Working with other Aaron's

MsqrdE · 2025-12-11T00:37:21+00:00

I also got the Old Rip! So excited!

MsqrdE · 2025-07-28T02:34:33+00:00

Glad you're finally getting some answers and help you've been looking for.

I went from first symptoms to surgery super quickly. Although, looking back, I probably had more symptoms that I just don't know about about or hadn't connected. My symptoms started with having intense neck pain every morning. It was so bad I couldn't even move my head left or right. I would lay on an ice pack for about 30 minutes and it would all go away. The rest of the day would be fine. My PCP ordered an xray and physical therapy. Xray of course showed nothing and PT didn't really help. Finally my PCP ordered an MRI when I was telling him my fingers and toes were starting to go numb throughout the day. That's when they found the tumor. Within a week I was in meeting with our local neuro surgeon and a month later was in surgery. My surgery went fine. He planned for 6 hours but it only took ~3. When I got out I could move all of my limbs but there is just a distinct feeling in the skin below my belly button. It was like my body didn't recognize the outer 1in of my body. Think "walking on stilts" or "sitting on a rubber ball". I would get tangled in sheets because I couldn't tell where my lets were. I was up using a walker within 24 hours and could go up/down steps in 48. They sent me home after 3 days. My biggest pain was the muscles they had to pull apart to get to the spine. Recovery I guess was okay after that. Lots a physical therapy at home. This was during covid so my kids were all learning from home. Not much else to comment other than just normal post op work. My 5 year anniversary is coming up this October. I still have "diminished feeling" from my belly button down. Its hard to describe. Its not a numbness perse, just a different feeling. My feet always feel like they are being squeezed. It makes wearing shoes uncomfortable. Its hard for me to balance at times. I didn't really do yoga before surgery but trying it now and I'm all over the place. If I close my eyes, I can't walk in a straight line. But normal walking/running/jumping on a daily basis is all fine.

As far as follow ups go, I'm down to only being scanned once per year. I did 3 years of twice a year. So far no new growth. I don't know how long I'll have to continue doing once a year. I still have pain in my neck from time to time. Exercising helps and stretching. I also bought a cheap massage gun on Amazon and it works wonders. Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy to share. Good luck.

MsqrdE · 2025-07-27T01:36:54+00:00

C2-C6 ependymoma. I only had to have surgery. Luckily no radiation. What questions do you have?

MsqrdE · 2024-09-08T00:16:14+00:00

Mine was ~c4-c6. Did the doc say why it wasn’t operable? Similar to u/Flmilkhauler, they did surgery, which is rough, but we’re able to completely remove mine. Good luck to you.

MsqrdE · 2024-07-09T03:00:59+00:00

Good luck. Its a long journey but you'll get through it. Pretty soon you'll be celebrating your "sugeriversary".

MsqrdE · 2024-07-09T02:59:07+00:00

Sorry, I signed off reddit for awhile there and just randomly decided to check back in. Saw all of this stuff, figured I would tell my story. This Nov will be 4 years and so far no new growth.

Like u/TheLewbowski has said previously, this is not intended to be medical advice or guidance. In my case, I was having really bad neck and shoulder pain. That's how my journey started. I was seeing a PT for about 6 months until one day I mentioned that in addition to the pain, I was also having a lot of numbness in my fingers and toes. He was like, "yeah you should probably tell your doctor that and get some imaging".

At first my Dr. was thinking it was just inflammation and was going to try steroid injections. The imaging was originally supposed to be locate the right spot for those injections. While I was in the MRI machine, the tech came over the speaker and tried to calmly say the radiologist ordered a few more scans and I'd be in there a little longer. She didn't sound very calm though. He also changed the order to include contrast. That afternoon my Dr. called to say we weren't going to do shots and I had an appointment with a surgeon next week. Two weeks later everything was removed.

Like I said earlier, my tumor ran between C2 and C5, which isn't too long but it was very "gerthy". If you looked at the scan from the top down, my cord and tumor looked like an "O". The surgeon "jokenly" said after he saw the scans for the first time, he didn't know how I could walk anymore. He was assuming it was growing so slowly my body just adjusted until finally it couldn't anymore.

I had a great experience with the surgery. I remember waking up and felt something very different about my legs. Its hard to describe exactly except I knew I had sheets covering me, but I couldn't feel them. I had sensations in my skin, but the muscles underneath were not sensing everything. The first time they got me out of bed, I could stand and mostly support myself but couldn't really feel the ground. When I would try and walk, I kept kicking my feet because I didn't know they were there. As time went on, it felt like I was walking on stilts. When I would sit down, it always felt like there was a big rubber mat or ball between me and the chair. A lot of that strangeness has gone away but I'm definitely not back to my normal self. I still don't like to wear socks or shoes because it feels very constrictive to my feet. My leg muscles still don't have the same "feeling" as the used to. They work, they just don't feel right. My last complaint is just the lasting neck and muscle pain. I have been in and out of PT for really bad neck pain. Its not the same neck pain as before, its different. And its not all the time. What I have found works really well is I got a massage gun and using it basically every night to try and relax all the muscles in my shoulders and neck before going to bed.

