I've seen some banter on here recently about
MRI's and thought I'd ask a few general questions.
Yesterday, my boyfriend learned that his mother quite possibly has numerous metastatic brain tumors. She experienced pain in her arm and lost her vision, so she went to the ER. They did an xray of her brain and it revealed several abnormalities which the doctor said were tumors. He was the one who said that they were most likely metastatic tumors - tumors that do no originate in the brain, but rather, form from cancer cells spreading from another part of the body. My boyfriend's mom is a lifelong chain smoker, so the likelihood of her developing lung cancer or some other form of cancer from smoking is very real.
Anyway, I guess I am alarmed because I don't know much about tumors. I did some research online and found some great sources of information, but it all leads back to modern medicine doesn't really know what causes most tumors. It made me wonder if these tumors are not caused by cancer, whether they can be genetic? I only ask because her mother had severe mental illness that I believe got pronounced around the same age. I don't think she went to a doctore for her condition because of the stigma...so wondering whether she could have had some sort of tumor issue, too.
My boyfriend is super sensitive about discussin the subject right now, so the last thing I want to probe is whehter he should get his head examined at some point to look for abnormalities, too. Just as a prophylactic measure.
Am I worrying too much about this? I mean, how do you know if you need to get an MRI if you aren't having any problems?
It's so tragic :(