the skinny on skinny

Sorry I've been a little out of touch lately, but I've got a brain tumor and have been rather frantically trying to wrap things up before some pretty risky surgery. Time to face reality and weigh the options, while remaining hopeful and positive.

When I got my MRI results around 4PM on the 10th of January at the neurological clinic, the first thing I did was call my Mom. Trying to think of what to say (not usually a problem for me), I decided then was not the time for any sort of PR spin on the crisis and just came out with it. She dropped everything, was on the next plane and after several transfers, was in Prague the morning of the 11th, having come all the way from Fort Myers, Florida. John Lowe picked her up at the airport and brought her to my apartment.

We then went over to Nemocnice Na Františku, where after an hour's consultation with another neurologist, prescriptions prescribed, another consultation arranged at the Military Hospital with the neurosurgeons for Monday, and potential insurance issues looming, we called it a day.

Monday morning (the 14th), bright and early, it was off to the Military Hospital with my mother and Irina (eventually replaced by Martha), where we had a 20 minute consultation with a neurosurgeon, Dr. Netuka, who had also consulted with Drs. Beneš and Kozler. I was told to be admitted to Na Františku for observation and intense anti-edemal therapy - IV cortico-steroid treatments and other various drugs to counteract the side effects of the steroids. I was to have the operation after a week of this at the Military Hospital with the aforementioned doctors.

Upon our return to Na Františku, we were given a complete runaround and refused admission by the head of the neurology department (not the doctor I had seen on Friday, who was actually very nice) and told to take my chances at Krč. 'We voted', she blurted, 'we voted!' Her rationale for Krč (Thomayerova) was that, back in the day, when they used to handwrite your residency address in your passport, that was my last one (Prague 4) - that visa having had long expired (in 2003) and been replaced with newer ones replete with pictures, yet no addresses. She refused to arrange any of this for me and threw us out around 5PM.

As I hadn't slept in days, was unbelievably stressed and frustrated at this point, Martha made arrangements for me to go to Krč the following morning. Not really feeling very confident in the illogical rantings of a crazy woman (the head of the neurology department at Na Františku, that is, who never gave her name), I called Dr. Horáková - the original doctor who had arranged and reviewed my MRI with me on the 10th. I called her shortly after 6:30 AM on Tuesday and literally begged to be admitted to her hospital at Kateřinkská 30, part of the massive Karlovo Náměstí system that covers a large part of Prague 2. She had everything arranged in an hour and I was admitted to her hospital on Tuesday, January 15th at 8:45 AM.