Hey all! Sorry for my one week hiatus. Sometimes there just isn't enough time in the day!

OK…I wanted to update you on a blog I wrote a while back, The Neti Pot Cures Brain Cancer?

So here it is.

After what feels like a hundred more doctors visits… here's the actual diagnosis on my father's random onset of double vision:

6th cranial nerve palsy.

Huh?

Here's the medical definition:

Sixth cranial (abducens) nerve palsy may result from small-vessel disease, particularly in diabetics as part of a disorder called mononeuritis multiplex (multiple mononeuropathy). It may result from compression of the nerve by lesions in the cavernous sinus (eg, nasopharyngeal tumors), orbit, or base of the skull. The palsy may also result from increased intracranial pressure (say, from that of a tooth abscess), head trauma, or both. However, the cause of an isolated 6th cranial nerve palsy is often not identified.

So, after seeing that evil man of a neurologist who told my dad he had brain cancer, my father saw his oncologist. The oncologist immediately apologized for his colleagues misdiagnosis. The oncologist reiterated what my father already knew as an educated patient that his cancer rarely EVER spreads to the brain.

So, next dad went to a regular old opthamologist (why he hadnt been to one sooner… i'm not quite sure?!). The opthamologist said, “maybe this is age related, but it's definitely NOT neurological.”

Ok, thanks.

Next, he went to another neurologist. After the doc looked over his MRI scans and did some basic neurological testing on my father, he asked for more detail regarding the tooth abscess my father was dealing with.

Aha!

Finally, a good diagnostician has entered the game.

After some discussion and taking into account that my father's double vision was nearly gone, he said, “I think you have 6th cranial nerve palsy.”

Here we are weeks later, dad has had a second visit with his new neurologist, and the double vision is a thing of the past.

My oh my are second opinions imperative. In fact, they can be life changing. Imagine going from thinking you have brain cancer to being told, hey buddy–it's your tooth infection that's causing all this chaos.

Whoa.

Word to the wise: Always, Always be your own advocate!