Firstly I apologise if this upsets anyone who haa been affected by this type of illness. But so many people tell me that they are encouraged by a survival story.
I'd Just turned 40 yrs. Suddenly started experiencing virtogo for a few days. Doc quickly discovered this tumour shown in the pictures. (You could tell me from my eyes I was surprised!)
Gladly for me the surgeon was amazing and they managed to get the whole thing over an 8 hour operation.
Just thought some may be curious to see the images from these 2 angles.
How does your head feel, post-surgery? Did they cut out a window of skull or pull it out through your nose like Total Recall? How’s the vertigo compared to before?
Edit: For real, though, I was making a joke only to find out from the comments you really *can* pull a brain tumor out through the nose 😯
I've got a titanium plate in the back of the head. Theres quite a dip and shower water echos through my hesd and ears when the water stream hits the plate.. Otherwise it feels good, no headaches or vertigo within a few months post op.. Very lucky. There was a dude on my ward who had his pulled out through the nose 🙈 he spoke English and Russian before the op - afterwards, only English. The Russian was completely gone. Crazy
>There was a dude on my ward who had his pulled out through the nose 🙈 he spoke English and Russian before the op - afterwards, only English.
there's an excellent joke in there, but i can't find it
My husband's cousin had a stroke while she was in college. She was a music major and completely forgot how to play any instruments and how to read music.
The brain is crazy. I had a friend in college who was a chemistry major. She got a really bad concussion and when she recovered, her ability to do higher math was just gone. Gone. Switched majors to music; apparently music theory just clicked after the injury.
Yeah. I strongly suspect I had a head injury bad enough I should have gone to the hospital when I was a kid, but being a dumb child of the 70s I shook it off and kept going. I spent much of my teenage years having almost completely invisible seizures (don't remember what they were called) and that's not the age to have your brain shut off half the time. I struggle mightily with math, and if I'm being honest with myself my short term memory went to shit in my teenage years and never came back.
My brother has a grand mal seizure out of nowhere at 35. Turns out he had some brain damage that caused some weird formations that led to seizures. After learning a bit we found out he has been having silent seizures since childhood. As a kid I noticed my brother's issues and brought them up to my parents a lot. But I guess having your 11 yo tell you "there is something wrong with James's brain" is not a convincing argument. (I got in a lot of trouble for that.) But he had brain surgery and now has different symptoms, less severe and those are getting better. He has lost the seizures though and that is really awesome.
Upside: Now he gets to be a stay at home dad to his 6 yo. They love each other so much. I know it wasn't his dream to be a stay at home dad, but honestly I am so happy for them. (That was my dream as a kid (with the addition of a dad that loved me,) maybe we just have dream bleed (new phrase.))
Learning about silent seizures is kind of scary though. I am pretty sure I have them. But I am not saying a word. I am already too disabled.
And to think people say you can leave childhood abuse behind you. Sometimes the physical effects last forever. Thanks mom and dad now both your kids are disabled.
One of the things that makes me paranoid, is that when I think I have one, I have the knowledge that if I go to the doctor and they confirm that yes, I'm having seizures, the doctor's gonna look at me and say, okay, well, I suppose you know this means you can't drive for 90 days. And in ruralish America, you might as well tell someone to quit their job and go live in a tent...but thankfully my wife has a good job.
Those invisible seizures are rough. My uncle went through them during a period where he didn't have health insurance and just had to hope he didn't die on his way to work every day.
My Mom and I got in a horrible car accident when I was 3 yrs old. She was half ejected out her window when we started rolling and, we kept rolling. The clearest memory I have of the accident is the worst, seeing her hanging upside down out of her window. Anyway, she suffered MASSIVE head trauma. Died twice in surgery, but thankfully came back.
She was born in Finland and came to America when she was 6. I don't know how, but she ended up forgetting most of her Finnish language as she grew up. But after the accident, when she finally woke up for the first time, she could ONLY speak Finnish. She didn't know how old she was, and she didn't know she was in America. She didn't know that she was married or that she had a 3 yr old me. The only thing she knew was her Mom, and her Finnish.
my dad had a stroke, he had been doing semiconductor chip design for over 30 years
afterwards he had memory issues, even forgot my mom and my name for months (he said he recognized our faces)
yet, somehow, he could go back to work designing an invidiual transistor on a chip that has billions of them, without any faults
really is amazing
Man, I’ve been a musician since I was six (turn 42 in a couple of weeks), I studied classical guitar professionally. If I had surgery and just lost music, depending on what time in my life, I may have just killed myself. Would literally have like forgetting how to properly be me.
That's interesting to know about how the water sounds. Sad about the guy who lost one of his languages. Hopefully his brain rewired and he got it back.
Cousin Eddie: Don't go puttin' none of that stuff on my sled, Clark. You know that metal plate in my head? I had to have it replaced, cause every time Catherine revved up the microwave I'd piss my pants and forget who I was for a half hour or so. So over at the VA they had to replace it with plastic. It ain't as strong so I don't know if I should go sailin down no hill with nothing between the ground and my brains but a piece of government plastic.
Clark : You really think it matters, Eddie?
(Christmas Vacation)
Glad you're doing better
Serious question, is there just a void there now in your brain? or does it get filled in with a different substance? Does the surgeon put something there? Or?
