Images of my Optic Nerve Sheath Meningioma after orbital decompression surgery

I’ve always wanted to write about the radiology department at St. Vincent Medical Center. A man pass his middle age named Victor Waluch almost always did my MRIs. His crop is as white as he labcoat goes, and he’s thin. Despite his seniority, Mr. Waluch is slick, he would help you get into position and with one swoop of the arm lifts your knees and props them up with a pillow, so that your spine is relaxed throughout the imaging process. When MRI is done and no one has come to get you, he’d help you off the machine, put you on the wheelchair and take you somewhere so you’d be taken cared of.

The radiologists here like Mr. Waluch do everything themselves. They receive and brief patients, support patients on the arm or on wheelchairs, transfer you to the MRI machine, cover you with heated blankets, inject contrast, and then lead you back out all by themselves very quickly but gently and efficiently. I can’t help feeling at home while getting an MRI at St. Vincent Medical Center.

Dr. Lekovic sent over my post-operative MRIs in a CD so that I may seek second opinion with it. I sent a copy out to another Radiation Oncologist who is an expert in the Gamma Knife and radiosurgery in general today. While I was at it, I thought I might as well show you some.

Look just how clear they are! Here at House Clinic and St. Vincent, my surgeons want to see good MRIs before operating on patients. So each time I had surgery at St. Vincent, the price package includes the cost of one MRI before surgery and another after surgery. Back in November of 2008, Dr. Lekovic thought the pre-operative MRI I did at St. Vincent still wasn’t clear enough and sent me for another. That’s how meticulous doctors here are.

Anyway, these orbital MRIs with contrast and fat suppression were taken on November 24th, 2008. My surgery was performed on November 19th. It was an optic nerve decompression surgery.

MRIs are like mirror image, so my right eye is on the left of these scans. They removed the bone of my forehead and cheek in order to have a deeper reach, and then placed them all back. Maybe this caused the swelling. It’s been seven weeks after surgery, but there’s still about 1/3 swelling yet to subside. It still hurts to touch. At least, side effects on vision is no longer so bad.

In the first image above, the tumor is evidently situated laterally and away from the eyeball. The nerve appeared thickened. I am not sure if this was caused by the tumor or the side effect of surgery. Maybe Doctor will answer that someday.

In this second view, we can see a strip of black sandwiched by strips of white color. Since this scan was taken from the top of my head, I suppose it shows the tumor being underneath the nerve. The black strip is the nerve, while the white strips are the sides of my tumor. Because if the tumor was above, or if it encases the nerve, we’d not be able to see the nerve at all.

Let’s have a clearer picture of the tumor situated below the optic nerve. Above are side views of both my eyes. The left optic nerve is clear and unobstructed, while a mass is attached to below the right optic nerve. When we did this MRI, the staples that kept my surgical incision shut had not been removed, and they are visible here too.

So this is what we are dealing with. I am raising funds to stop this tumor from growing any larger. Some people who read the news article have donated through my trust account. We need to find a way for me to stay updated with the account balance real-time as soon as possible and keep everyone posted. Sadly though, there aren’t many readers of The Star Newspaper donating. Hopefully, things will catch up soon.

If you want to make a contribution to my surgery for killing this tumor, read this page for info on how you may donate.