Diagnosis...Finally. The Good News Ends There.

The brain biopsy results came back today.  It turns out my Mom has protein deposits in her brain, also known as neuroamyloid.  Don’t worry about Googling it because there isn’t any information about it out in the wild (though there is plenty of information about amyloid itself as it can happen in virtually any organ)…actually she is the only the 3rd documented case in history to her doctor’s knowledge.  We knew it would be something strange, but perhaps not quite this strange.  They have absolutely no idea how/why it happened, and more importantly why it happened this late in her life (the other 2 cases were much younger).  One definitive answer, so many more questions.

The other part of the diagnosis is much more grim.  It’s lethal.  Again, they have no idea how lethal…she’s old enough that she very well could outlive the disease, but the docs have absolutely no idea as to a timeframe, and nor will they in the future.  It’s also progressive, and there is no known treatment.  There aren’t any specifics as of yet about the other 2 cases, but I’m assuming there will be as the docs do some more research.  And to top it all off, there’s a very good chance that it’s hereditary (which seems a little odd as there are so few cases of it).

So that’s it…we have a diagnosis, and that’s about it.

Sidenote:  If you were diagnosed with a terminal illness, would you really want to know the timeframe?  Both sides can be argued.  I honestly can’t say what I’d do.  Anyways, happy thoughts folks :-).