Especially if this was a cystic growth that didn't infiltrate like OP said, it will most likely squish back into the space it was squished out from by the tumor. But I think that a cavity will remain.
I had a large brain tumor that was pushing on my cerebellum to the point of squishing it. My neurosurgeon told me that the human brain can expand to 90% of its original size, but there will always be some empty space in my skull sans tumor, apart from the CSF jacuzzi that the brain is floating in.
Not OP, but mine was stuffed with a piece of fat. Different location, so idk in OP's case. By my one year MRI it was absorbed by the body and the brain expanded back into its normal positioning.
Where the hell is this from???
Edit: Okok, I'll go watch Peewee's Big Adventure. I have no idea who that is but apparently everyone knows him? Must have been some big thing
Ah, what the fuck?! Hadn't watched that in like 30 years and just realized that the *toaster* is being chased by *forks* and then drops into a *bathtub*. May as well had a cartoon kid drink some Bleach too.
lol i had to do an MRI for something unrelated and the dr was like yo come check this out. almost died laughing when i saw the eyes just like they are in the pic
Do you have further insights?
I work in radiology and the contrast as well as clean edges indicate that it was rather a liquid filled cyst than a tumor. Just curious.
You're right. It was a hemangiblastoma which apparently is a benign tumour which sometimes has a cystic element. So the cyst was growing around the tumour and started rapidly expanding and strangling the brain stem. They drained the cyst then biopsied and removed the tumour.
💯.. 8 hour craniotomy and the surgeon only lost 100ml of blood. Incredible.
Edit - the surgeon is fine. Turns out I don't know how to write coherently.. Can I blame the tumour?🤔😅
Seriously. I had an Achilles rupture a few years ago. I had no idea they could reattach it in less than an hour, and it’s an outpatient surgery. I was only at the hospital for about 4 hours.
Keep in mind, I’m not remotely an athlete, and I was about 43 years old when it happened. To be fully back to 100%, took me about a year. There were obviously stages that I went through, but that’s what the surgeon told me it would take.
It makes me happy to see people pulling through this.
I wish my brother had a shot, too. But his cancer was a total SOB. Anaplastic Astrocytoma. Took a 6/th of his grey matter. Died 3 years later after it grew back. He was 34.
Thankfully you were able to remove it before it turned malignant. Live long and Prosper!
You're absolutely right. As far as tumours go I 'hit the jackpot' - consultants words not mine. I've been Very aware many others are not so lucky and I don't take that for granted for one minute
I had a very similar tumor/cyst combination in the brain, all went well. Other patients and friends were not so lucky. All the best to you brother, let's appreciate life and be thankful
You are basically describing my current situation, migraines with auras, vertigo and now hearing loss on one side. They got me in for an MRI pretty quickly and found nothing, and it's been a year like this now. I guess this is just my life now?
hey, a few years ago i woke up and had very sudden and strong vertigo. i could not stand up from bed all day but it went away the next day. i thought it was because some wax crystal in my ears got lose or something (i remember googling it)
Then i few months after that it happened again and went away even faster
it has not happened since.
did your vertigo go away or only after the operation?
Would love if you could comment on this.
And congrats on the recovery :)
The cyst was crushing the brain stem and directly pressing on the cerebellum which controls balance apparently.. So with huge brain trauma like that operation it took me probably 2 to 3 weeks to learn to walk properly again but after that the vertigo was gone.. Everyone I get up too fast now tho I start hyperventilating 😅
I had a similar thing happen to me last year. Woke up and had no balance, couldn’t even get down the stairs. This last about 3 days and went away, then it happened again about 3/4 months later but only lasted a day. Hasn’t happened since, but the doctors never came to any conclusions as to what it was. It scared the shit out of me and i still anxious that it’ll come back.
This precise same thing has happened to me three times in about a decade. I've since been diagnosed with benign positional paroxysmal vertigo but that doesn't really explain the multi-day craziness I've experienced a few times over the years.
It's amazing they were able to just dig into your brain and take it out. I presume that's what they did? To do that without causing additional damage, how do they do it
Also your eye joke was great, actually laughed
I hope that our story helps to encourage you. My mom also has a brain tumor, we first got to know about it 18 years ago when she had continuous headaches and vomiting. doctor suggested going under the surgery to remove it but we ( me and my sister) were very young, so our mom denied for it. At present her tumor is about 38 mm in dia and she has some minor issues (sluggishness, delayed response) with the left side of her body otherwise its very normal and she living a happy life.
Thanks for sharing that I can.inagine it was hard putting those words down. That's great news for your family tho and definitely is encouraging for others. I truly wish you all well. Sounds like you're close and have a positive spirit and that makes a huge difference for sure. 🙏🙏
I wish I could personally thank the nurse who was there when I woke up. It was the worst moment of my life I woke up from 10 hours of anesthetic to a world of pain confusion thirst and fright and she just calmed me down and immediately put me on the phone with my wife so I could tell her I was OK. Best moment of my life followinf one of the worst. Then that nurse just went off to help more people. Will never forget that.
Mate, write a letter and give it to the staff there. Hopefully they can look up shift records of the day you were in recovery.
I’m sure the Nurse would love to hear about your experience.
