By Becky Wiese
Any runner knows an uneven sidewalk can catch you by surprise — one second you’re focused on your pace, the next you’re flat on your face. Tripping is just an accepted hazard of the sport. Hopefully the result is nothing more than some embarrassment and a little road rash, although sprains and broken wrists are possibilities.
Patty Kimberlin is used to an active lifestyle and enjoys running, biking, and lifting weights. So in 2009 when she tripped on the sidewalk while running, she didn’t really think anything of it. Except that maybe she might have tweaked her knee a little bit. Nevertheless, the more active she stayed, the better her knee felt.
Then she started to experience some numbness in her left foot — but that would also eventually feel better. Again, she simply attributed it as a minor inconvenience and side effect of her active lifestyle.
As time went on, however, stairs got to be a little tricky to navigate. And eventually the pain wasn’t going away and nothing she did would make it feel better.
Thinking she might have some loose cartilage in her knee, she scheduled an appointment at a local sports therapy facility. An x-ray of her knee and ankle showed neither had any damage. The next best guess was something nerve related, so she ended up seeing a neurologist who, after a physical exam, ordered an MRI. The result? A tumor in her spinal cord. Definitely not what she expected.
She was referred to Dr. Emilio Nardone at Central Illinois Neuro Health Sciences, who confirmed that her tumor, technically called an ependymoma, needed to come out.
“Tumors of the spine can present in a variety of ways,” explains Dr. Nardone. “Patty experienced several symptoms, such as tingling, numbness, weakness in her limbs, and difficulty walking [in Patty’s case, specifically difficulty on stairs]. Her tumor was rare and challenging because of its location.”
Spine tumors can be divided into three major categories according to their location. Extradural tumors are located outside the dura (the membrane covering the spinal cord) and are often metastatic, originating from cancer in another part of the body. Intradural tumors can be either extramedullary (outside the spinal cord) or intramedullary (inside the spinal cord).
“The most challenging from a surgical perspective are the intramedullary tumors such as Patty’s ependymoma because they grow inside the spinal cord,” says Dr. Nardone. “You have to be very accurate and methodical to remove the tumor without causing damage to surrounding nerve fibers. You have to go inside the spinal cord to tackle and remove these tumors.”
The surgery couldn’t have gone any better, according to Patty. “I was in the hospital for less than a week, then had additional rehab for a week.” She also had physical therapy at home, then as an outpatient. The physical therapy is focused predominantly on increasing the strength in her legs and improving her balance and coordination.
“I’m already feeling a lot better, and will continue to do so,” says Patty. “I’m so grateful for everything — this can be a very tricky surgery and I didn’t have any damage to my spinal cord. Plus Dr. Nardone got the whole tumor and it was benign.”
She admits it was a little daunting to hear the spectrum of problems that could happen with the surgery — but she went into it with a positive attitude and faith that it would work out. Plus, she felt very confident in her surgeon.
“I got an informal second opinion from my father-in-law’s neighbor who is a neurologist. Plus after checking Dr. Nardone’s credentials, I felt he was very qualified to perform this surgery. The other options for surgery of this type were at Mayo Clinic [in Rochester, Minnesota] or Johns Hopkins [in Baltimore, Maryland]. Being able to have surgery here was much less stressful.”
Dr. Nardone adds, “Although Bloomington-Normal is not a large metropolitan area, we have the personnel with experience and skills as well as availability of equipment and support staff to perform many complex neurological procedures that people may think they would need to go to a large city or institution to have done.”
“I’m so glad they found it,” Patty says. And she’s looking forward to getting back to exercising on the sidewalk again.
This is the last of a 4 part series on tumors. If you missed previous articles, you may read them online at www.HealthyCellsBN.com or contact Cheryl Eash at 309-664-2524 or ceash7@gmail.com.
Central Illinois Neuro Health Sciences is located at 1015 S. Mercer Ave. in Bloomington. For more information or to schedule a consultation, you may contact them at 309-662-7500 or through their website at www.cinhs.com.
Photo courtesy of Central Illinois Neuro Health Sciences