We went down to San Diego to the Headache Center to visit the neurologist....actually, let me back track a second.

Last Saturday God gave us a gift. A friend called Carol (Andrew's Mom) and told her that her husband was a neurosurgeon and offered to look at my MRI to give his knowledge and shed some light on the situation. We took him up on his offer and went to see him.

He thoroughly explained what a meningioma was (they are benign, whew!) and showed us where it was located . We actually got to see the MRI pictures of inside my skull. Saying it was amazing is putting it lightly. The details and images were great. It was very easy to see the tumor lying under the right side of my brain. He showed how it grew from the skull and was pushing up on the brain, but wasn't penetrating the brain. He described how it had been growing there for quite some time and gave us the different options we'd have to face.

If we did not have this information when we went down south we would have been totally confused and frustrated after visiting the neurologist in San Diego. He had NOT gotten the MRI films, he was still "trying to get a hold of the radiologist" to explain a few things, and he misread the results that told how big the tumor is. When he said that he didn't have the MRI films we offered him the disk that we had brought with us. I think that kind of startled him. He didn't expect us to get the results and MRI films and already know some information. (We didn't give away that we had already talked to a neurosurgeon because we wanted to hear what he had to say in order to compare).
We were not discouraged though. He did tell us about the nerves that rise from the base of the skull and travel past my tumor and up behind my eye. He thought that the pain I feel in my eyes and the pressure I feel could quite likely be from the tumor.
Because the tumor is slow growing he said we don't need to pull it out immediately, but at the same time we don't want to leave it in there. It will continue to grow and it will continue to cause problems. So even though he didn't add much information to what we were already told, he did give us a referral so we could proceed with dealing with this little sucker.
We will probably go up to San Francisco for consultation and later, if recommended, surgery.

This is where we ate lunch before the Dr.'s appointment:
As we ate our sandwiches at the edge of a cliff, that overlooked the ocean, we watched the many surfers trying to catch waves. It was quite peaceful.

Once we got the doctor's visit out of the way Andrew and I relaxed and enjoyed just being together.

We ate dinner at our favorite place in Oceanside and spent the time laughing and reminiscing of times past.
Our hotel was the same one we stayed in last time. It is a great little place. Nothing fancy but very comfortable.
The next morning we woke up early (when our bodies are used to getting up early it's hard to make it sleep in!). Then we headed out the door and drove and drove until our rears were numb and we were HOME!

What a great feeling, to be home.

We are thankful to our family who watched our kids while we were gone. Jeremy did great. Both Grandma's are still alive after taking turns watching him (he's one little energy ball). Joshua kept up on his school and demonstrated that he's taking the responsibility like a man. Angela came home with lot of artwork and art tools and the beginnings of a blanket she's crocheting. They had a great time while we were away.