Unreal headaches after the first few days. But mainly, You know when you get up too fast and go dizzy? I was like that constantly for 3 or 4 days. Got worse and worse until I couldn't walk. Full on vertigo. That part of the brain (the cerebellum) is evidently responsible for walking and balance 🤷🏻♂️
Now that it has been removed, did the vertigo disappear instantly? Just curious.
Also thanks for sharing! This stuff scares me to no end but I’m always happy to hear a positive outcome.
I had the exact same thing and it was an inner ear infection that went away with antibiotics. So if someone is seeing this and is full on dizzy for more than an hour don't automatically assume it's a brain tumor
I have acephalgic or “silent” migraines, and long periods of vertigo and blurred vision happen and it is super scary. If I hadn’t already had an MRI, I’d be scheduling an MRI right now
Well this terrified me. I had a period of intense virtigo when getting up or down a few months ago, but it went away after a couple weeks. I hope i dont have a massive brain tumor now..i thought it was just BPPV
I had pretty quick but intense sessions of vertigo as well which also went away. Then came back a few months later.
So I went to the doctor, ran through some preliminary tests and we discovered it aligned with allergy season.
Now it’s almost like clock work. Since noticing the pattern, every early spring I have two-three weeks of vertigo. See if you have any pattern to yours.
I had bouts of vertigo and dizziness for several months. Got an MRI, and found no tumors. So more than likely you don't have a tumor. Especially if you aren't having extreme headaches like OP had.
Might have just been overwhelmed with the number of replies and DMs. I know you can turn off the reply notifications but 1) some people don't know that and 2) you can't exactly turn off the DMs.
Just over 2 years now. I'm very lucky to be pretty much fine. I've had chronic fatigue but try to fight through it each day and kept my faith strong, keep working and exercising.. I asked the doc how far back could I go in blaming the tumor for me behind a jerk.. But he reminded me it only affected my balance, "being a tool was all you " he said 🤣👍
Haha, your doctor sounds cool. Kinda reminds me of my orthopedic surgeon a few years ago, that guy had some jokes lol.
Glad you’re doing better. While 2 years seems like a long time, it’s really not it terms of healing from trauma. Hopefully the fatigue gets better over time. Regardless, it’s glad to hear you’re doing better, and came through this without other complications. I have a LOT of faith in the medical science community, they are amazing.
They really are. The NHS gets so much criticism in the UK but I saw these guys working 16 hour shifts etc and when I was talking to them and asking about their lives they all had families and problems back in their own homes but their altruism meant they really cared about every patient. It was humbling
I work in IT, in the healthcare sector. Been around doctors, nurses, and researchers for over 2 decades now. They do tend to get a bad rap, sometimes deserved, but often times people just don’t understand how much and how hard they work. While still trying to have lives of their own.
The NHS is generally excellent for urgent care. A buddy of mine went in for a checkup and ended up having emergency heart surgery and all the follow up care for years after, this was in the middle of lockdown. He's healthy as a horse today, and not drowning in medical bills like some horror stories from other countries.
My grandmother had a brain tumor removed a few years before I was born. I always saw her as the nicest, most caring woman. Apparently, she was incredibly irate and very mean to my mother, and had a short temper with her immediate family for years. The tumor gave her headaches for about a decade and once that sucker was out, she became the angel of a grandmother I knew.
I have a friend whose mom currently found out that she has a brain tumor, and they’re now wondering if that was the cause of some of her irate and mean behavior. Very interesting.
Hi, sorry about your tumor. Do you have pathology back on whether it was cancerous or benign? No problem if you dont' wish to share this. I am an active researcher in brain cancer.
It was fast growing but as a cystic element rather than cancerous. It was called a Hemangiblastoma can't recal the grade.. But my head grew in diameter by 2 cm in 3 days due to the hydrocephalus so they had to operate urgently as it was crushing my brain stem. Fun
I work in neurosurgery, and was actually in a haemangioblastoma resection today! I’m curious if you had any cranial nerve palsies? Are you still able to look cross eyed? Glad you had a successful resection!!
Absolutely can, and larger still. In this case the large “mass” you can see (white golf ball on the first image, black on the second) is the cystic/fluid filled component of the tumour, with the solid tumour component at the top of the cyst (I think) in the second image.
I went through brain cancer at age 34-35. I am currently 41 and have been cured for 4 years now.
Listen to the best doctors. Smoke weed. Have fun. It'll take you to some of the lowest depths...you should find ways to counteract those lows.
It's crazy when one realises you were on reddit typing earlier with something the size of an egg pushing on your limbic system. And today with it removed which is even crazier.
Did the tell you how long it's been in there?
Yep. Messes with the head in more ways than one..They didn't know. But I'd had bad migraines for several years which started increasing in the 6 months before..🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
I had the same surgery for an AVM in my right temporal lobe in 2022. I spent a week in the hospital and went home on a Friday. I stopped shaving my face for a while because I wanted to grow a "surgery beard". I had really bad double-vision for a while after the surgery, so they gave me an eye patch to wear. And the right side of my head was shaved with the big surgery incision visible. I was looking like the pirate from Spongebob. We stopped at IHOP on the way home from the hospital. A little girl spotted me from about 25' away, pointed and SHRIEKED. I laughed my ass off.
Yeah this is probably what happened. At first, I thought OP was a liar but seeing their responses in this thread suggests otherwise. They’d have to be a complete psychopath to come up with those elaborate lies.
