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David’s Story

Site created on October 26, 2017

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In early May, 2016, David began experiencing what we termed as “spells.” These included phantom smells, perhaps chills or heat flush, sometimes a weird emotional heaviness, etc. They only last about 30 seconds. They came infrequently—maybe one every couple of weeks. When he saw our GP about them, they were classified as atypical migraines. They were not disruptive to him, simply annoying.
Fast forward to more recently and now these have been occurring sometimes 6-12 times a day, including while he is sleeping. Other than these, David feels completely well. We pursued getting an MRI and had that done Friday, Oct. 20th. Our doctor called David on Monday evening, October 23, to let us know that the MRI revealed a brain tumor. He had no other details to share since he is not a neurologist. We did not know size, location, or anything. We got in to see a neurosurgeon Wednesday, Oct. 25th.

Here are the good things we learned from the neurosurgeon:

- He does have a brain. ;-)
- The tumor is most likely a low-grade glioma, which means it most likely is of brain tissue, not from cancer someplace else in the body.
- It seems to be slow growing since the symptoms have not dramatically changed over the time. They call it a quiet tumor.
- All the other areas of David’s brain look very healthy and normal, and he has no other neurological symptoms at all.
The rest of the news:The tumor is pretty big—about 2” long. It is on the right temporal and frontal lobes, deep down. It is sitting over the hypothalmus and pituitary gland, in the region near what is called the corpus callosum. It is pushing on those regions, but it is not in them at this point. That pressure is what causes the symptoms David has experienced. Those symptoms are categorized as paritial minseizures and the doctor has placed David on anti-seizure meds. At this point, he is not supposed to drive because of the partial miniseizures. Treatment is doing surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible. The doctor described the tumor as like a hand. They will try to remove as much as possible of the “palm” and treat the “fingers” with chemo and radiation. They cannot remove all of it where the “fingers” are because there is too much healthy brain tissue all around them. They say there is significant risk because of where the tumor is located. He recommended getting a second opinion to be wise.. .

Newest Update

Journal entry by Jaimie Krycho — Oct 29, 2021

On Wednesday evening, some of my martial arts classmates and coach gathered to talk about cancer stories from our own lives (my coach is a stage 3 breast cancer survivor).

I shared about Papa... learning what we most feared only a few days after settling in to live with him and Mom for the 2-3 months while our house was completed. The weight of unsureness, to understate the emotion all those who love him shared. What Christmas felt like. A question mark instead of a joyous gathering.

And I told them he now had a metal plate where they had removed a part of his brain...and YEARS later he's still going strong.

It was really the first time I closely examined the work God has done in and through this road for Mom and Papa and all those who are in the family ("officially" or not :-)). While I imagine many loved ones (myself included) remember that time as a indistinct - blurry frames of a movie we know we watched but can't recall - it was NOT a blur to God.

Turns out his vision is perfect. And the years that feel "lost" to us remain integral to his sovereign purpose, for he doesn't waste, and none of that time, those tears, the angry or pleading or exhausted or terrified prayers, were "wasted."

Papa, I love you with an affection to which words don't do justice. Mom, you are truly my beloved super-woman and example of "running the race for the upward call of Christ Jesus," even when you want to collapse and quit. So, a bit late to the posting game... praise God that I can say this in October 2021.

Soli Deo gloria!

- Jaimie

Read More of the journal titled "Daughter-in-Heart perspective, October 29, 2021"

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