LizaAntonyEmpowHER
I am a 36 year old healthy (or at least I thought I was) female. I had flown to Denver, Colorado on 6/17/2011 to celebrate not only Father's Day, but also my parent's 43 wedding anniversary. My parents picked me up at the airport and we went directly to Foothills Golf Course to play 9 holes, unfortunately we got rained out by the 4th hole. We went home to their house in Genessee (a suburb of Denver at roughly 8,500 feet elevation) and we all felt great. My mom and I had a glass of wine while my dad BBQ'd dinner for all of us. The next morning, Saturday, we went on an approximately 4 mile walk and saw deer, elk and of all things, wild turkey. That afternoon, my mom and I drove to Boulder, CO where I received my undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado. That evening, I took my parents out to dinner to celebrate a combination of Mother's & Father's Day as well as their 43rd wedding anniversary. We went to our favorite little French Bistro, Le Central. We went home and watched a dvd, again, everything felt fine and good. Went to bed and at approximately 6:00am the next morning (I think, we don't know for sure) I had the first siezure. I remember this siezure as I was shaking uncontrollably and drooling. I thought I was in my bed, but apparentely I was on the floor. I then was able to get up and then crashed into the closet doors, which thank God my mom heard, but thought it might be thunder. I managed to walk from my room in the lower lever up the flight of stairs where my mom found me, disoriented, but wanting to go upstairs. My mom helped me up the stairs where she wanted me to lie down, she knew something was wrong, but had no idea what. Before I could lie down, I collapsed and suffered another siezure (I don't remember anything from here on, just what I've been told by my parents and various medical personnel). My parents called 911 where the operator told my parents to get me on my side and that she would send help immediately. Within a half hour, Jeffco Sheriffs had our street blocked off, the paramedics came and since I had collapsed, they had to put a "C" collar on me. They immediately took me to the brand new St. Anthony's Central Hospital in Lakewood, where I was admitted to the ER for an emergency CATSCAN and MRI, I had 2 more severe siezures in the ambulance and according to the medical reports, I suffered from accute respiratory failure. My father followed the ambulance down and was met by the Chaplain. My mom followed in a separate car. The results of the tests showed that I had a massive brain tumor on my right frontal lobe and the NeuroSurgeon and Neurologist agreed that I needed to have surgery immediately in order to remove the tumor, roughly the size of a softball. The following day, Monday the 20th, Dr. Larson preformed a 6 hour procedure to embolize the tumor and shrink its size. They went in through my femoral artery and cut off all the blood supply to the tumor. On Tuesday the 21st, the NeuroSurgeon, Dr. Chad Hartley, performed another 6 hour procedure to extract the tumor from my brain. I was then sent to ICU to recover and the tumor was sent out for biopsy. I spent 3 days in ICU where the first 2 days were absolutely awful for my parents as they had no idea what to expect, their youngest daughter just had major brain surgery and was able to respond to voices by sqeezing hands but no verbal communication and my eyes were swollen shut, but couldn't swallow and was completely out of it. By Friday, I was able to respond, swallow, and had my first hospital meal of Mac 'n Cheese! I was then moved to the 5th floor (non-ICU) to recover. I had numerous visits from both the NeuroSurgeon and the Neurologist as well as a Physical Therapist and an Occupational therapist. I started to walk the halls with my walker and assistance from either my mom or dad. We were warned that I would probably have to spend the next 10-14 days in the therapy ward, however after roughly 4 days, both the physical and occupational therapists agreed that being released to my parents house and home care would be a better option considering how well I had progressed. So on June 27th, I was released, just 6 days after major brain surgery. We all feel that it was a miracle. I have spent the next 4 weeks at my parents going to various Doctor's appointments, walking to the mailbox, reading, doing light physical therapy. After the appointment with the NeuroSurgeon on 7/8/2011, he cleared me to travel, drive, and get back to a somewhat normal life. At this appointment we finally got the results of the biopsy, where I was diagnosed with a Type II Mengianoma. The good news was, the tumor was benign. The not so good news was, this type of tumor has the possibility (very slim) of re-growing. I am still on anti-seizure medication (and will be for possibly for the rest of my life) and will have to go in for MRIs quarterly for the first year, I will also have to have MRIs annually for the remainder of my life as a precaution and to monitor my brain. I consider myself one of the luckiest people ever that this unfortunate incident took place while I was at my parents house so that there was someone to help me and call 911. My parents are literally my lifesavers and I love them very much. I feel they have suffered more throughout this ordeal than I have as they had to witness their child suffer seizures, see me carted away in an ambulance and see me after the multiple surgeries and I don't remember most of that first week.
Women have much greater risk than men of developing meningioma, a type of tumor in the membrane lining the brain and spinal cord. The cases vary widely in severity of symptoms. Approximately 90 ...
LizaAntonyEmpowHER commented on Linda Fugate PhD's post Meningioma News