Thursday, January 15, 2004

Oops

My neurologist was none to please with the lab which performed the tests whose results I have already written about. "Unbeliebably," my neuroologist wrote in a letter to my GP, the lab "failed to honor my clear typed request for a cell count! Despite the freezing and saving extra CSF this can no longer be done. It is unclear whether they ignored my request for bacterial and fungal cultures."

They have been reminded to do the fungal and bacterial cultures. And they are doing viral but that takes many days, in excess of a couple of weeks I think.

In his letter, my doc goes on to say he sees "visible atrophy" on the left side, and upon reconsideration, I have to agree with him.

If I take a deep breath, the right side of my head throbs in a little mini-headache.

The cell counts in the CSF (which the lab failed to perform) is to detect any white blood cells (there should be zero), the presence of which may indicate an infection. Low glucose in the CSF also may indicate an infection. So here we have one clear reading (low glucose) that indicates an infection, and they failed to do the other test which might shed light on that. True, the neurologist says that I most likely do not have a bacterial infection, because that would leave me in a bad way very fast. However, this is a thread, a bit of evidence, and it needs to be followed. After I am tested by the ALS experts, if they reject the diagnosis (which would be good), then, in order to get the cell counts, we may have to do another spinal tap (which would suck).

For the curious, no, I don't want to sue anyone. I need to find a place to lift weights. I am having trouble getting things out of my left pocket.
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