Arachnoid what?

Over the past 3-4 weeks, Daniel has experienced a constant headache and some vertigo/equilibrium problems. He would get really dizzy if he moved quickly, bounced Carol up and down, or even while watching the bright colors and movements of Beauty and the Beast for Emma's birthday. So he finally went to the doctors last week, thinking he just had a really bad sinus infection.

He saw the PA at the clinic, and she not only got him some antibiotics for a slight sinusitis problem, but she ordered a cat-scan just to check stuff out. On his cat-scan there was some shadowing and an MRI yesterday confirmed that Daniel has an "arachnoid cyst" on his brain stem.

An arachnoid cyst is a fluid-filled sac that is located between the brain or spinal cord and the arachnoid membrane, one of the three membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. It is usually a congenital birth defect, one that goes unnoticed in most cases because it never gets big enough to cause symptoms. So Daniel has probably had it since birth, and it has slowly been filling , until now where it is now approximately 8 cm by 3 cm in size. Typical symptoms of an arachnoid cyst around the brain include headache, nausea and vomiting, seizures, hearing and visual disturbances, vertigo, and difficulties with balance and walking-- all signs he has shown except for the vomiting.

Untreated, arachnoid cysts may cause permanent severe neurological damage when progressive expansion of the cyst(s) or hemorrhage injures the brain or spinal cord. Symptoms usually resolve or improve with treatment. So obviously, we want treatment! Daniel will meet with a neurosurgeon in the next few days, one that my dad knows and recommends through Arlington Memorial Hospital. Treatment will involve surgery of some sort to drain the cyst and possibly insert a brain shunt to keep the cyst from building up again.

The good news that we can see through this diagnosis is that it is treatable, and it explains all of Daniel's symptoms, some now that he looks back in his life and sees that there are many times he was probably experiencing symptoms unknowingly. He has often had equilibrium/vertigo and numbing of appendages issues, so maybe this is partly to blame for a lot of those.


As we step into this new medical challenge in our lives we would ask for prayer in the following ways:


- wisdom of how to proceed medically
- peace for our hearts and spirits as we face surgery
- peace against feelings of "why us"- I especially struggle with this. We know that God uses medicine and surgeons to bring healing- a lesson learned through Emma's four heart surgeries. However, on top of Emma's health problems and a slew of other medical issues and rough times in the past 4 years, it is hard not to fall into the trap of "it's not fair!" or to get completely discouraged.
- wisdom to know how the recovery will affect Daniel's ability to work and my ability to stay home with the girls- just so many unknowns at this point.
- wisdom of how to tell Emma when the time comes. She's a smart cookie, but luckily we just had a positive experience for her at the hospital with Carol's arrival- we don't want a hospital to be a scary place for her since it will continue to be a constant presence in her life. We also want things to be as normal as possible as her new school year begins.

As plans are made and we meet with the specialists, we will keep you updated!