My Symptom story ( so I don't have to tell it anymore) ...

OK .. I have to do this for myself, my family & inquiring minds that want to know. I am asked how did his happen ? When did it start ? Why did it happen ?

I have no idea, but here is my symptom story… ( kind of detailed)

In the spring of 2009 my good friend & neighbor ( Dan Shultz) planned a golf trip to Kiawah Island. I had been lucky enough to be invited. In 2008 I played with his group of friends & was invited into the annual LINZY Cup tournament that they held annually. I am not going into details, but these guys are a blast to play golf with !!! It’s competitive, but most of all FUN – they way golf out to be played.

Fast Forward to October 17^th 2009. I made the flight to Charleston, SC the morning of 10/17/09. The guys waited for me at the airport since I was supposed to fly in the evening before. I arrived on time ( thank God) & off we went to start playing golf at Kiawah. I need to mention that Dan plans the whole trip, all we do is show up. It’s wonderful.

We played 18 holes on Saturday, 36 holes on Sunday & the final 18 holes on Monday on the OCEAN COURSE !!!! Absolutely beautiful .. but a little chilly for 10/19.

My first symptom was on the fourth tee of the Ocean Course. I walked on the tee & said to my group … “ I don’t feel right. Something is wrong with me. I need to sit down. I feel light headed.” I found a seat on a “divot repair” box on the tee. My three playing partners teed off & I followed – that was the extent of my first real symptom.

Since being allowed to sneak away for three days of golf, when I returned to home the following Saturday my wife Mary snuck away to FL for a few days with her friend. That was October 24^th. On October 24^th I took a walk with my son Chris. While walking I again experienced this “ light headedness”. I had to sit down on the ground. If I didn’t I felt like I would fall over. Chris was worried & wanted to call an ambulance, but I said no .. 20 seconds later I was walking home with him. Chris demanded ( thank God) that I see a doctor. He proceeded to take me to Urgent Care about 1 mile from home.

Urgent Care is awesome. I waited 10 minutes, they took me in & checked me out ( ekg, & some neuro tests) . We determined it could have been a possible TIA ( mini stroke). Anyway, the doctor told Chris & I if it happened again to go to the ED department at a hospital.

Sure enough, that evening on the way to the Apple store ( to play with Apple computers) THE BEST computers in the world !!, as we pulled into the mall parking lot my symptoms appeared again. I stopped, put the car in park & said “ Chris, you need to drive me to the ED.” Chris did exactly what he needed to do.

We went to the ED department at Strong Hospital – they were great. Checked me out , did blood work, & I passed the tests. I was told to follow up with Neuro Out patient which I did on Monday 10/26. During my Neuro test the doc had me Hyper-Ventilate on a hunch – sure enough that brought on my symptoms so that is what we thought it was. I followed up with my Primary physician on 10/29. I passed all of the tests.

Well I went on with my daily life. On Monday 11/3 I flew with my good friend Harvey Taylor to visit my son ( Brian ) & his son ( Arthur) to play golf where Brian was finishing a six month internship. ( Woodmont CC in Rockville MD). We played 18 holes at Woodmont … absolutely beautiful. Brian even noticed that I was not hitting the ball & my right side seemed to be “ weak”. Brian is a great teacher of the game of golf & he noticed something. I just told him I was getting “old”. We had a blast playing golf with our friends Harv & Arthur that day.

Well, the next morning while at the BWI hotel I had another “attack”. Again it lasted maybe a minute or two. Let it happen & back to getting on with the day. I flew to TPA to meet with my Mom to finalize the big 90^th party for my DAD on 12/4/09. Everything went well, it was great to visit with Mom & Dad & I flew home.

We are almost there. On Sunday 11/8 I was at the kitchen table & guess what , another episode, except this time I had witnesses. I went on the kitchen floor & told my wife don’t worry it will go away. My friends who also witnessed this event & said “ call your doctor”. I did . The doc on call said go to the ED. I did.

Finally they did a CAT scan that afternoon on Sunday 12/8. That is when they found the tumor. That afternoon they did an MRI & confirmed what I had.

I was admitted that evening& on 12/11/09 Dr . Silberstein performed a Craniotomy to remove the tumor. He was very successful in surgery & now I am in treatment to zap whatever is left.

That is my story, so if anyone asks they will have to read this because I don’t want to tell it anymore. Its time to move on.

All I can say to all of you out there, is listen to your body & mind. If it is telling you something – CHECK IT OUT. If it wasn’t for my son Chris I probably would have done nothing. ( Male EGO).

I have said for years that you can have all the riches in the world, but if you don’t have your health the riches & everything else are meaningless. So basically, take care of yourself physically, mentally & most of all SPIRITUALLY because that is what counts.

You also gotta have some fun, playing golf, sailing, climbing mountains or whatever you like to do !!

The 2009 Linzy Cup Team!