My First Blog

So today I decided I was going to start a blog to let my friends and family into the life of Liz. I recently found out that I have a 4.5 cm acoustic neuroma brain tumor. Thankfully this is a benign non-cancerous tumor. It grows on the 8th cranial nerve which actually consists of two seperate nerves - the vestibular nerve and the cochlear nerve. The vestibular nerve is responsible for balance while the cochlear nerve is responsible for hearing. This tumor has started growing in my ear and is growing towards my brain. Right now it is large enough to touch my brainstem and it is starting to compress it. My only choice is surgery because if it continues to grow my brainstem will be fully compressed and will eventually kill me. This tumor is said to grow at an extremely low rate, so since mine is 4.5 cm I guess it has been growing for AWHILE!

I wanted to write my story for people to see because I have known for about two years now that I had a tumor. I remember at times I would get severe cases of vertigo and I would get so nausous from it and for the rest of the day I would not want to do anything. I also use to get really bad headaches, worst than what I assume a migraine feels like. And I noticed my hearing in my left ear slowly getting worse. I would complain about it to my family, but they would tell me it wasn't a tumor that I just needed to drink more water.

Finally in December of 2008 I finally had enough. Whenever my father or monther n law would talk to me, I would ask them to repeat because I couldn't understand them. When we got back home from our vacation I made a doc appt with an audiologist. She ran all types of hearing test on me but couldn't determine why I had hearing loss. So she put in a referal for me to get an MRI done.

It's January 9, 2009 and I go in for my MRI. It actaully takes less time than I thought it would. I got there 20 minutes early, so I was seen right away. My appointment was at 5:00 pm and I was back to my car by 5:00 pm. The MRI wasnt so bad, it was just really loud and boring.

February 9, 2009 I meet with Dc. C. an ENT so he can tell me what my MRI reveals. First I meet with the Resident Dr. P and he starts doing all these funny test on me. Then he says well I have your MRI and there is something on there we need to talk about. I immediately say "Please tell me it's not a tumor" and he said actually it is. Then I said "Am I going to die?" And he said "NO" Thank God and I hope he was telling me the truth. Then Dr. C came in and he told me about my options or should I say my only option. I have to have surgery but he made me feel like I was going to survive this. Some of the post-op problems I could have is facial weakness or paralysis, absolutely no hearing in my left ear, brain swelling, some balance issues or even death, hopefully it is not the latter.

So I go home from my ENT appt and I tell my husband the news. And guess what, he did not believe me. He thought I was playing a joke! Unfortunately I wasnt playing a joke. I didnt even know what an acoustic neuroma was before this appointment. Even at this point it hadn't really sunken it that I have a tumor in my brain. Later that night my husband and I were laying in bed and he said something about me being young. And the I just broke down. I was crying and scared and saying I can't believe this is happening to me! I am just 24 years old with two small children. Fortuantly for me I have a geart husband who held on to me till I calmed down.

Well I need to go for now but I will post some more tomorrow...