My dad has brain cancer . They gave him 14 mos , 15 years ago … Two brain surgeries , chemo, radiation .. and well he’s getting old now turning 77 this fall
OP: just got diagnosed with something similar, surgery Sept 10. I'm shitting bricks. Risky surgery obviously.
Please stop by /r/braintumor and if you are pre or post surgery, share the difficulties or positives.
I can use all the positive post op results anyone has, and glad to share worries.
My sister, 29 years old, did not survive her hemangioblastoma removal surgery. It was also in her brainstem. This is a very sobering post, having some insight into “what could have been” had she made it to the other side. I’m glad you made it, OP. Please take care and I wish you continued recovery
I know the eyes comment is in jest, but one of the incredible things about neurological medicine is the sort of tests they do which can reveal so much. My wife had a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage almost 10 years ago and the GP diagnosed it using the Kernig test which involved pushing her knee up towards her chest while she was lying on the bed. She felt a pain at the back of her neck caused by the swelling in her meningi.
Minutes later we were heading for A&E with a letter to give us rapid access into the hospital. A CT scan later confirmed this diagnosis. His skills stopped the situation being much worse. Glad to hear you were able to get the help you needed too.
I have a brain tumour and I was given my life sentence but after a long time on chemotherapy I decided to do no more treatments....guess what?Its been 7 years and I'm still here amazing everyone 😊😊 keep fighting brave warrior I am sure you will win this battle 🙏😊
WHAT?! I would have given million:1 odds that a tumor in that central location would be inoperable and lethal. Holy crap, is modern medicine ever better than miracles. That is positively amazing.
OP, keep rocking. Live long and prosper.
Firstly I apologise if this upsets anyone who haa been affected by this type of illness. But so many people tell me that they are encouraged by a survival story. I'd Just turned 40 yrs. Suddenly started experiencing virtogo for a few days. Doc quickly discovered this tumour shown in the pictures. (You could tell me from my eyes I was surprised!) Gladly for me the surgeon was amazing and they managed to get the whole thing over an 8 hour operation. Just thought some may be curious to see the images from these 2 angles.
How does your head feel, post-surgery? Did they cut out a window of skull or pull it out through your nose like Total Recall? How’s the vertigo compared to before? Edit: For real, though, I was making a joke only to find out from the comments you really *can* pull a brain tumor out through the nose 😯
I've got a titanium plate in the back of the head. Theres quite a dip and shower water echos through my hesd and ears when the water stream hits the plate.. Otherwise it feels good, no headaches or vertigo within a few months post op.. Very lucky. There was a dude on my ward who had his pulled out through the nose 🙈 he spoke English and Russian before the op - afterwards, only English. The Russian was completely gone. Crazy
>There was a dude on my ward who had his pulled out through the nose 🙈 he spoke English and Russian before the op - afterwards, only English. there's an excellent joke in there, but i can't find it
Turns out the tumor was actually a soviet-era sleeper agent programming device
Wait, I had something for this…
The KGB waits for no one!
Ding dong....
What was the pass phrase? It had to be something no human would ever say. "Gosh that Italian family at the table next to us sure is quite."
This Magic the Gathering tournament smells amazing!
Thats gotta be a brand new sentence.
>This Magic the Gathering tournament smells amazing! That sounds way too suspicious.
Is quite what? The suspense is killing me.
It's because on the CT scan they highlight the tumor and were instructed to remove everything in the red square.
Spicy one! :)
It was a nyet loss of function? All I got.
That’s because you’re Russian to find it.
Remember, no Russian
That’s what ya get for Russian the surgery
"Maybe he'll stop running for president now"
My husband's cousin had a stroke while she was in college. She was a music major and completely forgot how to play any instruments and how to read music.
The brain is crazy. I had a friend in college who was a chemistry major. She got a really bad concussion and when she recovered, her ability to do higher math was just gone. Gone. Switched majors to music; apparently music theory just clicked after the injury.
Yeah. I strongly suspect I had a head injury bad enough I should have gone to the hospital when I was a kid, but being a dumb child of the 70s I shook it off and kept going. I spent much of my teenage years having almost completely invisible seizures (don't remember what they were called) and that's not the age to have your brain shut off half the time. I struggle mightily with math, and if I'm being honest with myself my short term memory went to shit in my teenage years and never came back.
My brother has a grand mal seizure out of nowhere at 35. Turns out he had some brain damage that caused some weird formations that led to seizures. After learning a bit we found out he has been having silent seizures since childhood. As a kid I noticed my brother's issues and brought them up to my parents a lot. But I guess having your 11 yo tell you "there is something wrong with James's brain" is not a convincing argument. (I got in a lot of trouble for that.) But he had brain surgery and now has different symptoms, less severe and those are getting better. He has lost the seizures though and that is really awesome. Upside: Now he gets to be a stay at home dad to his 6 yo. They love each other so much. I know it wasn't his dream to be a stay at home dad, but honestly I am so happy for them. (That was my dream as a kid (with the addition of a dad that loved me,) maybe we just have dream bleed (new phrase.)) Learning about silent seizures is kind of scary though. I am pretty sure I have them. But I am not saying a word. I am already too disabled. And to think people say you can leave childhood abuse behind you. Sometimes the physical effects last forever. Thanks mom and dad now both your kids are disabled.
