Introducing Herm the Worm

This is me.
Well, me and a visitor.  A creepy dude that doesn't belong, taking up some prime real estate inside my spinal cord. Squishing all the nerves that are entitled to a peaceful and roomy existence. That big blob (circled in red), isn't supposed to be there. (Apologies for the quality ... I'm new to blogging and getting an image from the MRI software to a jpeg was a challenge).

He's known to the medical community as an intramedullary ependymoma in my thoracic spine (more precisely ... inside the spinal cord in the thoracic region). To me he's Herm the Worm. A guy that took up residence 7-10 years ago, got all comfy cozy and started to grow.


I suppose the good news is that I'm not a hypochondriac ... the 7 years of mysterious symptoms, mostly attributed to my compulsive running habit. Years of foot tingles, shin tingles, burning sensations in my thigh. Two years of searing back pain at 3am which mysteriously disappears as I walk around ... all explained by Herm.  I was a bit of a medical mystery during those years, and I remain so today. Given the size of the tumour at its widest, my neurosurgeon isn't sure why I'm still able to walk.


Well, Herm's gotta go. Left to his own devices, he'd paralyse me within the next couple of years.  Unfortunately he won't go quietly ... he's more like the tenant from hell that you wish had never moved in.  Big, bad, ugly surgery is the only way to evict him from his cozy home.


So, to all my friends and family (and complete strangers) who wanted to share in the journey, I've caved to the pressure and joined the blogging world.


Let the fun times begin.