Around the 7th of January 2019 I started getting a headache on the left side of my head. I get headaches and migraines often so I didn’t really think about it too much. It continued for a couple of days when I decided to actually think about why I was having a headache. I contributed my ongoing headache to a flare up of my TMJ. I called my dentist and got in the next day. He did a panoramic xray of my jaw and saw that my jaw was completely out of place. He put me on a common steroid and I was to follow up with him in 5 days to see how my jaw was doing. I started taking the steroid on Friday, January 11. The next day, Saturday, I thought I was having some weird reaction to the steroid because my right hand started having these massive muscle spasms that would last a couple of minutes then it go away. Pretty soon the right side of my face started having muscle spasms the same time my right hand did. I am not the kind of person who freaks out over anything, in fact, I am probably the opposite. I did not feel like I needed to go the ER, but rather I called my dentist and we decided that it was best to stop taking the steroid and see how I do over the next couple of days. By Monday, January 14, my dentist was worried and wanted me to go to the ER even though all my symptoms had stopped other than my right hand was numb. I told him I wanted to see him at my follow up appointment first and see how my symptoms were at that point before I made any rash decisions. I saw my dentist on Tuesday, January 15. My jaw was feeling much better and I was trying to talk myself into believing that my hand wasn’t as numb as it was a couple of days ago. He kept insisting that I stop at the ER because he was leaning more on the side of maybe I had a mini stroke or TIA. I still wasn’t convinced after leaving his office. That night, my dentist called me and told me again to go to the ER. He wouldn’t let up until I agreed that I would go. I told him that I would go in the morning. Wednesday, January 15, I woke up, went to the gym, ran 4 miles, came home and got ready for work. All the while trying to talk myself out of going to the ER. Afterall, me and my 17 year old son were flying to New York the very next day and I had a ton of stuff I needed to get done. I did not have time to sit at the ER all day to find out that I was just having a weird reaction to the steroid. But, I kept having this little voice in the back of mind telling me I needed to go. I finally stopped arguing with myself and drove to the ER. I felt like an idiot walking myself into the ER to check myself in when physically I looked perfectly fine. I told the admitting nurse that my dentist thought I might have had a stroke. The next thing I know I am in a hospital gown hooked up to an IV and every test under the sun is being ordered. I was so embarrassed, I thought for sure nothing was going to come of it. After about 4 hours of tests, the ER doctor came in, closed the door (never a good sign) and said, “Sorry to tell you this, but I have some bad news for you. You have a brain tumor.” At that moment I felt my world crashing down on me. I had so many thoughts going through my head. The biggest one being, “How can this be happening?” The ER doctor was amazing, he already had the ball rolling. The neurosurgeon had already been called and was coming to see me and talk to me about surgery. A room was getting prepared on the Neuro floor and family was being called. My neurosurgeon came in and explained that he thought I had a tumor called a meningioma, it was the size of a racquetball and that it was sitting on the left side of brain right on top of my motor skills and what I had been experiencing were mini seizures. He then proceeded to tell me that he was going to go ahead and remove the tumor in the morning. I had less than 18 hours from the time I found out that I had a tumor to the time it was removed. To wrap my brain around all this information, I named my tumor Sally. It helped me deal with all the feelings, emotions and fear to name it and come up with a funny story. I told people that “Sally” wasn’t a good tenant, that she was reeking havoc and causing a lot of problems so I had to evict her. I said she caused a lot of problems and it will take time to repair, but with time it will all be good again. It has been almost 4 months now and I am so grateful that I have had such an amazing recovery. I am running and back at the gym. My once bald head is now covered with spiky, thick brown hair. I am not mad that I had to go through this, I am actually grateful for the opportunity to be able to learn and grow from this trial and hopefully to be able to help others stay positive as they are going through this hurdle in life
