been going on for years.

With all of that having been said, the doctors so far don't seem to have a clue. They have a half dozen specialists seeing her, all of which seem to have their own opinion as to what may be causing this, none of which they're willing to share with anyone. It seems as though they're going to wait until they at least perform the biopsy before giving opinions. Which I can understand, frustrating as that is.

While we've been in this waiting game, I of course, have been researching different possibilities, symptoms, etc. The one thing that seems to keep coming back to the forefront is MS. Especially with the being unusually cold, her having chronic sinus issues, and then the lesions. Also, since being admitted into the hospital, it seems as though her short-term memory is being effected. Not greatly, but enough that my father and I have noticed it. I keep asking both my mom and dad to let the doctors know, but they won't. They keep passing it off as no big deal, not worth mentioning, or whatever excuse fits the moment.

So I'm sitting here worrying and wondering at all the possibilities it could be. That led me to begin thinking about if it is MS, how long does it usually take to diagnose it? One of my biggest fears (as I myself and my mom have dealt with on numerous occasions in the past) is them saying "we don't know... you aren't dead... you seem to be ok.... go home"! Again, it's not a fear from ignorance, as I myself have been discharged from several hospital stays and even a CCU stay with that same speech.

I'd love to hear from some of you what your experience was like in getting diagnosed from the first onset of symptoms being addressed with a physician.

Thanks to all who are willing to share.

Liz