This is a picture that I took while at my ENT Surgeon’s examination room.  Interesting?  Probably not.  At least you can see where the sphenoid/sephnoid is that was clogged with gunk.  Ok…now I know that the picture is not interesting to you anymore…LOL!

Well, today I am feeling stir crazy.  I have not been able physically to go to work.  It’s all that I can do to take care of myself and my two dogs.  I do appreciate my friends who drop in and help me out daily.  I spoke yesterday with my parents and they are totally supportive as they are praying for me and asking me if there is anything that they can do.  Their love makes me feel so much better.  It’s amazing that, here I am at 45 years old and I’m still close to my parents enough to feel their love giving me strength.  They are soon to celebrate 50 years of marriage!

My nose is draining.  It will for several weeks from what I understand from my surgeon.  The last time that I noticed it bleeding was yesterday morning.  So…I hope…the bleeding has stopped!  The splints will come out Monday afternoon when I go visit with my surgeon and perhaps that will help me to feel better and to have more healing to take place.  It feels as if there are toothpicks up my nose.  Okay…I guess I should have warned you that a gross comparison was about to come your way.

If you would like to leave a voice mail message wishing me well, I would appreciate it.  Just call my listener line at: 615-358-8255 (TALK) and that will make me feel even better.  I may even play them on my next podcast episode unless you state for me not to do so.  It would be good to hear other voices than those from the tv or radio.

Thank you for all of your supportive comments on Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail!  It’s amazing how folks like you have been there for me.   Many of you I have never met face to face.  Be glad that you do not see me right now.  I’d scare away Frankenstein’s Monster!  Honest.

That’s really all of the news that I have for you as of right now.  I appreciate your love and support!  Have a tremendous day!

Your Nashville Friend,

Thom

I had a consultation with my surgeon yesterday.  He told me that the CT Scan that I had last Friday showed that the “mass” seems to be simply an infection…not a tumor, not tissue, not a problem.  He will be operating on me to remove it and to straighten out my septum so that I can breathe better.  All in all it will take me about six weeks or so to fully recover but worth it.  Thank you for your support.  I’ll try and put out another episode of my podcast this weekend.

Your Nashville Friend,

Thom

Well…here it is!  It’s my MRI.  Just thought that you would like to see that I actually DO have a brain.

Okay, so you would like to have a recap of my day.  First I went to my neurosurgeon.  After he looked at the MRI and had a discussion with me he came to the conclusion that the “mass” had not attached itself to my brain (thank GOD!) and that it really needed to be referred to an Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeon.  So, after calling around they found one…a very good one…who was seeing folks today.

I went to the ENT surgeon and he had an intern to do the intake on me and to do the strength/resistance testing on me.  I then had them to look up my nose (I know…how glamorous) with a scope.  Good thing that they numbed my nose because it would have been quite painful.  They told me that my septum was crooked as well and can be fixed at the same time that they remove my “mass”.

If you look at the MRI, you can see in the middle two black looking “i” shaped formations.  The one on the left is longer than the one on the right.  It’s because at the bottom of the one on the right os the gray looking mass that have them concerned.  All in all, it looks to be the size of a marble, though it is not in  a nice round shape.

The ENT surgeon wanted to have me take a CT Scan so that he could have a better image to go by in preparation for surgery.  Surgery is what I chose over a nasal spray medication that he said could possible shrink it a bit.  I told him that I wanted it out just in case it was cancer/malignant.  He agreed that was a good choice and I went and took a CT Scan.  I’ll see him on Tuesday to get his analysis of the scan and discuss surgery that will take place the first week of March.  It should be an outpatient procedure.  After the removal, they will do the biopsy on it to see if it is benign or malignant.  I’m not going to worry about that portion at this moment.

Thank you for all of your support, prayers, love, concern, and advice.  I appreciate you.  Please feel free to leave me voice mail at 615-358-8255 or leave a comment here.  You can also leave me an e-mail at: Thom@ThomTakesOnTheWorld.com.

Your Nashville Friend,

Thom