And A Reminder From Capt Billy About That Scary Time..
From Capt Billy - "First of all I would like to thank all of the well wishers and prayers that have been sent out over the last week. Sometimes you feel all alone in this great big world and something like this pops up and you find it is quite the contrary. I can’t believe the support I have received. Thanks again.
I had been losing my sight. Most people just laughed and said, “Hey it happens!” Fortunately, I have always been blessed with the best vision and even at night I always had exceptional night vision. And just last year it started to deteriorate. Not bad at first, just when I was reading I would need reading glasses. But about mid Jan. this year I could notice a blind spot in my right eye. I could turn my right eye just right and block out the whole television screen. It wasn’t much longer after that I couldn’t read in either eye. I bought the strongest reading glasses and only in my left eye if I held something just the right distance I could just barely make it out. I kept complaining to my crew and all I got was that it was a natural cause. The only one who didn’t laugh was Tommy, our American diver, who kept telling me to have it looked at. I went to the local Dominican Optician who went through her tests and subscribed me a pair of glasses but even when she was sure she had the right prescription I could turn my head and erase her entire eye chart right off the wall. So I waited a week to get those glasses and excited to be able to see again. When I finally received the glasses and put them on there was no correction at all. And by that time my left eye was starting to follow suit.
At this point I wasn’t able to drive. Now a little scared, I wrote an email to Lisa in the office and even wrote I was afraid and didn’t know what to do? The boat was out on sight and not an easy time for me to leave. Not even a half hour later I get a reply back from Wilf who already had me on the very next flight to Utah. It’s not easy explaining your vision problems to others as they have no way to see through your eyes but, thank God, Wilf took it very seriously.
The very next day I was in Utah and the following morning at an eye doctor. Me? I was still thinking eye glasses. This doctor ran several tests and even redid some tests. He said your eyes couldn’t be in better shape. I was thinking my eyes were in perfect shape but I was blind? When that doctor said this is probably neurologically related I just about fell off my chair. There is one of the best eye centers in the world here in Utah and this doctor set up an appointment for me with the neurological department of that eye center. Believe me all I could think of was the worst case scenario and that was a brain tumor. There was no more happy Billy at this point and a very nervous Billy headed into the next doctor visit. The Moran Eye Center is a six or seven story building and has to be the top of the line in what they do. They ran a five hour test on my eyes with every possible piece of equipment you can imagine and came up with the same conclusion as the first doctor did. Your eyes are perfect and that there must be something pushing behind your eyes on your optic nerve that is causing your problems. And he had me going to have an MRI done that very night. And plus Wilf wasn’t going easy! He pushed at every angle to get this done and done now.
They had told me that there could be a tumor in my pituitary gland area pushing on my optic nerve. And that it was a procedure in which they go through the roof of your mouth to remove it and it was usually a benign tumor. At that point even though a brain tumor didn’t sound very good at least they led me to believe it wasn’t fatal. So, okay a brain tumor, but operable. Hard to believe that could be good news but far better than what I was thinking about; any brain tumor to me meant fatal or inoperable.
The next morning after the MRI we received the phone call that verified yes indeed, you do have a brain tumor and the very nice doctor lady told me it wasn’t as simple as they first believed. Again after falling to my knees, I was thinking the worst. We were to meet with the neurosurgeon that afternoon to discuss what was next. Meanwhile I was scared for my life and Wilf was trying to figure out how we could come up with the cash for such a surgery as I have never had insurance. He called the hospital to find out what those costs would be? They told him I had been set up for a tumor removal not just a biopsy. Hard to believe that was good news but to me it was. That meant to me it was operable. I know it wasn’t a whole lot to go on but I was already thinking about writing out my will. Not a good feeling at all. We met with the neurosurgeon and before we even talked to him I had been told by many of the hospital administrators that I was very fortunate to have this doctor do this surgery. Most told me he was the best in America and a few said in the world.
His name was William Coldwell and when we met with him he had on the computer screen a picture of my tumor. He showed me where the tumor had hemorrhaged inside of itself and said this was now an emergency situation and he wanted to operate the following morning. He told me the risks involved and then told me he had done two thousand of these same procedures and I was to be there by eight the next morning.
They go through your right nostril to remove the tumor. When I woke up from the surgery I had two golf ball size cotton balls stuck in each nostril. Not very comfortable! They had me in the ICU for that day and night. You are not allowed to sleep any other way than propped up on your bed. No straws to drink with and no blowing your nose or coughing or sneezing. The reason is when they get done with removing the tumor they have now a hole in your brain sack which that holds the salt water that your brain is suspended in. How’s that for technical talk? So to patch up that hole they remove a piece of fat from your body – in my case my stomach area (Guess that’s the obvious place on me for a piece of fat!) – then they insert that into the hole in your brain sack. Every hour they ask if you taste saltwater in the back of your mouth. If this patch comes undone then they need to go back in and redo the whole operation. In my case the doctor knew my profession and said he put an extra amount of fat to insure a good hold.
After my first night in the hospital I turned on the TV and couldn’t believe how clear the screen was. At first I figured what a great television and later remembered that the operation was to remove a tumor that was pressing on my optical nerve. Even now I am still sitting here and can’t believe how well I can see. It is to me a miracle. So no salty taste in my mouth, my vision has returned 100% and yes, terrible headaches followed by watery eyes and nasal congestion. I have medicine to tame that and yesterday was the first day I felt I am getting out of the post OP haze. I think there was more of an emotional scar from being diagnosed with a brain tumor than an actual physical scar.
I have a whole renewed look on life and hopefully can continue working for years to come before another medical problem arises. I just remembered an email I received from Tracy Bowden who wished me well and said “growing old isn’t for sissies!” I fully believe that now. Anyway, thanks again everybody for your kind well wishes and prayers. It is very nice to know that I have so many people who care."
Capt.Billy
"An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it."
--- Gandhi
