Meningioma Monday..

 I want to combat meningiomas with the same ferocity my daughter displays during competition.

Meningioma Monday...

"Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have no idea what it's like to be one, but I do know my own meningioma recovery wouldn't have been possible without the many who took care of me. They shoulder our burdens, take on our worries, toss and turn on our behalf, advocate when we're unable to and so much more.

When was the last time you thanked a caregiver? If you can't recall, how about now?

Meningioma Monday...

Meningioma Mommas is making its mark toward their goal of donating one million dollars to fund meningioma research.

They have renewed their funding with Johns Hopkins University with a new $12,000 donation bringing the total tally to $192,000.

Thank you for celebrating this major milestone with Meningioma Mommas!

We are still far from a meningioma cure. Together we can bridge that gap.

Help us close it with a donation today!

http://www.meningiomamommas.com/donations

Savoring Sweet Second Chances...

"If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You have another chance."--Andrea Boydston

Thankfully I received that chance 12 years ago when Dr. Timothy Fullagar removed my meningioma and saved my life.

Here's to celebrating my 12th second chance.

Meningioma Monday...

Recipes for a meningioma cure!

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I'd love to send a cookbook to you!

Are you feeling the love this month?! I hope you are! Please help find homes for the 471 remaining cookbooks.

100% of the proceeds fund meningioma research. We need a cure!

NEW LOW PRICE!! Save $10--cookbooks are only $15 each or 2 for $25 now!!!

FEEDING THE MIND & SOUL: It's More Than Just A Cookbook is a wonderful collection of mouth watering tried and true favorites from our very own Meningioma Mommas & Poppas and their caregivers, family and friends.


Enjoy everything from a Poppa's refreshing Instant Lobotomy “Brain Teaser” to a family treasured Apple Dapple Cake “Out-Of-Your-Mind Dessert” from a Yale neurosurgeon's sister! It's a no brainer with inspiring and humorous quotes to boot in this truly one-of-a-kind cookbook.


This cookbook is perfect for moms, dads, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, grandmothers, grandfathers, in-laws, outlaws, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, nannies, neighbors, poker parties, book clubs, bunko groups, MOPS...


Feeding the Mind & Soul makes a great anniversary, birthday, engagement, divorce, wedding and hostess present too. Don’t forget to pick one up for your kids’ teachers, your yoga instructor, accountant, therapist, babysitter, banker teller, hairdresser, lawyer, personal trainer, life coach, postal worker, newspaper carrier, milk deliver, barber, zen master, gardener…It’s also a lovely way to honor your team of doctors.

Here's how to order today:

Send a check made payable to Meningioma Mommas to:

Meningioma Mommas
9249 S. Broadway Blvd.
Unit 200-PMB#240
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129


or use PayPal:


https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=fbcQ7RxtFrEEBTaYra8TrqVKL1qU1pyguF-5wzU55h-M0Cjce1ThOkbu47C&dispatch=50a222a57771920b6a3d7b606239e4d529b525e0b7e69bf0224adecfb0124e9b61f737ba21b081982c6ea0c3af0b8ad315dd45f3fe2ad43b

Before the Sun Rises...

Ex-roommate!

It was 12 years ago today, but it still feels like that morning. A damp, cold, gray, Colorado winter morning when the sun had yet to rise and peak through my shutters stirring me from sleep. Instead, the high pierced shrill of a phone performed the sun’s daily ritual.

With receiver pressed firmly against my ear, an uneven, sterile voice greeted (if you could call it that) me. The unfamiliar, gravelly voice delivered a fate I still carry to this day and will until my last breath.

It only took four words.

“You have a meningioma,” the hollow voice uttered.


“A whaaaat?!” I stuttered back.


“A BRAIN TUMOR,” the voice continued, sending chills down my spine.


How do you even spell that I wanted to know as I desperately rifled through my nightstand drawer in search of a pen, a pencil—ah, heck my Mac Spice lip liner would do.


Men-in-gioma sounds more like a group of guys test-driving the latest foreign import, with all the bells and whistles, not to mention the 2.9% available financing option.


If only it could have been that simple.


The line went dead.


But surely it was me who was dead. I had become that damp, cold, gray Colorado winter morning.


Just hours later, I sat in horror as my newly appointed neurosurgeon explained the MRI I’d had the night before. Never-before-heard terms soared over my head.


Middle third sphenoid wing meningioma.

Cavernous sinus.


Lateral ventricular compression.


You’d have to be a brain surgeon to understand any of this stuff. Thankfully, the man in the overly starched, white lab coat standing in front of me was.


I forced myself to look at the snapshots of my illuminated brain. Images of a baseball-sized mass glared back at me in defiance. My husband was a major league ballplayer at the time, but I never imagined I’d be looking at the equivalent size of one in my head. Surely there had been a mix up. I was healthy, only 32 and trying to start a family. Maybe this explained my struggles to become pregnant the past year.


“You’ve probably had this tumor for over a decade,” my neurosurgeon solemnly announced.


“A decade!” I choked. I had had a “roommate” living inside of my head for 10 years? The only roommates I ever recalled having were back in college and graduate school, who shared their English Lit notes with you and gave you aspirin and a glass of water after a night of one too many beers.

I couldn’t get out of my head the Kindergarten Cop scene in which Arnold Schwarzenegger shouted, “It’s not a tumor!” I so wanted to believe this. But this wasn’t a fictional movie.

It was real life and it was mine. Surgery would be long and risky, but I didn’t have a choice. In just 8 days I would have a word I never thought would be in my vocabulary--a craniotomy.

To be continued...

p.s. And instead of a damp, cold, gray morning....we're in the middle of a blizzard!