I had frequent headaches that my doctors never addressed any further than blaming them on my hypothyroidism.
In April 2021, I woke up feeling so dizzy that I could barely walk. I had consumed alcohol with friends the night before. My mother-in-law drove me to PMC (the closest hospital) for a check-up. They didn’t perform any head scans and diagnosed me with vertigo, prescribing Meclizine (25mg) in the ER. It helped, so I went home with a prescription for Meclizine. For the next eight months, I experienced similar dizzy episodes and took Meclizine when they occurred, which provided relief.
On December 4, 2021, I went out with friends to celebrate my birthday, which was the next day (Sunday, December 5). I drank alcohol again that night. The next day, while lying on the couch with my husband, I turned my head to talk to him and immediately felt dizzy. It was so intense that I vomited for most of the day, barely able to eat my birthday cake. I brushed it off and continued taking Meclizine for the next three days, but my symptoms did not improve. At this point, I realized it was more than just vertigo.
On the evening of December 8, after my shift at work, I made the decision to drive myself to the ER. Upon my assessment, the doctor again suggested that my symptoms were due to vertigo and recommended increasing my Meclizine dosage to 50mg. After taking it, the doctor returned to check if my symptoms had improved, but unfortunately, they had not.
Finally, he suggested that I undergo a CT scan of my head. After the scan, time passed, and then a doctor and a nurse entered my ER room to inform me that I had a 4-cm mass in my brain. They needed to transfer me to a more advanced hospital for further testing.
However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals were not conducting transfers between facilities. Eventually, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., confirmed they would accept me. I spent the remainder of that night in the ER bed, and the next morning, I was taken by ambulance to Washington, D.C.
Upon my arrival, I went through test after test and questionnaire after questionnaire. The brain CT scan confirmed the presence of the 4-cm mass located in the left lateral ventricle of my brain. They wouldn’t know the type or whether it was malignant until it was surgically removed.
My surgery was scheduled for December 15, and I underwent approximately seven hours of surgery. After the procedure, I slept for about five days, waking only to take medication, which caused concern among my family. My husband came to D.C. and helped wake me up more frequently. I spent the following week in MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, where I was alone for most of the time, only allowed one visitor per day from 2 to 6 p.m.
Pathology confirmed it was a grade 2 central neurocytoma (a benign, rare brain tumor).
The moral of my story is this: You know your body better than anyone else. Never let someone, even a doctor, make you believe you are okay when you know you aren’t.
