Greg's Brain Tumor Expenses

Dear friends and family, I never thought I would be having to do this, ... its a hard thing to swallow your pride and ask for help, but we need help.

Greg was admitted to the hospital last week b/c he was experiencing some muscle spasms of his jaw & tongue that had started to worsen & he couldn't talk, i thought it was something neurological causing it so i took him to the ER. They did a CT scan & MRI of his head and neck and informed us that he has a brain tumor, which turned out to be an incidental finding and was not the cause of the muscle spasms (that was actually due to his blood sugar being over 500 & his sodium& potassium were critically low).

The type of tumor he ha is called a craniopharyngioma.

Unfortunately, although it is typically benign, it does have a high recurrence rate. It originates from the pituitary gland, which controls all your bodys hormones, in the middle of the brain. lt's a very delicate & tedious surgery to remove it and the life expectancy and potential side effects/problems increases each time it grows back.

This is actually the 3rd time Greg has had this tumor. The 1st time was 2012, then again in 2013, and now. The neurosurgeon tried to preserve what he could of the pituitary during the 1st surgery. On the 2nd surgery the surgeon had to end up removing most of the pituitary with the tumor and then he had 30 rounds of radiation.

Although we always knew there was a chance it could come back, i think we were both hopeful that it wouldn't grow back again after the extensive treatment he went through the 2nd time.

Greg's previous neurosurgeon was consulted while he was in the hospital last week and he said that his tumor appears to be larger than the previous ones and more complicated b/c its sitting on a bed of arteries and needs a surgical approach thru the back of his head this time instead of the side. So he has referred him to another neurosurgery specialist within the same Mischer Neuroscience group but in the Medical Center. We have an appt scheduled with him this friday.

The previous surgeries and aftermath had left Greg with problems that prevent him from performing a regular job., but yet he was pretty much still able to do things like bathe, eat, drive, etc.

Since the pituitary controls so many of your body's functions he also has to take medicine to replace what his body doesn't make:. thyroid meds for hypothyroidism, hydrocortisone for Adrenal insufficiency, Desmopressin for Diabetes Insipidis, Insulin for Diabetes Mellitus, and Testosterone.

Other ways it has affected him is chronic severe short-term memory loss, balance issues, and vision changes. Because the location of these tumors is near the optic nerve, peripheral vision is lost; removing the tumor relieves the pressure & restores most of the vision if done soon, but not doing it will almost certainly lead to blindness b/c of the damage to the optic nerve.

Currently Greg does have significant vision changes as well as uncoordinated eye muscle movements and headaches. The surgery is considered urgent and will entail him being in ICU for about a week, then 1-2 days in a step-down unit. We will find out all the exact details at the neurosurgeon appt this Friday the 7th.

We are basically asking for help with expenses b/c Greg does not have medical insurance right now. We have applied, but i just got a call today saying his insurance and disability benefits were not approved thru the Texas Health & Human Resourced Dept. They've ask us to try thru social security services.

We've wiped out our savings & retirement accounts, Gregs meds cost $300/month, We have to self-pay each Dr visit (about $160 ea), pay for every lab-work MRI, CT Scan, treatment, consulting physicians, hospital and ICU stay, parking fees and gas cost for all the driving back & forth from the medical center. To top it off our house is falling apart, we have a major plumbing problem that mostly involves the kitchen sink that we've already tried to fix but really needs a plumber that we cant afford, and our oven has stopped working....

Anyway, I will be sending out updates as we get them to let everybody know how hes doing. We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers from each of you. Thank you so very much.

Greg and Rhonda