From the Top

I'm sitting at my computer one day near the end of September. Just another day where I'm working and the people who have "normal" jobs are doing whatever those people do on weekends when they aren't working. I begin to smell something. Smells like smoke but very faint. Not like something is burning though, I don't jump p and see if there is a pot burning on the stove or anything. Fact is, I just go about my business and keep working.

After a while I still smell it. It seems to be stronger. I grab the front of my shirt and pull it up to my nose... [SNIFF SNIFF] Nope, not the shirt. I start sniffing around my computer. It does run hot sometimes (3 monitors will do that). Not the source of the smell though. Must be something outside. Back to it.

More time passes, Mike walks by the office door. "Hey Mike, com'mere a minute". "Whats' up" he asks. " You smell smoke" I inquired. [sniff sniff sniff] "I got nothin' " he says. Weird.

A bit later Lori walks by and I call her in too. She can't smell anything. I tell her it's like I was sitting around a campfire and the smoke smell got in my clothes (anyone who has gone camping knows just what I'm talking about). She didn't smell anything. OK... I'm officially loosing it.

So days go by. The smoke smell is constant. No big deal I tell myself. I've already gotten to the point where I don't even notice it anymore (much). Life moves on. WAY too much work to do to worry about some phantom smoke smell.

Yes, I worked WAY to much. So much in fact I literally worked until my mouse arm locked up at the elbow. Fortunately for me it locked up in "working position" since I had a deadline I was pushing to meet. I made the deadline (after one of those crazy 30+ hour long shifts) and my elbow is fried. That night I can't even sleep. The pain is so sharp I was literally sitting on the couch at 3 in the morning ion tears. Obviously next day I'm off to the doctor.

Hi Doc, been overdoin it again. I can't move my arm. OK, you need to go see blah blah... anything else? Lori leans over and half whispers "tell her about the smoke" "Oh yeah... I have the strange sensation of smelling smoke. All the time" Let's get an MRI she says. October 7th I head to a place with an extra large MRI machine to get my head examined. A couple of days later I head out of town for just over 2 weeks. Sure would have been nice to have received the results before we left but what'cha gonna do. I'll just check the phone messages. My doctor is very good about getting Lori and I our test results. She know by now we keep meticulous records and need copies of everything.

Guess I just missed the call when we left. !st thing Monday morning I call the doctor and get the news. "Dr. Peditto would like for you to get a spiral CT scan of the brain, there was something unidentified on the MRI report" "uh.... OK" "I can fax you your copy if you wish" "uh... sure... I'm actually out of town for another 2 weeks, can the CT scan wait till I get back?" "hold on, let me check" "[...]" "Dr. P says yes, it can wait" [I finally begin to breathe again] "OK, you're faxing me the report?" "yes"

[quick plug - trustfax's online fax service is great - cheaper than a phone line and access to it from anywhere]

I've read enough of these test reports to know you don't read all the blah blah at the top - you go right to the area of the report that says "Impression". Here's what I found:

1 Mild maxillary sinus disease. No acute sinusitis is noted [OK - so far so good]

2. Soft tissue involving the roof of the sphenoid sinus on the right side. It is contiguous with the pituitary gland and it is difficult to say whether this is sphenoid sinus disease which is felt to be more likely, or a pituitary mass which is felt to be less likely. This section of direct coronal CT images to evaluate the integrity of the floor of the sella may be of benefit

OK, whatever that means that would be why she wants me to have the CT scan. Guess we'll just have to wait to see. At least it's seems to be some kind of sinus disease (AKA infection). Being the sphenoid sinus it may take a while to get rid of (from what I read) but at least it can be treated. That will probably mean the smoke smell will be gone as well. All is good.

Flash forward 2 weeks plus.

I did my CT scan on Wednesday 10/29/08. Friday comes around. I really want to know the results before the weekend. I look the the time on the lower right had corner of my monitor - 2:00 - still got time I think to myself. Look again - it's after 3:00 and not looking good. Crap - 4:00 and still nothing. "Guess we won't hear before the weekend" I tell Lori. "Dr. Peditto wouldn't do that to us" Lori says. "It's Friday evening, after 4:00, Halloween and she has kids (not little ones but still) it will be Monday, I'm sure she's gone home."

I grumbled something under my breath about wishing I was 'going home for Halloween and the weekend' and went back to working. 45 minutes later the phone rang. "Hello Mr. Lyons... it's Dr. Peditto. You have a mass growing on your pituitary gland and need to see a neurosurgeon right away. Nancie will call you with an appointment time on Monday morning" I would have been better off if the phone call had waited till after the weekend.