Tara's Profile Page

Biography

In late August 2010 I started having Strange Episodes that would stop me in my tracks. I would have a “DejaVu” type experience where in my mind I would recall recent events and when this happened I would also smell a strange and strong chemical smell in my nostrils and what felt like a hot liquid trailing through my chest. It happened about once a week for the following 3 weeks and I just chalked it up to some fluke occurance and went on with my life until one day in Mid September this “strange episode” happened to me 4 times within 2 hrs and it really scared me. So I went to my Dr and he said it sounded Neurological and sent me for a battery of tests, including EEG, CT Scan and MRI and when the results came back I was stunned: I had a Brain Tumour. I had a Brain tumour measuring 4.5cm x 5.1cm sitting on the Right Temporal Lobe of my Brain, and the “Episodes” that I had been experiencing were actually seizures due to the tumour resting on my Lobe. So on October 21, 2010 I had a Craniotomy to remove the tumour. The tumour was removed without prior biospy and was only biopsied after the surgery and on December 16, 2010 when I met with my Neuro-Oncologist I was informed that what they removed from my Brain was a low Grade 2 Mixed Glioma tumour and that my Surgeons were able to remove it all. That is also when we discussed what to do as my next course of treatment, and Observation is what I chose. What this means is that I will have an MRI every 4 months for the first year Post Surgery, every 3 months the second year post surgery, every 6 months 3 years post surgery and once a year each year as my neuro Oncologist said, Until I am “gray.”

Cancer Symptoms

I had Seizure symptoms which led to further testing and discovery of my Brain Tumour.

Surgery Description, Dates & Side Effects

Surgery: Craniotomy at Right Temporal Love for full tumour removal
Date: October 21, 2010
Hospital Stay: 4 days
Side Effects: Initially the pressure in my head was really bad but that was due to swelling of the brain from surgery and I was on steroids to control that. The steroids that I was on however gave me major hallucinations to the point that I tried escaping the hospital on one occassion. This of course was controlled by a dosage change when it was brought to the attention of my attending physicians.

4 months post surgery:I still get horrible headaches. I find that it hurts to lay back and put full pressure on my head at night and many mornings I wake up with headaches. I was informed that this is normal and will last for some time so really you just have to learn some coping techniques to get by. I sometimes still get what I call “skull pain” that feels like there is pressure around where the incision was but that again is normal.

6 months post surgery: I am no longer getting headaches and only get a pressure behind my right eye when the Barometric pressure changes.

Radiation or Proton Therapy Description, Dates & Side Effects

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Chemotherapy Description, Dates & Side Effects

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Hormone Therapy Description, Dates & Side Effects

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Bone Marrow Transplant Description, Dates & Side Effects

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Immune Therapy Description, Dates & Side Effects

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Fundraising Description

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Clinical Trials

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Comments:

Hi Tara;

Thanks for you note, and it is sweet of you to be thinking about me. This fall weather is indeed a treat!

Hope everything is well with you today!

Love Barb

Posted on October 16, 2011 at 1:23:48 PM by Private User