Watching Over Me

In April 2021, I went to my yearly eye appointment to get bifocals. From there, I was sent to a specialist because my vision wouldn’t focus beyond 20/40. I did every test under the sun for four months. I then did a CT scan because my eye doctor suspected my vision loss was something bigger than he could find. In August 2022, they found a tumor behind my eyes that was crushing my optic nerve.

Surgery was scheduled for September. I ended up with COVID. They rescheduled for October 20. I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t scared at all. I had everyone praying for me. On the day of surgery, my left eye was at 20/40, and my right eye was at 20/80. I almost lost my privilege to drive. Surgery was about 8.5 hours. I chose for them to go through my nose. Everything went as perfectly as it could.

I had 20/20 vision immediately after surgery. My tumor was a meningioma. It was on my pituitary gland. I was fortunate enough that its removal was all that I needed to be better. I now have better vision than I have in decades. I got my peripheral vision back. I am extremely lucky, the doctors say, that everything with my eyes has gone as well as it has.

At my 3-month checkup, they found tumors on my thyroid. Thankfully non-cancerous. As of now, I go to several checkups a year. I have an ophthalmologist, endocrinologist, and an MRI yearly to detect the tumor growing back. If this year ends well, it may be my last year for these checkups. I am extremely lucky. The only side effects I have are headaches and an extremely high sensitivity to light. I thank God every day that I can still see.

TAGGED WITH: meningioma

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