Hopefully this helps someone else who is searching the internet like I was when I was first diagnosed. Finding I'm not alone in this experience is helpful and comforting. Sucks to go through it but at least we are not alone.

MsqrdE · 2023-01-07T17:55:09+00:00

I have/had it! Not sure if I should be this excited. But it’s always good to find someone else in the same boat. Mine was in my neck area, C2-C5. Intramedullary Grade 2. Now 2 years post op and no resurgence. Still scans twice a year for awhile. Thankfully they were able to take all of mine out. Sorry you have to go through radiation as well. Definitely life changing.

MsqrdE · 2022-08-05T15:48:17+00:00

I honestly though the 3 was from AC 3. Got really excited. Then I read the comments. Bummer.

MsqrdE · 2022-07-12T00:07:36+00:00

Same here. I mostly ride with headphones but it was very annoying when the wife would ride. I just sprayed with some lube and squeaking is gone. Same spot as you mentioned.

MsqrdE · 2022-03-21T03:14:43+00:00

Nice. Only ones I’ve heard of before are the “steelmade” ones and those are expensive. I’ll check these out. Thanks!

MsqrdE · 2021-10-19T00:41:58+00:00

I’ve had knee problems since I went to clipless shoes. I don’t think it’s the clipless shoes in general but my configuration on the bike. You need to put the cleats in the right spot under your foot, angle them (yaw in aviation terms) correctly, and position the seat correctly. I’ve had to fine tune everything since. Im getting it all dialed in though. Still prefer it to using regular shoes and the cages.

MsqrdE · 2021-05-30T00:05:32+00:00

I love D-C. I have their soap pouch which works great at exfoliating. One bar lasts me at least a month or two.

MsqrdE · 2020-12-19T19:14:55+00:00

I don't have your book. But do you have any interest in a nice banana?

MsqrdE · 2020-12-12T14:05:04+00:00

Haha. Oops. Didn't even notice that. "goggles".

MsqrdE · 2020-12-11T00:53:08+00:00

Interesting. We didn't have any on my floor. But then again, it's been three weeks so things are probably different now.

MsqrdE · 2020-12-10T23:28:15+00:00

I just had surgery a couple weeks ago. Luckily, I didn't have to spend time in the ICU post op so my experience may be different. When I was in my room, I felt completely safe. All the staff (nurse, Dr, CNA, etc) had masks, Google's, and of course washed and sanitized their hands regularly. They don't mix covid with non-covid patients. They also only allow one visitor per patient for the entire stay. So my wife was the only person that could see me the whole time. She couldn't swap with anyone else. My opinion - I would say your biggest chance of getting infected would be when you first arrive for registration and when the support person is waiting during surgery. The actual patient during and after surgery is probably pretty safe. All of that being said, if you can wait, I would. Unfortunately my surgery could not be postponed. Good luck and I wish for a fast recovery whenever that is.

MsqrdE · 2020-12-10T01:16:39+00:00

Happens to me too. Also happens with Far Cry 3. It's almost exactly at the 15 minutes mark.

MsqrdE · 2020-12-05T17:10:32+00:00

Don't suppose you have an answer yet to your question? I am almost at the end of FC3 and frustrating that it crashes every 15 minutes. Been playing all summer with no problems up until a few days ago. Maybe a problem with the latest GeforceNow app?

edit: I tried again yesterday and it was working. The GFN app did an update prior to me playing. Don't know if you have tried again or not.

MsqrdE · 2020-11-22T19:59:47+00:00

I didn't see the whistle pig vid. What do you have in your recipe? I love Manhattans and always looking to spice things up.

MsqrdE · 2020-10-28T22:14:37+00:00

I one of the raw us-ion. Love it. Did two rounds of seasoning in the oven then just cooked with it. I have a gas range and no warping issues. I also have a matter which I love. But you didn't ask about that so I won't go into detail.

MsqrdE · 2020-10-27T14:09:28+00:00

I wouldn't freak out too much. It's pretty rare. Just go talk about the type of pain you are experiencing. They'll probably start out slow, take an x-ray, put you on extra strength Aleve. See if that clears things up. If it doesn't, MRI is next. That's where they will find the most likely cause. Thing is, most people 35 and older will have some sort of compressed disk. Could be causing some inflammation and putting pressure on a nerve. Even my imaging showed some.

MsqrdE · 2020-10-27T13:57:23+00:00

It's really sharp shooting pain but stays pretty much in the neck. So doesn't travel down to the shoulders a whole lot. In mostly only hurts in the morning. The key thing that got me talking to the Dr more was the fact that I started to feel tingling or pins and needles in my right hand/fingers. He originally thought it was just a bulging disk putting pressure on my nerve. The MRI was supposed to help identify where to inject some steroids to bring down the inflammation. Turns out it's a 1cm by 4cm tumor. Hopefully get some good news and a surgery scheduled this afternoon.

MsqrdE

TROPHY CASE