August 6, 2010 – What’s wrong?

The long awaited appointment.  The first thing Dr Halperin looked at was the MRI taken by our previous neurologist.  He saw what the other doctor saw, which was “nothing remarkable”.  But he did something the other doctor did not.  He looked at other possibilities.  He took vitals, he talked to her, and he had her repeat words, phrases and draw some pictures.  In 5 minutes he determined there seemed to be something worth looking at and said he wants to do some tests.  In 5 minutes, Dr Halperin showed us what good medical care looked like.  And I saw in our previous doctor, who did nothing but look at an MRI, what unprofessional care looks like.

When we were finishing up with Dr. Halperin, we wrote two notes.  The first note was to schedule a neuropsychology test.  On the other, he wrote “Primary Progressive Aphasia”.  This was a note not necessarily meant for us, but for the Neuropsychologist who would be conducting the testing.  I just happened to see it and wrote it down.  I had heard of aphasia, but not PPA.

We got home that night and I looked up PPA.  I’ve never been so shocked at anything in my life.  Though this was not a diagnosis, but a hunch he wanted to explore or eliminate.  But this is a life changer.  This may not be a minor issue, but it could be very serious.  I didn’t sleep much tonight.