((((kathy)))) i know exactly how you feel when you discovered your diagnosis. i went through a very similar experience in a different way. my dad died from a strange brain disease in 2001. in december 2005, when i was only 33, i had a stroke. i was terrified because i thought i ended up with my dad's brain disease. i spent months wondering before i was finally diagnosed. shortly before i was diagnosed, my neurologist had talked about the possibility of my having to have a brain biopsy to find out what in the heck my brain lesion was about. i didn't know if i was going to live or not. it was a year ago when i was finally diagnosed, after my 5th mri scan. before my diagnosis, it was like i had one foot in this life and the other foot in the afterlife. it was very strange, feeling like my world was moving out of existence and feeling the afterlife was only a few steps away. it wasn't scary, but just very strange.