Nine years ago today, I was granted a second chance at life after surviving a half-day long craniotomy. Who would have thought?!
At the time I was on a frustrating quest to become a mother when my gut instinct ultimately led me to the discovery of a life threatening baseball-sized meningioma brain tumor.
I'll never forget the paralyzing fear as I was rolled towards the OR wondering if I would emerge and if so, what condition I'd be in. Would I still be me? There were no guarantees at the time.
It is a miracle I survived hour after hour of delicate and risky surgery while also avoiding a blood transfusion. Of course this was all unbeknowst to me at the time as my husband, mom, brother, friends and neighbors anxiously paced the Neuro ICU waiting room.
It wasn't my time yet. Every day I am thankful for my second chance at life and for my two beautiful blessings, Hannah and Hunter who saved my life and bestowed the title of mom upon me.
So today I can proudly proclaim, scream, shout, holler... "I am a 9-year meningioma survivor!" Damn that feels good!
Whoo-Hoo... Popping the champagne over here!
ReplyDeleteI am 34 year old female, was diagnosed with a baseball size meningioma on 6/15/09 after being healthy as a horse all my life. Had a 5 hour craniotomy on 6/17/09. Had to have a blood transfusion because my blood pressure was low. Had 2nd brain surgery on 8/28/09 because my incision was spurting elmers glue white puss for 24 hours. Had MRI on 8/25 that showed either one of 2 things: new tumor regrowth or puss from suspected MRSA infection. Determined that it was puss from a sterile abcess hence the washout and removal of skull plate. Took cultures from brain and looked to see if infection grew on them. No infection did appear. that was good news. however the docs decided to blast me with antibiotics for 3 weeks just as a precaution. It was a debilitating 3 weeks, thats another story. Now I have a soft spot on my head and will have a 3rd surgery in December to put in a plastic plate that they are having manufactured for me. But first I have to get another MRI this Thursday to make sure that all is well post op 2nd surgery. I feel like my life is a living hell, but have been determined to stay optimistic; you know how that goes. I have been wriddled with fear, I have been boldly confident, I have been humble, I have been every emotion you can imagine. I am just amazed at how much a human can endure. I ordered your book from B&N.com and it is on route. I cant wait to read it. It has been a living nightmare. Thanks for listening.
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