7/11/11, Marcus’ CT scan of his brain in comparison to the normal brain…

7/11/11, Marcus’ CT scan of his brain in comparison to the normal brain…

Marcus’ brain. Negative is reversed.  Large darkened area is actually on the left. Darkened area is damaged area of  the brain.

Marcus’ brain. Back view of brain, negative is reversed. Lower left darkened area is area damaged.

CT scan slice of the left side of Marcus' brain

Left side view of brain – Marcus’s brain 7/11/11

The large darkened areas, are the areas with damage. The views are slices of various areas/views of the brain.

 Sample: CAT Scan (CT) – Head

Internet: CT scan of severe traumatic brain injury shows long-lasting lesion (dark area) Image credit: James Heilman via Wikimedia. http://www.alzforum.org/images/new/Traumaticbraininjury2010Story.jpg

Internet: Normal head CAT scan with intravenous contrast

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/photocat/gallery3.cfm?pid=1&image=picbrain.jpg&pg=headct

7/11/11, Marcus has been having pressure and headaches in the left side of his head where he had previously had his brain injury from encephalitis. It awoke him from a sound sleep.

I was worried about him possibly having another stroke. He had been saying his head had a squeezing feeling. Could he be having problems because he is so stressed? He could be.

To be on the safe side, we went down to the Odessa Medical Center ER for an evaluation. (My opinion, ER doctors are just as unreliable as attorneys at times.) They do a partial job not the whole job that needs to be done, but some ER doctors have a good reason because they are spread so thin and have so many emergencies. (That’s why they call it an Emergency Room). They don’t have time to do the job really required of them. This doctor was at least nice.

Marcus passed the neurological test which most people pass regardless. I can’t say how many times I passed that test, yet my brain was in serious trouble along with my life. But to a doctor it makes it look like they’re doing something though minimal to evaluate the situation.

I hadn’t been back to Odessa Medical Center since they missed diagnosed my son’s brain injury seventeen years ago, but my options were limited tonight.

The doctor didn’t think he was having a stroke, but he did a CT scan anyways. So we spent hours there. Finally the CT scan was done and there was nothing the doctor could see that was acute on the CT scan so we were sent home. It did show all the old damage. Did Marcus need an EEG to make sure he wasn’t having seizures? Yes, but was it done? No, Marcus needed to go to see his primary doctor of which he has none to get it done.

The CT tech kept asking Marcus if he was alright. He asked him if he had any right arm pain. He explained that he had a brain injury year ago. Marcus said he was upset to say the least when he saw his CT scan.

They told us their computer was down that made the CDs of the CT Scan and we would have to come back later to get the copies. Then we headed home. We both were so exhausted. We went back to bed.

In the afternoon, we went back to get a copy of the CT scan. I put it into my computer to see what damage had been done. I had never seen a CT or MRI of his brain damage. Both of us were amazed to see how much of the brain was black with no activity noted. This was the first time I’d had seen his brain. No wonder the CT tech got upset. It’s hard to live let alone function with the damage Marcus had. My son is my miracle.

He was totally amazed himself. He just kept looking at the computer at the CT scan. It was like a door opened for him. He could see why he was having so many problems. I compared a normal CT of the brain with his so he would understand the difference. Then we compared his CT with one that had a stroke noted. He didn’t just have one small area that was damaged. He has several large areas of the brain including the temporal lobe and the occipital lobe. He had also had a laminar stroke.

How sad, yet how amazing that he survived all this damage. They said he would die, be a vegetable, or severely retarded. Yet, here he is today. He ‘s a testimony that medicine doesn’t know everything. There is a higher power here. The brain is much more resilient than we all can imagine.

Now will the Prosecutor believe he has problems and was taken advantage of? I doubt it. He is not a logical person or a caring person where Marcus is concerned. He just wants his conviction. I have watched him in sentencings. He is not always this way. He has a thing about Marcus and none of us knows why? What did Marcus ever do to him personally? Because it is personal with him as most people have noted in the courtroom.

Later that day we took Katie to Chuckie Cheese for her real birthday treat. She’s a 7-11 girl, she likes to tell everyone. Marcus and she had wonderful quality father and daughter time. Madison came along, but she was moody as all teenagers are at her age.

Marcus’ dad came too and they all had a good time. I was exhausted because we had only slept for a couple of hours that morning as we had gotten home at 6 AM.

All in all it was a good day and Marcus only had the occasional headache and pressure for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow is another day. Will it be good or bad for us? No one knows until the day comes.

Hope, Health, and Happiness,

Vickie