April 2004 (pregnant):
* Blurry spots develop in left eye.
* Visual field exam shows I am missing areas of vision, so ophthalmologist orders an MRI to check out neurological things.
* We decide to wait until after the birth to have the MRI done, watching to see if my symptoms worsen.
June 2004:
* Naomi born on the 21st with no complications.
* My vision doesn't improve at all.
August 2004:* 6th--My doctor suggests I have that MRI done, since my symptoms are still the same.
* 13th--I have my first MRI.
* 19th--We receive word that I have a "small mass" near my pituitary gland.
September 2004:* 9th--Local neurosurgeon refers me to a neurosurgeon he studied under at Evanston Hospital in Illinois who specializes in tumors in that part of the brain.
* 23rd--we meet Dr. Ivan Ciric, who says it is definitely a meningioma and I need to have it removed within the next couple of months. The tumor is wrapped around my optic nerve and partially around my internal carotid artery.
October 2004:
* 1st--We schedule the surgery for the 26th.
* 26th--Surgery Day! They remove 100% of the tumor, my vision is back to normal, and I have no adverse side effects. Success!! :)
God is really SO good. I love remembering how He carried us through the scariest experience of our lives, what I call our "Brain Tumor Experience".
When we knew there was something "in there" but didn't know what it was, I didn't know anything about benign brain tumors. I just assumed that a brain tumor diagnosis was a death sentence. Both Matt & I separately envisioned us buying an RV and travelling the country with our kids until I was too sick to enjoy life anymore. We learned SO much through this whole experience. And we kept looking back at how He had carried us through Jessica's death 9 years earlier, knowing that He would carry us again.
Which is not to say that it wasn't scary... it was TERRIFYING thinking that someone was going to cut my head open and dig around in my brain!!
But God really stepped in and carried us through it!! He is SO good. :)
3 comments:
I just think WOW!!! God is good, and I am glad the surgery was succeessful.
That is some shiner...and the staples seem almost surreal. Just amazing!
Hi Roberta,
Yeah, those staples really *were* surreal... especially to have them in my own head!! Imagine one moment lying on an OR table, then what felt like the very next moment, waking up with a huge head bandage and an aching forehead!
As time passed, I got brave enough to feel my bandage a little. The bottom staple by my left ear stuck out of the bandage, so I could feel it. VERY bizarre, to realize that not only did I have no memory of it, but that I had actually had my head cut open, a brain tumor removed, and I had 44 staples in my head to prove it!!
That black eye was weird, too. At first, in the recovery room, I could open both my eyes, but as the next few hours passed, my eyelid got more & more swollen so that I couldn't open my eye for a few days.
When Matt took me out in a wheelchair for a walk around the hospital after my head bandage was off (wearing a hat), you should have seen the looks people gave him. Like he had done given me that horrible bruise! :(
During the surgery, they were working near my left eye, and removed a bit of my cranium in there to get at the tumor easier. So I'm sure my skull would be an interesting specimen to see! Anyway, I'm sure that's why my left eye bruised up so much. I looked pretty much back to normal in about a week & a half, though.
Amazing what they can do, isn't it? God really had His hand in the whole thing, and I love looking back on it and remembering it.
But I know that same date is hard for your family, remembering little Elliott going to be with Jesus. We care, even though we've never met you... it really *feels* like I know you, though! :)
Amy
Amy - you could be on Mystery Diagnosis - one of my fave shows! :) It's on discovery health. I keep watching it waiting for the day I see Rob's "case" on there. (because I keep thinking to myself that I need to "submit" him and never do) I'm a dork.
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