Brain Skips

[Crystal]

Hello,

I am 18 months post CK with a 13mm Acoustic Tumor, I was treated at Stanford. I have mild balance issues.  Mild Hearing loss and tinitus still comes and goes in my ear.  My Memory sometimes gets stuck. 

I feel pretty good most of the time, I excersize. I'm pretty healthy, work full time.  I am in late 40's.

I've had this wierd sensation this last couple of months - I notice it mostly when I am driving.  I thought it was my imagination at first but It happens a couple times a week, and happened quite a bit when driving back from a 5 hour trip a couple of weekends ago w/my 13 year old daughter.

Every so often when I am driving, I feel like I lost like a 10th of a second.  It is almost like a sliding sensation, kind of like in star-trek when they go into warp speed and you see the ship sort of take off with an image of it still in place.

It's quite alarming and weird --  Almost like blinking without blinking and you've moved forward a few yards. 

Anybody else notice these brain skips...?   

God Bless,

Crystal

[lynndlk]

I call them brain breaks, I'll be setting looking stright ahead at nothing and my husband & friends look at me and ask "where have you been" I thought it was only me spacing out. I haven't talked to my doctor yet but plan to.
LynnDee

[jamie]

LynnDee,

You had surgery, correct? And Crystal had CK, if it's the same issue, it must not be treatment related. I'm a few months post CK and I've never experienced any lapse like that. Strange stuff.

[Battyp]

I have worked with students that did that and they were actually having mild siezures.  They just sorta spaced out.

M

[Crystal]

It hasn't bugged me enough to tell my doctor yet.  I'm thinking when my next MRI is due I'll let him know so they can look for "something".  I don't want to have another MRI until my next post CK checkup(next April I think as that will be 2 years) unless it gets alot worse .

I wonder sometimes which brain cells might not have made it thru the treatment and if they cause something weird later. 

I feel great alot of the time and then something wierd like this pops up. I'm choosing not to worry unless it gets alot worse.  The last few days I have had crackling in my ear instead of the "white noise".  :o  I think this is a good thing because I can actually hear a little better now.  It's weird how symptoms come and goes even this far after treatment.  What does that mean? 

I feel blessed to have had such a smooth ride during all of this treatment and I hate to complain.  I don't mind this stuff if it is all harmless and goes away!

Kathy Goertzen is a news cast personality in the NorthWest where I live.  She has the same kind of tumor and was treated with both surgery AND gamma a few years ago.  She just had conventional brain surgery in September again as her tumor CAME BACK.   The articles did not say if she did gamma again along with the conventional surgery this time around.

Her doctor was my doctor very briefly(there is only one up here that does this type of brain surgery) until we found the Cyber Knife treatment, got a second opinion, battled the insurance, and went to Stanford. 

Has anybody talked to an actual person that has had the growth continue after CyberKnife?  My doctor at stanford was both a a neruosurgeon and a radiiologist.  They have gamma and Cyberknife at stanford.  He said they never use Gamma anymore because it is old technology although they would if someone specifically said they abosolutely prefered that option.  He said if I were his family member he would have me treated with Cyberknife so that was good enough for us.

It is so interesting the different symptoms people experiance and opinions of the doctors out there.

[sirialison]

The last few days I have had crackling in my ear instead of the "white noise".

i have a "Crinkling" sound inmy head on occassion - sounds sort of like rumpling up cellophane! it happens when i seem to have a lot of extra congestion (fluid?). and i can actually hear/feel it move from side to side. don't take it the wrong way, but i am GLAD that someone else has that sound, too - i am weary of being told it's just me or "well, that could be"

[Boppie]

This is very familiar to me.  In the distant past I've had "cellophane crackling"  sounds in my ear during an infection near the tympanic membrane.  I've also experienced the swooshing, like water moving.  I would have related it to cilia (hairs) waving around. What did I know?

But knowing what I know now, I should have not made assumptions. If I ever have another person in my family with ear problems, I will encourage them to be a real nuisance in the doctor's office. 

[Ned]

I have similar feelings,  but what really bothers me is my memory. I am 56 and I can't remember names , maybe it is just the aging process but it is discouraging. 

[Mary]

Crystal,
I've read a study on this driving thing you mentioned.   Woman have the capability to do two this at once with their minds.   Often I find myself driving and wonder how I got this far.   The roads I travel often and know very well.   I'll say to myself " When did I pass ( such and such)".  Women can think very deeply about something and stay on the road with out going off.   I don't remember what part of the brain this uses but in a mans brain they are missing it.   Sorry I'm not very good at retaining all the info I read.

Mary

[Crystal]

You very well could be right on that multi-tasking thing.  I have been doing it alot lately where stuff happens automatically at home and I mis-place things.  I never related it to my driving but I have been so pre-occupied with work and other stuff.


When I really really concentrate hard on what I am doing it doesn't seem to happen. thanks for your note!