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Original poster

Can anyone medically minded help me understand this please?

12 replies

bounce89 · 22/04/2022 21:16

My son has been having headaches for a year now and the hospital sent him for an MRI at the end of last year, I have received this letter today. They called me a few days after the MRI telling me it was going to panel at our local hospital and then it was sent to a different hospital to go to panel.
Because what they’ve found isn’t related to his headaches they don’t seem to be explaining anything to me.
they have asked for him to go for another MRI 6 months after the original.

can any one please help me understand?

Can anyone medically minded help me understand this please?
OP posts:
underneaththeash · 22/04/2022 21:25

What did they find OP? Until you know you won’t get any answers.

Original poster
bounce89 · 22/04/2022 21:28

@underneaththeash
i have posted the letter with their findings underneath the OP. Can you see it?

OP posts:
Mytoddlerisamazing · 22/04/2022 21:28

No idea I'm afraid but it's really shit that they've sent you that with no explanation/conversation. It may well all be completely innocuous but how are you to know?

Can you get on to the consultant? Call their secretary maybe?

WhatNowwwww · 22/04/2022 21:30

I’m sorry I can’t explain the terminology OP but I think you should make a phone appointment to ask the GP to explain it to you. I think it’s wrong to send that to a parent without any explanation, I imagine 99% of parents wouldn’t know what it meant.

Original poster
bounce89 · 22/04/2022 21:35

@Mytoddlerisamazing
I have spoken to the neuro consultant on the phone and face to face but he just fobs me off and won’t discuss it, I’m unsure if it’s because they want to see what comes up on the next scan so that they can compare and see if there are any changes.
Its just so frustrating not knowing.

OP posts:
justchecking1 · 22/04/2022 21:48

They've discovered a very small mass in his brain. They're not entirely sure what it is, and have discussed it at their cancer meeting, where they felt it was probably nothing important but feel that he should have another scan in 6 months just to see what it's doing. They don't think it's anything to do with the headaches.

There's also some swelling in the sinuses (holes in the face bones) around his eye area (where he's been experiencing headaches). This could possibly be related to the headaches (it doesn't say that, but it could be).

Original poster
bounce89 · 22/04/2022 21:59

@justchecking1 they gave him antibiotics to see if that would help with the swelling in his sinuses and checked at his last appointment that there was no discomfort in that area.
is everything that they have mentioned connected or separate issues?

OP posts:
Ozzy67 · 22/04/2022 22:09

That’s terrible that you have just been sent the report without an explanation. What did the consultant say? It’s not acceptable to fob you off. It’s quite common with MRI/CT scans etc to report incidental findings that are often not significant but have to be followed up. The fact they’re waiting 6 months hopefully means that they aren’t concerned it’s anything serious. I understand why this would be really stressful however.

justchecking1 · 23/04/2022 07:22

@bounce89 I would think they're separate issues

MargaretThursday · 23/04/2022 22:52

justchecking1 · 22/04/2022 21:48

They've discovered a very small mass in his brain. They're not entirely sure what it is, and have discussed it at their cancer meeting, where they felt it was probably nothing important but feel that he should have another scan in 6 months just to see what it's doing. They don't think it's anything to do with the headaches.

There's also some swelling in the sinuses (holes in the face bones) around his eye area (where he's been experiencing headaches). This could possibly be related to the headaches (it doesn't say that, but it could be).

In case this has made you feel a bit worried:
Dh did MRI research on brains and it has been found (with MRIs) that actually there can be big masses in brains (size of an orange is what he used to quote) which have absolutely no effect at all on a person. In fact they'd never have known if they hadn't gone for an MRI for a totally unrelated (or research) issue. Often the best thing to do is monitor it in case it suddenly starts to grow or press on an important area of brain, but they may never give any issues at all.

I would say that the most likely is sinuses from the report. Has he been checked for allergies? Ds had a bad headache for a long time after an illness and had all the tests including MRI and the conclusion was that it was allergies.

Original poster
bounce89 · 23/04/2022 23:04

@MargaretThursday
thank you, that’s reassuring.
He was given antibiotics to clear the sinuses and that didn’t stop the headaches. They have diagnosed the headaches as migraines so he’ll now get support with that.

OP posts:
lljkk · 23/04/2022 23:30

That's fascinating, that we can just have random, pointless, benign masses around our bodies. Adding to my general cynicism that lots of medical tests cause unnecessary worries.

The part I understood: he doesn't seem to have Neurofibromatosis type 1. That's good news, NF-1 is not a nice condition.

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