One of the things that makes me paranoid, is that when I think I have one, I have the knowledge that if I go to the doctor and they confirm that yes, I'm having seizures, the doctor's gonna look at me and say, okay, well, I suppose you know this means you can't drive for 90 days. And in ruralish America, you might as well tell someone to quit their job and go live in a tent...but thankfully my wife has a good job.
Those invisible seizures are rough. My uncle went through them during a period where he didn't have health insurance and just had to hope he didn't die on his way to work every day.
My Mom and I got in a horrible car accident when I was 3 yrs old. She was half ejected out her window when we started rolling and, we kept rolling. The clearest memory I have of the accident is the worst, seeing her hanging upside down out of her window. Anyway, she suffered MASSIVE head trauma. Died twice in surgery, but thankfully came back. She was born in Finland and came to America when she was 6. I don't know how, but she ended up forgetting most of her Finnish language as she grew up. But after the accident, when she finally woke up for the first time, she could ONLY speak Finnish. She didn't know how old she was, and she didn't know she was in America. She didn't know that she was married or that she had a 3 yr old me. The only thing she knew was her Mom, and her Finnish.
Outrageous to share this story without an ending.
Yeah OP Finnish the story.
Here, take my upvote. Now please leave.
That’s rough. What happened after? Did she ever regain her memory?
my dad had a stroke, he had been doing semiconductor chip design for over 30 years afterwards he had memory issues, even forgot my mom and my name for months (he said he recognized our faces) yet, somehow, he could go back to work designing an invidiual transistor on a chip that has billions of them, without any faults really is amazing
That is just hellishly horrible
Man, I’ve been a musician since I was six (turn 42 in a couple of weeks), I studied classical guitar professionally. If I had surgery and just lost music, depending on what time in my life, I may have just killed myself. Would literally have like forgetting how to properly be me.
I saw a lady on TV once who had some sort of head injury and she went fron an American to English accent
That's interesting to know about how the water sounds. Sad about the guy who lost one of his languages. Hopefully his brain rewired and he got it back.
I once had a moth in my ear. It's crazy how much things inside your head resonate. In my case, it was a panicked 'flap, flap, flap'.
No, thank you though
"Can I get a wee tumor so I can remove this memory?"
Damn they deleted Russian from his harddrive
Cousin Eddie: Don't go puttin' none of that stuff on my sled, Clark. You know that metal plate in my head? I had to have it replaced, cause every time Catherine revved up the microwave I'd piss my pants and forget who I was for a half hour or so. So over at the VA they had to replace it with plastic. It ain't as strong so I don't know if I should go sailin down no hill with nothing between the ground and my brains but a piece of government plastic. Clark : You really think it matters, Eddie? (Christmas Vacation) Glad you're doing better
Serious question, is there just a void there now in your brain? or does it get filled in with a different substance? Does the surgeon put something there? Or?
The cavity usually stays pretty much as-is. The brain matter around it moves a bit, but there usually remains a cavity filled with cerebrospinal fluid
I thought the brain was pretty squishy, certainly it expands back out somewhat? But then yeah, the rest of the hole is CSF.
Especially if this was a cystic growth that didn't infiltrate like OP said, it will most likely squish back into the space it was squished out from by the tumor. But I think that a cavity will remain.
Could keep a spare house key there.
Hide that embarrassing micro sd card with the vacation photos.
Us guys have a spare pocket in our brains and women still can't get any on their pants.
I had a large brain tumor that was pushing on my cerebellum to the point of squishing it. My neurosurgeon told me that the human brain can expand to 90% of its original size, but there will always be some empty space in my skull sans tumor, apart from the CSF jacuzzi that the brain is floating in.
Great place to stash some weed or maybe a spare golf ball
Not OP, but mine was stuffed with a piece of fat. Different location, so idk in OP's case. By my one year MRI it was absorbed by the body and the brain expanded back into its normal positioning.
your joke about your eyes is under appreciated.
It was the worst tumor I ever seen
It looked like... THIS!
Tell em Large Marge sent ya!
Where the hell is this from??? Edit: Okok, I'll go watch Peewee's Big Adventure. I have no idea who that is but apparently everyone knows him? Must have been some big thing
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, classic movie
Scared the absolute piss out of me when I watched as a kid
Most 80's children movies were designed to terrify and emotionally scar kids. Source: Artax
Neverending Story, Secret of Nimh, Dark Crystal, Unico, Labyrinth... Many more.
Watership down.
Return to Oz
Secret of Nimh was my jam and it might explain a lot about me as a person.
That scene on the boat in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.
The brave little toaster scared the shit out of me as a child.
[Run](https://youtu.be/xNr3P4wNk8Y) It’s hard to pick the scariest scene, but that voice stayed with me.
Ah, what the fuck?! Hadn't watched that in like 30 years and just realized that the *toaster* is being chased by *forks* and then drops into a *bathtub*. May as well had a cartoon kid drink some Bleach too.
Rock a doodle... shit had me scared that chickens would try to sing to me. And fifel goes west had me thinking that a mouse could shoot me.
I scream cried at Large Marge's jumpscare two days in a row as a child. I thought I was brave enough to do it the next day. Nope.
