In early June 2009, I attended an 'Expert Conference' in San Francisco to learn how to better promote our Dot&Cross expert partners. On the final evening, June 6th, after explaining to a friend that my time at the conference resulted in me becoming a 'Kung Fu Expert', we engaged in faux martial arts maneuvers that ended with me bumping my head on a concrete pillar. Immediately after, I experienced aphasia, an inability to complete the sentences being formed in my head. Feeling embarrassed and strange after randomly uttering words such as 'concrete' and 'pillow', I went to bed.
On the morning of June 7th, I suffered a tonic-clonic seizure in a room of 400 experts. Luckily, a few of them were expert-doctors who assisted me. My cohort in martial arts informed the paramedics that I had hit my head the night before as they rushed me off to Stanford Hospital. After undergoing several CT scans searching for signs of internal bleeding they discovered, not that I had internal bleeding, but a large brain tumor. Apparently the slight blow to the head caused enough swelling to disrupt the tumor which caused the seizure.
On June 7th, 2009 I learned that I have cancer. While sitting alone in my bed, I looked down at my patient name-tag to discover the paramedics had given me a 'John Doe' patient tag as I laid unconscious on the ground during my seizure. After learning my name they gave me a new patient tag that included my previous call-sign: FIFTYFIVE ZEBRA.
The tumor is a Grade II Olioastrocytoma in the fronto-temporal lobe of my left hemisphere. It is 7 cm x 6 cm x 5 cm and takes up around 20-25% of my brain. It encapsulates my Wernicke's Area and Broca's Area which are responsible for the comprehension and creation of speech. Due to the size of the tumor, it was determined inoperable. The Operation 55 Zebra Story begins here and I don't know where or how it ends.
Jump David Jump is a blog I created several years before I had cancer. It is not a 'cancer blog' but a blog about my life; on getting where I'm going. As Josh Ritter says, "Don't say it's been done a hundred-thousand times, cause this one's mine".
To read through the Operation 55 Zebra Story chronologically, begin with this blog and click next. This might take a while.
