Baffling tale of patient with brain tumour

A 60-year-old man, a shopkeeper was referred from Kondoa District in Dodoma Region to the Benjamin Mkapa Hospital in the same region. That was way back in in July, 2017.

He had a longstanding history of headache and blurred vision. He was a patient known to be battling high blood pressure for some time.

When he arrived, he appeared to be in pain. His complaints about severe headache were becoming a norm. He was facing a bitter reality.

He had to go through a series of medical tests to establish his diagnosis. A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was done on his brain.

Finally, it was concluded that the man was suffering from a brain tumour, known medically as Low Grade Glioma (LGG).

I told him in Kiswahili, “Una uvimbe kwenye ubongo,” meaning you have tumorous swelling in the brain.

He was kept on medications which gave him some relief, until he was referred to Muhimbili Orthopedics and Neurosurgical Institute (MOI) in Dar es Salaam, where he was then scheduled for neurosurgery. But, did he accept it?

He didn’t. He said he was not satisfied with our decision to refer him to Dar es Salaam. He said, “Am doing well now, then why should I go to Dar es Salaam?”

His curiosity about LGG

After diagnosing him with the condition, the patient was so curious. I guess you might as well allow me to cast light on it.

LGG, a brain tumour is common in children and young people, however, it can also occur at any age. It is the slowest growing tumour in adults, thus, it was not easy to suspect it in this 60 year old man.

Without subjecting him to an MRI, the service that he couldn’t get in Kondoa, it wouldn’t have been possible to diagnose him accurately.

How do you know that you have a brain tumour?

Be cautious of long standing headache, but according to www.urmc.rochester.edu, it is said that the most common symptom is seizure that you can barely notice.

Nonetheless, this man had only blurred vision and severe headache, whereby he initially used to take painkillers but other symptoms included confusion, memory loss, irritability, visual problems and speech difficulty.

This man wanted us to tell him what exactly caused his problem, it was sad that we blatantly told him that the cause is unknown, then he asked, “sasa kama nyie madokta hamjui sababu , sasa nani atajua? (If Drs do not know the real causes of my problem, who else should?).”

Then I told him, but there are known risk factors for the condition, such as previous exposure to radiation, the risk to get LGG increases with age, cellphones and powerlines, sometimes family history is attributable.

After 14 days he came back to the hospital, seeking his medication. Dr Glory Ngajiro a medical specialist at our hospital made some arrangements for the referral to MOI for neurosurgery consultation.

Although the man was reluctant to go to MOI, he insisted that he expected his condition to be approached medically without surgery.

So, he didn’t subscribe to the doctors’ advice. The doctors humbly insisted that he should go, since at that time, there was a considerable leeway with regard to the extent of his problem Vis a Vis possible alternatives.

Then, after going to Dar es salaam he came back to Dodoma, he was told straightaway that there is no alternative to his problem unless he accepted surgery.

So he came back at our hospital just to give us feedback but he promised to go back to Dar es salaam again, am not sure if he went there again.

The treatment for his condition could be a combination of surgery, observation and radiation.

Did he dare to go back to a neurosurgeon in Dar?

My advice remains, when you have a longstanding complains of headache, do not hesitate to seek doctors’ advice, be optimist, in the course of seeking medical help.

Stay healthy and always endevour to make informed health choices.