Unfortunately Roy suffered another vertigo attack, so we spent the day at the Mediclub Hospital while the doctors conducted several tests. Not the steak dinner we had planned, but at least we were together......
On our wedding announcement thirty-nine years ago we quoted this scripture in Ruth:
.... Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
Always and Forever My Love.
April 24th
Today Roy had an MRI at a nearby hospital. Before we left to return to the MediClub hospital, the technician told us everything was clear.
That evening, the very nice neurologist came to our room and said, "I have something to tell you". It's one of those moments in life that time stands still. She said the radiologist had re-examined Roy's MRI and found a small benign tumor in his left inner ear called a Vestibular Schwannoma, or sometimes called an acoustic neuroma. I had two immediate simultaneous thoughts:
- she said BENIGN tumor (because the word tumor is a little scary)
- and we're going home.
It was a relief to finally know what causing the vertigo, unsteadiness and hearing loss.
The Dr. then explained that we would need to return to the United States to have this treated as Georgia did not have a Gamma Knife radiation machine, which is the common treatment for this type of tumor. No offense to Georgian medicine but Yes, we want to have this treated with the best U.S. medicine can offer, especially since we are dealing with Roy's head.
Roy spent one more day in the hospital so they could perform an EKG test - apparently along with his normally slow heart rate, his heart also beats a little irregularly at times (they didn't find anything important).
I bought him a walking stick and it took us forever to get discharged but we were happy to finally arrive home. Roy is bound and determined to still go on the planned birding trip tomorrow.
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