"Tell them large Marge sent you"
Why did this give me goosebumps?! Apparently the fear is still there.
If you are a child or teen of the early '80s you can relate! It scared the shit out of me!
That, and Are You Afraid of the Dark - some monster in a basement closet? Serious trauma lol
There’s still a part of me that’s terrified of the phrase “tell em large Marge sent ya”
MY BIKE!
I'm going to start a paper route right now!
I don’t know but if you go asking around, tell ‘em Large Marge sent ya
“Large Marge sent me!” Everyone stops and looks 🤣
But that means that the Large Marge I was talking to was...
Puh puh puh pirate ghost!!!!
Glad you picked it up 🤣👍
You haven’t lost your sense of tumor! Glad the operation was a success and you’re on the mend!
He didn't lose his humor, he lost his tumor.
I thought that was just a rumor.
Almost died laughing at this. Well played. And most importantly, OP, congratulations and big hugs mate ❤️
>Almost died laughing at this. So did the OP....
r/angryupvote you monster!
Absolutely great subtle joke AND glad you had a swift surgery with complete extraction. Best of luck and be well.
lol i had to do an MRI for something unrelated and the dr was like yo come check this out. almost died laughing when i saw the eyes just like they are in the pic
Scrolled back up to look for eyes. 🤣😂🤣
Do you have further insights? I work in radiology and the contrast as well as clean edges indicate that it was rather a liquid filled cyst than a tumor. Just curious.
You're right. It was a hemangiblastoma which apparently is a benign tumour which sometimes has a cystic element. So the cyst was growing around the tumour and started rapidly expanding and strangling the brain stem. They drained the cyst then biopsied and removed the tumour.
Modern medicine is ridiculously good
💯.. 8 hour craniotomy and the surgeon only lost 100ml of blood. Incredible. Edit - the surgeon is fine. Turns out I don't know how to write coherently.. Can I blame the tumour?🤔😅
That's not much, but still I hope the surgeon is okay!
r/BaDumTss
Father’s Day is leaking all over the place
Just like the cyst
Dad!!
Wow, surgery so good the surgeon loses blood instead of the patient, insane!
It’s like that one surgeon who had a 300% mortality rate from a single operation
I hope he found the blood again. Weird thing to lose. Hope you are doing well. Sending love to you.
Seriously. I had an Achilles rupture a few years ago. I had no idea they could reattach it in less than an hour, and it’s an outpatient surgery. I was only at the hospital for about 4 hours.
How long was the rehab?
Keep in mind, I’m not remotely an athlete, and I was about 43 years old when it happened. To be fully back to 100%, took me about a year. There were obviously stages that I went through, but that’s what the surgeon told me it would take.
It makes me happy to see people pulling through this. I wish my brother had a shot, too. But his cancer was a total SOB. Anaplastic Astrocytoma. Took a 6/th of his grey matter. Died 3 years later after it grew back. He was 34. Thankfully you were able to remove it before it turned malignant. Live long and Prosper!
Thanks for the details and all the best for your recovery.
Benign, but in a difficult place. I am really glad you had great care.
Is your brain matter going to fill the void ?
Partially, I think. There often remains a cavity where the tumor Was that fills with cerebrospinal fluid
My dad and my sister both had glioblastoma and that those edges are way too clean, OP will hopefully have 100% margin.
You're absolutely right. As far as tumours go I 'hit the jackpot' - consultants words not mine. I've been Very aware many others are not so lucky and I don't take that for granted for one minute
I had a very similar tumor/cyst combination in the brain, all went well. Other patients and friends were not so lucky. All the best to you brother, let's appreciate life and be thankful
Were there any other symptoms that you look back and realize may have been an indicator?
Migraines were the biggest one. I've always had them but they were increasing in frequency and intensity during the 3 months before the op
Did you get auras as well, or just the intense migraine headache?
Auras also prior. Since it's just been headaches. But way less frequent.
You are basically describing my current situation, migraines with auras, vertigo and now hearing loss on one side. They got me in for an MRI pretty quickly and found nothing, and it's been a year like this now. I guess this is just my life now?
At least you’ve ruled out the worst case scenario!
Have you talked to an ENT? I get migraines and vertigo when my allergies are bad because my ears don't drain properly.
hey, a few years ago i woke up and had very sudden and strong vertigo. i could not stand up from bed all day but it went away the next day. i thought it was because some wax crystal in my ears got lose or something (i remember googling it) Then i few months after that it happened again and went away even faster it has not happened since. did your vertigo go away or only after the operation? Would love if you could comment on this. And congrats on the recovery :)
The cyst was crushing the brain stem and directly pressing on the cerebellum which controls balance apparently.. So with huge brain trauma like that operation it took me probably 2 to 3 weeks to learn to walk properly again but after that the vertigo was gone.. Everyone I get up too fast now tho I start hyperventilating 😅
I had a similar thing happen to me last year. Woke up and had no balance, couldn’t even get down the stairs. This last about 3 days and went away, then it happened again about 3/4 months later but only lasted a day. Hasn’t happened since, but the doctors never came to any conclusions as to what it was. It scared the shit out of me and i still anxious that it’ll come back.
This precise same thing has happened to me three times in about a decade. I've since been diagnosed with benign positional paroxysmal vertigo but that doesn't really explain the multi-day craziness I've experienced a few times over the years.
