Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting. Most of you know that I was diagnosed with a brain tumor this past week. It started on the morning of August 5, when Jason thought I had a terrible dream. He said that I woke him from shaking and thrashing but he couldn’t wake me. He is very difficult to wake up and I am typically a light sleeper. He turned the lights on and was calling my name but I didn’t respond. When the shaking quit, he grabbed his phone (because I wouldn’t have believed him if he just tried to tell me what happened) and recorded another minute of my breathing which was clenched teeth and saliva, while he continued to try to wake me. I did open my eyes, but it was like I was looking through him and never responded. I don’t remember any of it, so I’m glad he recorded it. It was a Saturday morning and I felt fine, other than I had bitten my tongue during it, so I waited until Tuesday to see my Dr. He scheduled an MRI for the following Tuesday and set up a Neurology appt for the week after. I had my MRI and they had me see my Dr. right after. He came in and told me that I have a brain tumor. He gave me a printout of the findings which is a left frontal lobe, complex mass measuring 5.9x7.0x5.1 cm, most suspicious for neoplasm both primary brain malignancy or metastatic disease and he let me take a photo of the actual MRI image. I hadn’t noticed any real symptoms besides the seizure that were red flags to me. I have had migraines for over 20 years, my vision is worsening but I’m 45, my memory isn’t the best but again, I’m 45, my balance isn’t good but I”m short and round. I had an excuse for all of it.
I can’t drive for at least 6 months, he said I needed to call my husband to come to tell him in person and I needed a ride home anyway. The Dr. also wanted to do CT scans of the rest of my body to make sure there weren’t any other masses in my body that could have spread to my brain. I was able to get in for the CT scans that afternoon and there were no other masses, which was great news. I went home and told the rest of my family. I know it’s very serious but I’m trying to keep our home life as light as I can for now. When I forget things or do something silly, I respond with “well you know I have a brain tumor” and we chuckle, even though it’s not really funny, but it’s kind of funny.
On Monday I have an appt with the neurosurgeon in Fargo. I also spoke with Mayo and the University of MN. I’d like to get a few opinions before making a final decision on where to have things taken care of.
The Dr. said this will be the hardest part of things, waiting and not knowing. I’m thankful things are moving forward, but still unsure of what will happen next. I sure appreciate the prayers, I say the more people praying, the better. Honestly, this doesn’t feel real yet, even though I know it is, it still feels like it’s happening to someone else. I know God is with me, and I’m so thankful He woke Jason up to witness the seizure so I could get in right away and they could find it. So please continue to pray for me and my family. I will update as I learn more.
I was supposed to start chemo 2 weeks ago but my platelets were at 66, so we waited another week and they only went up to 76. So today when I went to check my labs my platelets were up to 119!! So I can start my chemo today, 3rd round here I come!! The "normal range is 140-400 for platelets but the Dr. said as long as they were close to 100 I could start again! Yay!!
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