Neurosurgery | Health | Hope
Facing a Brain Tumour
The first time was tough, but it’s impossible to describe the anxiety of facing it twice.
His first brain tumour three years ago caught us off guard, and within days of the diagnosis, my husband, Dale, was in surgery.
During the seven-hour operation, they removed a non-malignant brain tumour about 8 cm. in diameter — approximately the size of a half grapefruit.
His symptoms had been headaches and mild mood swings, but during one average workday afternoon, his boss noted that the headache he’d complained about earlier seemed to be causing stroke-like symptoms so he sent Dale to the ER.
I waited for him in the hospital waiting room for several hours, and when they finally called me in to discuss something, I got a sinking feeling. That feeling you get when you know before anyone has said anything, that your reality is about to change.
The week of the operation and the recovery period afterward were a chaotic mix of anxiety, hope, fear and questions like: what would happen next and could the tumour recur?
But we also felt immense gratitude that the operation had been successful, and our worries faded as he gradually returned to his old self. Dale had…