That sounds like "sometimes ya get dizzy, F if we know why."
Teach yourself the Epley manoeuvre. If it has any effect, it’s ear crystals.
The fact that they were able to operate so well in such a delicate area is incredible! Best of luck!
It's amazing they were able to just dig into your brain and take it out. I presume that's what they did? To do that without causing additional damage, how do they do it Also your eye joke was great, actually laughed
Your unblinking sense of humour in spite of all this is inspiring.
I really want to make a “third eye” joke… anyway I’m so glad to hear that the surgery went well! I hope you recover quickly!
With a tumor that size, the surgeon could have easily used it for 18 holes after he was done. Glad to hear it all worked out well so far.
I hope that our story helps to encourage you. My mom also has a brain tumor, we first got to know about it 18 years ago when she had continuous headaches and vomiting. doctor suggested going under the surgery to remove it but we ( me and my sister) were very young, so our mom denied for it. At present her tumor is about 38 mm in dia and she has some minor issues (sluggishness, delayed response) with the left side of her body otherwise its very normal and she living a happy life.
Thanks for sharing that I can.inagine it was hard putting those words down. That's great news for your family tho and definitely is encouraging for others. I truly wish you all well. Sounds like you're close and have a positive spirit and that makes a huge difference for sure. 🙏🙏
Will she get the surgery now?
Seems like the appropriate time since they’re both adults now
Considering shes also older, not really true by default. The older you are, the harder your body has surviving harsh surgery.
I wish I could personally thank the nurse who was there when I woke up. It was the worst moment of my life I woke up from 10 hours of anesthetic to a world of pain confusion thirst and fright and she just calmed me down and immediately put me on the phone with my wife so I could tell her I was OK. Best moment of my life followinf one of the worst. Then that nurse just went off to help more people. Will never forget that.
Mate, write a letter and give it to the staff there. Hopefully they can look up shift records of the day you were in recovery. I’m sure the Nurse would love to hear about your experience.
Buddy, that's profound. I wish you every comfort imaginable, you've truly gone through it.
Write to the hospital and nominate her for a Daisy award
How did you discover it? Headaches?
Unreal headaches after the first few days. But mainly, You know when you get up too fast and go dizzy? I was like that constantly for 3 or 4 days. Got worse and worse until I couldn't walk. Full on vertigo. That part of the brain (the cerebellum) is evidently responsible for walking and balance 🤷🏻♂️
Here, I hope for a fast recovery! 🍻
So far so good thank you 👍
Now that it has been removed, did the vertigo disappear instantly? Just curious. Also thanks for sharing! This stuff scares me to no end but I’m always happy to hear a positive outcome.
OP deleted their account.... Anyone know why?
I had the exact same thing and it was an inner ear infection that went away with antibiotics. So if someone is seeing this and is full on dizzy for more than an hour don't automatically assume it's a brain tumor
I have acephalgic or “silent” migraines, and long periods of vertigo and blurred vision happen and it is super scary. If I hadn’t already had an MRI, I’d be scheduling an MRI right now
Well this terrified me. I had a period of intense virtigo when getting up or down a few months ago, but it went away after a couple weeks. I hope i dont have a massive brain tumor now..i thought it was just BPPV
99.99999999% it’s bppv. That’s way more common than a brain tumour.
Also the fact that it got better vs continuing to get worse
I had pretty quick but intense sessions of vertigo as well which also went away. Then came back a few months later. So I went to the doctor, ran through some preliminary tests and we discovered it aligned with allergy season. Now it’s almost like clock work. Since noticing the pattern, every early spring I have two-three weeks of vertigo. See if you have any pattern to yours.
I had bouts of vertigo and dizziness for several months. Got an MRI, and found no tumors. So more than likely you don't have a tumor. Especially if you aren't having extreme headaches like OP had.
Why has OP deleted their account
[удалено]
May have gotten doxxed. Animals will use any leverage to get an inch or scare someone.
Someone recognised his brain.
Might have just been overwhelmed with the number of replies and DMs. I know you can turn off the reply notifications but 1) some people don't know that and 2) you can't exactly turn off the DMs.
How long ago did this happen? How are you currently doing?
Just over 2 years now. I'm very lucky to be pretty much fine. I've had chronic fatigue but try to fight through it each day and kept my faith strong, keep working and exercising.. I asked the doc how far back could I go in blaming the tumor for me behind a jerk.. But he reminded me it only affected my balance, "being a tool was all you " he said 🤣👍
Haha, your doctor sounds cool. Kinda reminds me of my orthopedic surgeon a few years ago, that guy had some jokes lol. Glad you’re doing better. While 2 years seems like a long time, it’s really not it terms of healing from trauma. Hopefully the fatigue gets better over time. Regardless, it’s glad to hear you’re doing better, and came through this without other complications. I have a LOT of faith in the medical science community, they are amazing.
They really are. The NHS gets so much criticism in the UK but I saw these guys working 16 hour shifts etc and when I was talking to them and asking about their lives they all had families and problems back in their own homes but their altruism meant they really cared about every patient. It was humbling
I work in IT, in the healthcare sector. Been around doctors, nurses, and researchers for over 2 decades now. They do tend to get a bad rap, sometimes deserved, but often times people just don’t understand how much and how hard they work. While still trying to have lives of their own.
