Joseph's Medical and Household Cost

Hello, My name is Teresa Smirl,  June 26th, 2014 My Son Joseph Lindaman was diagnosed with a oligoastrocytoma low grade 2 benign brain tumor.  how they found it was when he went down on the GM line with a  grand mal seizure.  they found the tumor that was more than 6cm in the right temporal.   In July 2014 they removed what they could of the tumor.  There was still some of the tumor left over, which the doctors said they would continue to watch it.
   Over the next couple of months in 2014 the tumor was causing him to have seizures, speech and memory problems.  He was unable to work and became permantly disabled, which was hard for him because he has a family to support.  He has a wife and 2 adorable kids.  In Feb.2015 he ended up having a seizure that caused him to have Todd's Paralysis on the left side of his body in which he continues to become weaker on the left side when he has seizures  Nov. 2015 he was able to get a vagal nerve stimulator put in for seizures, although it helps with some of his seizures, it does not help with all.
   In 2016 and 2017 he has been in and out of the hospital with complications with seizures and the tumor and other medical issues.  The brain tumor had continued to grow during this time slowly, he started to get headaches everyday on the right side of his head, the doctors continued to monitor it every 6 months with an MRI.  April 2018 things seem to change, he had some problems with medication that made his sodium level to drop to a dangerous level, he was hospitalized for a couple of weeks, then needed in hospital rehab to help with walking and weakness, when he returned home he was monitored with in home therapy.
   The doctor (oncologist) in May 2018 had said his tumor was continuing to grow, he believes the tumor had become a grade 3, and suggest that he started chemotherapy, he started chemo in June 2018, he is to take 2 pills everyday for the next year.  July 2018  some more things changed, he started to get headaches on the left side of his head with headaches on his right.  On July 23rd he had the headache on both sides and was not feeling so right , his right side  of his body went all numb and tingling, his face felt heavy, he was rushed to the hospital again, they thought he might of had a stroke, a couple days prior to this all happening, he was tired and exhausted, and unable to breathe.  The hospital did all the test but everything came back fine for stroke, he was unable to an MRI at the time because the hospital does not have the right MRI machine for his VNS.
   Due to the right side weaknesses this time, he needed more in hospital rehab, this time it was 14 days of rehab.  After  he got out of  the hospital, on August 8th, 2018 he continued with in home therapy, he has to walk with a walker now, and use a wheelchair when he has to go to the doctors  visits.  August 13th he got another MRI, it showed more tumor progression, he went and seen the oncologist again on Aug. 23rd. and he suggested that they go and see a radiology oncologist, at that time the shortness of breath started to come back, so they put him on a steroid pill, and continue to monitor it for his breathing. On Aug. 30th he went and seen the radiation oncologist, he confirmed that the tumor had grown and it was now cancerous.  He was told he would do radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks.  He still was continuing to have shortness of breath and more weakness