Journal Newest - Oldest (
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jerryc/journal (
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jerryc/journal/index/0/0/asc))
Jerry was always a big kid. Long and large at birth in 2002 and he had the infamous large Connolly cranium. Dad needs about a size 9 hat, so a large head was nothing to be worried about. Jerry always outpaced his peers in growth, sometimes double the size of some classmates. We joke that he's a ten year old trapped in a fifteen year old's body.
Fast forward to 2011, and at our wits end with increasingly obstinate and oppositional behavior, we relented and put him on some medication to make him easier to manage. We noticed around the same time that he was starting puberty, and we noticed that he had a tremor in his hands when he tried to grab anything, or apply fine motor control to any task. We made two incorrect assumptions at this time. We assumed that the medication was causing his hands to shake, and we also assumed that both his hands were shaking. We were only recently to discover that just his right hand has a pronounced shake. We were fooled because we would most notice the tremor when he was playing with toys, and it would look to us like both hands were shaking.
Convinced that medication was causing the hand tremors, we watched his symptoms progress very slightly over time to a point where we were somewhat concerned, but ultimately it was his growth that caused us to consult an Endocrinologist in late summer of 2012.
Dr Harvey Chiu, the best Endocrinologist EVER, is affiliated with Seattle Children's Hospital and his professionalism, thoroughness and personable demeanor led us down a path we never imagined we would find ourselves on. Though assuming this would be another waste of time and money resulting in a dead end in the search for answers, Dr Chiu's obvious dedication and thoroughness led us to proceed with a MRI of Jerry's pituitary gland.
Friday, October 19, 2012. Dad took Jerry to Children's hospital for the MRI.
The scan was supposed to be without a contrast IV, and started as such. After a while, they came and added a contrast IV, not really explaining why. Then, they re-positioned several times and continued scanning for what seemed like a long time, down his spine at one point, again not explaining why. Dad sat in a chair in the MRI room and watched as the number of people in the control room grew from one to four, all staring at screens. One was on the phone. A surgeon showed up at one point. What started as an uneasy feeling for Dad grew to utter dread as he exited the MRI room and found a stranger there to greet them, asking to speak to dad once Jerry got dressed. She took dad to a conference room and pulled up some of the scans. She said words like "lesion", "mass", "large". A resident neurosurgeon came in, and said "inoperable", "risky to biopsy".
Both said lots of words Dad did not hear.
.... continued under " (
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jerryc/journal/1/createdAt/asc)Journal" (
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jerryc/journal/1/createdAt/asc)