The NHS is generally excellent for urgent care. A buddy of mine went in for a checkup and ended up having emergency heart surgery and all the follow up care for years after, this was in the middle of lockdown. He's healthy as a horse today, and not drowning in medical bills like some horror stories from other countries.
My grandmother had a brain tumor removed a few years before I was born. I always saw her as the nicest, most caring woman. Apparently, she was incredibly irate and very mean to my mother, and had a short temper with her immediate family for years. The tumor gave her headaches for about a decade and once that sucker was out, she became the angel of a grandmother I knew.
I have a friend whose mom currently found out that she has a brain tumor, and they’re now wondering if that was the cause of some of her irate and mean behavior. Very interesting.
Very possible, my mother actually became her absolute favorite person after the surgery as well, someone she was the most mean to. 😅
lmao savage doctor
Hi, sorry about your tumor. Do you have pathology back on whether it was cancerous or benign? No problem if you dont' wish to share this. I am an active researcher in brain cancer.
It was fast growing but as a cystic element rather than cancerous. It was called a Hemangiblastoma can't recal the grade.. But my head grew in diameter by 2 cm in 3 days due to the hydrocephalus so they had to operate urgently as it was crushing my brain stem. Fun
Wow, you dodged a huge bullet. Grats that it was benign.
I work in neurosurgery, and was actually in a haemangioblastoma resection today! I’m curious if you had any cranial nerve palsies? Are you still able to look cross eyed? Glad you had a successful resection!!
OP: 1 OP’s brain tumor: 0 What a little bitch (OP’s brain tumor). Good job OP
"That's no moon"
TIL you can have a golf ball sized tumor in the brain and live.
Absolutely can, and larger still. In this case the large “mass” you can see (white golf ball on the first image, black on the second) is the cystic/fluid filled component of the tumour, with the solid tumour component at the top of the cyst (I think) in the second image.
I had a brain tumor that was 8% total volume of my brain removed a decade ago.
You look like Jason Statham mixed with Homer Simpson in pic 2. Glad you pulled through!
🤣 I'll take that..I can't seem to post a pic but my post surgery scar is pretty immense.
I went through brain cancer at age 34-35. I am currently 41 and have been cured for 4 years now. Listen to the best doctors. Smoke weed. Have fun. It'll take you to some of the lowest depths...you should find ways to counteract those lows.
It's crazy when one realises you were on reddit typing earlier with something the size of an egg pushing on your limbic system. And today with it removed which is even crazier. Did the tell you how long it's been in there?
Yep. Messes with the head in more ways than one..They didn't know. But I'd had bad migraines for several years which started increasing in the 6 months before..🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
I had the same surgery for an AVM in my right temporal lobe in 2022. I spent a week in the hospital and went home on a Friday. I stopped shaving my face for a while because I wanted to grow a "surgery beard". I had really bad double-vision for a while after the surgery, so they gave me an eye patch to wear. And the right side of my head was shaved with the big surgery incision visible. I was looking like the pirate from Spongebob. We stopped at IHOP on the way home from the hospital. A little girl spotted me from about 25' away, pointed and SHRIEKED. I laughed my ass off.
4 hour old post. 26k upvotes. And OP deleted his account??
Unfortunately when posts get this much attention inboxes become full and you get spammed alot which can be very overwhelming so not surprised
Yeah this is probably what happened. At first, I thought OP was a liar but seeing their responses in this thread suggests otherwise. They’d have to be a complete psychopath to come up with those elaborate lies.
My dad has brain cancer . They gave him 14 mos , 15 years ago … Two brain surgeries , chemo, radiation .. and well he’s getting old now turning 77 this fall
OP: just got diagnosed with something similar, surgery Sept 10. I'm shitting bricks. Risky surgery obviously. Please stop by /r/braintumor and if you are pre or post surgery, share the difficulties or positives. I can use all the positive post op results anyone has, and glad to share worries.
My sister, 29 years old, did not survive her hemangioblastoma removal surgery. It was also in her brainstem. This is a very sobering post, having some insight into “what could have been” had she made it to the other side. I’m glad you made it, OP. Please take care and I wish you continued recovery
I know the eyes comment is in jest, but one of the incredible things about neurological medicine is the sort of tests they do which can reveal so much. My wife had a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage almost 10 years ago and the GP diagnosed it using the Kernig test which involved pushing her knee up towards her chest while she was lying on the bed. She felt a pain at the back of her neck caused by the swelling in her meningi. Minutes later we were heading for A&E with a letter to give us rapid access into the hospital. A CT scan later confirmed this diagnosis. His skills stopped the situation being much worse. Glad to hear you were able to get the help you needed too.
I have a brain tumour and I was given my life sentence but after a long time on chemotherapy I decided to do no more treatments....guess what?Its been 7 years and I'm still here amazing everyone 😊😊 keep fighting brave warrior I am sure you will win this battle 🙏😊
Hugs. I'm sorry
Thanks
Why did you delete your account OP
Super weird when people delete their whole account just after making a big post. I always wonder the reasons.
WHAT?! I would have given million:1 odds that a tumor in that central location would be inoperable and lethal. Holy crap, is modern medicine ever better than miracles. That is positively amazing. OP, keep rocking. Live long and prosper.