me & my meningioma

After my initial MRI, the radiologist said that I have a 2.2 x 1.8 x 1.9 cm high left parietal parasagittal meningioma. My neurosurgeon confirmed this, but ordered a second MRI, which happened last Friday. More on that later.

A meningioma is a tumor that originates in the meninges, the membranes that surround your brain and spine. My meningioma is on my brain and basically right on top of my head. It's right next to - and starting to invade - my superior sagittal sinus - the large blood vessel going through the middle of your brain - which is where the name "parasagittal" comes from.  This location accounts for about 25% of meningiomas, making it the most common. But it also makes it one of the trickier to remove as they have to be careful not to damage the sinus. Because of this, they may have to leave a teeny tiny bit in, but then I'd have radiation to neutralize the sucker.

Surgery is most often the solution, as it is for me. Radiosurgery (concentrated radiation therapy) can also be an option, either in addition to surgery if they can't get it all out or if it ends up being more atypical, or as a primary step if the tumor is small or if it's burrowed too deep into your brain. My tumor is just a bit too big for radiosurgery only (it's about the size of my first thumb joint) and it's sitting nicely on the top of my brain so no problem getting at it. It's also too close to a blood source to be safe on its own. Plus I'm young so there's lots of time for it to grow, better to get it out now while it's still easy.

No one is really sure what causes them. Women get them twice as often as men so possibly estrogen. Radiation is also thought to be a cause, but I've never had radiation. They are the most prevalent type of brain tumor and are also often the easiest to treat. So if you're going to have a brain tumor, this is the one you want. Yay me.

Apparently I'll have my staples removed 1-2 weeks after surgery and will be cleared to drive at that point. I'll also be on anti-seizure medicine for about a week. Most patients then take another few weeks off from work to full recover. Luckily I have a job that will allow me to do this and to start back part-time until I'm really ready to be back full-time. Also lucky that I have short-term disability at my job and have been here long enough to get 13 weeks at 100% pay. Really lucky about that.

Not really sure what to expect with my recovery. Before I stopped reading stuff online, I mostly found stories of people who had large tumors, baseball or grapefruit size. And that often were causing seizures or vision or motor problems. Or that were tiny and thus were on the watch-and-see method. I'm completely asymptomatic (the headaches have pretty much gone away on their own) and my tumor is small, but not tiny. My theory is that others who had tumors similar to mine recovered fully and with minimal complications and thus haven't had to go online for answers. Good theory, right? It's also why I'm writing this blog - so others like me can have a resource.

So I'm expecting a few weeks of not functioning at normal capacity. Forgetting things. Not remembering the right words or what they mean. But then I expect that to wear off and for my brain to go back to normal.  I don't expect to have any long-term problems.

I also expect to be extremely fatigued at first and to not have a high attention span. I'm stocking up on sweatpants and flannel pajamas, cleaning and organizing my house top to bottom, ordering cable and upgrading my internet connection. I plan on taking things extra easy for a while so I don't end up with a setback. Just keep on moving forward.