Latest medical update. Sorry, I feel like I've been wrapped up in my existential quagmire too much and haven't mentioned much about the medical side of things. So a few weeks ago, I met Dr. Eric Wilkinson, an ENT from the House Ear Clinic. Turns out that I have tinnitus which wasn't very surprising. My tinnitus seems like a result of my craniotomy as things have shifted around somewhat on my right side. From what I've read and heard, it can be a common result of craniotomies. Luckily, the ringing I have isn't too bad and I don't find it too annoying most of the time. The person who I feel sorry for was one of my audiologist. He has tinnitus as well and described it as sizzling bacon! That would be absolute torture for me always having the thought of bacon on my mind even though I'm pretty much on a vegan diet now...lol

One surprising thing was that I had been pronouncing it 'tin-night-us' when it's really pronounces, 'tin-nee-tus.' Anyway, Dr. Wilkinson prescribed me a B-complex supplement with the main ingredient being bioflavonoid. It's an extract that can be had from lemon and orange peels. It's suppose to create better circulation in the inner ear blood vessels and therefore provide some tinnitus relief.

Regarding the dizziness and wooziness I had been feeling, Dr. Wilkinson sent me to the Tustin Hearing Center to get a test called videonystagmography (VNG), which tests for dizziness and whether it may be from an inner ear issue. I had this test done a couple of weeks ago and will be meeting Dr. Wilkinson again on April 3 to follow up on the results. According to the audiologist, there were some abnormalities when pertaining to my right ear. The the VNG test consisted of having me wear these specially made goggles that tracked my eye moments. The first parts of the test included following a red dot as it moved along a LED strip attached to the wall. First vertically, and then horizontally. For those of you who are Battlestar Galactica fans, it was like having a staring contest with a Cylon. The second parts of the test consisted of having a tube inserted into my left and right ear one at a time and then having cold and warm water fill the tube. The warm and cold water runs are suppose to elicit certain eye moments responses. For example, having the tube in the right ear with the cold water run, it tricks the mind into thinking that the head is turning/spinning right. Because of this, the natural response from the eyes should be to flicker to the left to find the center. It's similar to when you see figure skaters always turn their heads to the center when they are in a spin rotation. The warm water run will trick the mind into thinking the head is turning/spinning to the left and therefore elicit a natural response for the eyes to flicker to the right. The abnormality I had was with the warm water test in my right ear. My eyes initially flickered normally, i.e., to the right, but then at some point, they started to flicker to the left. Because of this response, there might be something out of whack (sorry for the non-scientific term) with my equilibrium. Anyway, I should find out more when I see my ENT again.

If it is an inner ear issue, not sure if it will be a good or bad thing moving forward. Maybe a positive will be that I can lower my Keppra dosage back down to a more manageable dosage. The current 3,500 mg per day regimen I am on has been kind of tough to handle. The 3,000 mg per day regimen was okay, but the extra 500 mg have been noticeable. A fellow brain tumor survivor mentioned that after her craniotomy, she developed vertigo, but with some relatively simple head exercises conducted by her ENT, it went away. I am hoping it will be the case here as well.

So after my initial meeting with the ENT and the VNG testing, I still had lingering issues with dizziness and feeling off-centered. However, up until yesterday, the past several days had been relatively good. Aside from the ringing and occasional feeling of just feeling "out of it" from time to time, things had been pretty quiet and I had had really no bouts of dizziness or wooziness. It had me thinking that maybe the dizziness and latest issues were just a result of the radiation treatment flaring things up in my head. But yesterday, I woke up and had a semi-bad case of vertigo and nausea which I haven't had for quite some time. It got somewhat better by mid-morning and I decided to go to work, but then it came back in the afternoon and I ended up going home. I had to drive really slow, and make some stops along the way, but luckily traffic was light and I was able to make it home safely. Thought today things would be better, but I the nausea lasted through last night to this morning along with just a lingering feeling of dizziness even though I tried keeping my head propped up. Because I didn't feel any better, I stayed home again. At the moment, things have improved since the morning and I'm hoping it will continue to do so and I'll be able to make it to work tomorrow.

Lastly, my Continuity of Care Services coverage period with Dr. Lai was extended to June 30! Therefore, my original meeting with Dr. Lai scheduled for this past Monday was rescheduled to April 30 to correspond with my 3-month MRI cycle. Everyone is hoping that Blue Shield and the UC Health System will be able to come to an agreement by June 30 and I can continue to see Dr. Lai and receive care up at UCLA.