Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of lumbar vertebrae

Please read, and agree to, the Agreement Announcement prior to posting your personal story.

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma of lumbar vertebrae

Postby Niffit » Tue Jun 18, 2013 2:04 pm

I am a 33-year-old female with fair health.

Last year (2012), I had various female problems. I thought the back pain I was having was caused by these issues. Towards the end of the year, I had gotten to a point where I could barely stand up straight. Neither OTC or narcotic pain medicine would work. In March 2013, my right hip began to ache. I mentioned this to my PCP and an xray was ordered. The results were negative. My PCP attributed my pain to me being overweight. Later that month, I could finally could not take the pain in my back any longer, so I had a free consultation with a chiropractor. Only minor chiropractic abnormalities were also seen on this xray. After begging the doctor to order an MRI, the results from the scan revealed a hemangioma at L2 and what appeared to be an osteoid osteoma at L5. Still, the chiropractor was only concerned about the chiropractic issues. When I took the results to my physical medicine doctor, he stated that I would need to see a neurosurgeon. At this time, the waiting time to see a neurosurgeon in my area was 1 month. After my consultation with the neurosurgeon, a CT of my lumbar and cervical area was ordered, as well as a bone scan and EMG. The cervical area CT was normal. The lumbar CT revealed a possible osteoid osteoma or osteoblastoma at L5. My EMG show significant nerve damage at the L4-L5 nerve roots. Due to the location of the tumor, I was scheduled for an open biopsy/laminectomy in late May. After 2 weeks of waiting for pathology results, the local hospital informed my doctor that the specimen had to be sent to the Cleveland Clinic for further testing. One week later, the pathology results revealed that the tumor was an Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma.

I finally realized that my neurosurgeon was clueless or didn't care about my situation when I asked, "Is it possible this tumor could be elsewhere in my body" and he replied "Well, we did a bone scan so its not in your bones." So reassuring.

Nethertheless, I have an appointment with my hematologist/oncologist this Friday. I don't know what to expect.
Niffit
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2013 2:06 pm
Cancer Diagnosis: Epithlioid Hemangioendothelioma
Relationship To Patient: Self

Return to Submit Your Personal Story - ** Publicly Viewable **

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests

cron