It was never supposed to come back

I was diagnosed with a brain tumor January 2006 after trying to have a baby. My fertility doctor supported the fact that I wanted to stop fertility meds were taxing on my body, but he requested I have a MRI of my brain.  Within 24 hrs my life turned around, upside down & every which way. He said I would be able to live with it but I had to be be monitored w/ frequent MRIs. In November 2006, I lost my vision & was rushed to ER & had emergency surgery.

After 18 months, life was coming back to normal and was told the probability of it returning was slim to none. But in 2009, my tumor returned & I had surgery again because it had almost tripled in size. The doctors then told be I was good, but I never recovered from that surgery. For almost 2 years, my body felt weak. The headaches would not go away and they were worsening. I tried to ignore them, but in 2011 we learned I was having CSF leaking in my brain.

I went back to the OR to have the leak repaired and after 3 weeks in the ICU life seemed to be getting better. I spent almost 4 years pain-free until November of 2015, when we learned my tumor came back again. The tumor was growing at a more alarming rate and although they said it would never come back, I was back on the operating table February of 2016.

Since then, I do everything to stay strong.

I was let go of at work, I went from 168lbs down to 101lbs in matter of 5 months. There are days where I want to cry because my hormone levels and thyroid levels never recovered. But what keeps me going is the spirit of an amazing support system of friends and family combined. The doctors have said if it comes back I wont survive another surgery I graciously looked at him and said lets live for today and move forward. Im blessed to have come across this website in hopes to find others with similar stories to be. an added support system. Each day is different but every day I know someone has it worse than me.

---

Opinions expressed within this story belong solely to the author and do not reflect the views or opinions of the National Brain Tumor Society.