Susanne’s Story

Site created on May 28, 2017

Hi Everyone:
As many of you know, January 14th, 2017, was not our best day!  Our day started with an injured dog and progressed to a house flood, a car accident and, for Susanne, an incidental finding/diagnosis of a large meningioma wrapped around her internal carotid artery and her optic nerve.  Since then, we've spent our time speaking with neurosurgeons, neuro-opthamologists and friends/family to come up with a plan to tackle this challenge.  Susanne's neurosurgeon says the time has come to remove this uninvited guest, so June 19th is the date of the interloper's going away party! 


Now that we have your attention, here's the plan:  On Monday morning, June 19th, Susanne will undergo a craniotomy for removal of her meningioma, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where she works and is loved!  Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Bruce, is world renowned and we have the utmost confidence in his skills, experience and abilities.  The surgery will last @ 8 hours and Susanne is expected to spend a couple of days in the neuro ICU and @ 5-7 days in the hospital.  We are sure that all will go as smoothly as possible and she will be able to return home post-op without needing inpatient rehabilitation.  


We recognize that this is a lot of information, and it sounds pretty scary (it did to us too when we were first hit with it - ok maybe it still does a bit....) but we are confident that we will get through this together and with the help of our loving family and friends.  If you want to learn more about meningioma or more specifically the type of meningioma Susanne has (sphenoid wing), please go to: http://www.columbianeurosurgery.org/conditions/olfactory-groove-and-sphenoid-wing-meningiomas/


Ben will be actively using the CaringBridge website to post updates and reports of Susanne's surgery and recovery with his goal of getting 
Susanne to take it over as  quickly as possible.  Please use this site to check for frequent updates as Ben will be with Susanne in the hospital and unable to talk/text or personally reach out to you all.  We appreciate all of your love and support and are looking forward to having this in our rearview mirror as soon possible.  XO



Newest Update

July 17, 2020

Journal entry by Benjamin Bornstein —

Happy news to share! It's been a few years, and lots of things have happened...

BUT today Susanne was invited to present excerpts from her memoir at the Gotham Writer's Conference in October!  Via Zoom, of course.  Published authors and literary agents will be in attendance, so fingers are crossed.  Being selected to present her story of overcoming her life's challenges is the biggest honor: if an agent expresses interest, well that's just an extra bonus...  
Read More of the journal titled "July 17, 2020"
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