Sleeping with the Enemy

Sleeping with the Enemy

Lorraine

When I went to the hospital with a fever of 104.9, BP 58/23, Pulse of 120, they thought I had meningitis. CT scan revealed another issue with the meninges of the brain. A meningioma located in my brain stem. It had been in residence in my brain for 15-20 years. I suffered a traumatic brain injury when my ex-husband decided to slam the back of my head into the concrete floor of the condo we lived in SEVERAL times, yet the NS says there is no correlation…how can that be? I was sleeping with that enemy far too long, it HAD to come out or it was going to kill me. Thirteen hours it took to chisel that brain alien out of there and now I’m left with deficits affecting cranial nerves 4 through 9. I guess my ex managed to hurt me far more than he thought he did. My surgery was 10-13-14…13 never was my favorite number!!

I’m doing tons of different therapies and am going to start acupuncture in the hope of waking up the nerves to my face, nose and throat. I am looking forward to participating in the Brain Tumor Society Walk in San Diego in May (if you care to sponsor my team, it’s the San Diego Meningioma Monarchs). I have found a new passion in my life…raising money to further brain tumor research. I feel like meningiomas, the most common female brain tumor, get short shrift in the research arena and am very tired of all the breast cancer awareness out there. I think they should be doing screening CT scans for these insidious little monsters that can be positive for hormone receptors and who take up residence in our brains just like they do mammograms looking for breast changes.

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