In 1987, I had really bad headaches. I went to a local emergency
room. They did a CAT scan and told me I had a sinus infection and
put me on antibiotics. They also said, "Oh by the way, you
have an AVM (arteriovenous malformation)." I was told that
when I was a fetus, blood vessels were forming a mile a minute.
As I grew older, they got tangled up a bit and grew into a mass.
Initially I blew the diagnosis off. But then, I though about my
kids. I was young, healthy, and a lot stronger than a lot of AVM
patients. Fortunately, my AVM had never bled. It may have never
bled. But, I thought of my kids. I figured that the older I got,
the greater the chances of bleeding which might have led to paralysis
or death. So, I thought, maybe I should have this looked at.
I did my research. I talked to two neurosurgeons and two neurologists.
One neurosurgeon said, "Rich, I can cut it out for you."
I said, "I don’t think so!"
My neurologist suggested that I check out the Gamma Knife Center.
Of my options, the Gamma Knife seemed the best because it was a
more pinpoint treatment - with low radiation to surrounding tissue
and high radiation to the AVM. Northwest Hospital was also closer
to home and I felt comfortable there.
After the Gamma Knife surgery, it took three years to be completely
cleared. It’s been six years since my treatment and the
AVM is totally gone. I’m a success story. I was lucky.
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I think I inherited the tremor. My father had difficulties with
a right-hand tremor. I noticed my tremor for the first time in
the 1980s.
My wife has arthritis. So I have done all the cooking. One day
I was cooking something and tried to taste it. My hand was shaking
so badly that I couldn’t hold the spoon steady and I burned
my chest and belly! It got to a point where I couldn’t really
write my name.
My hand presented a serious problem. I went to a neurologist.
He thought I’d be a good candidate for the Gamma Knife.
I trusted him. I had the Gamma Knife treatment.
I’ve had fantastic results. I’m just amazed. It took
me two to four months before the tremors went away completely.
One day I just started writing something and it was better than
normal - really steady. And, cooking was no longer a problem.
I can’t believe it. It worked beyond my wildest dream!
The whole thing seems like science fiction! It’s been fantastic.
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