My brain tumor was removed 19 years ago today

[1gobluedem]

Being alive more than compensates for losing my left inner ear, along with its hearing and balance, I think. A good trade off.

[Haole Girl]

1. Wow

Was your tumor malignant? Sorry if I'm being to intrusive.

[fizzgig]

2. i'm glad you're here with us

and congrats on the milestone :)

[Pool Hall Ace]

3. Hey, congratulations!!

I have a craniversary coming up next month!! :toast:

[Call Me Wesley]

4. And here's for countless years more.

Glad you're here. :hug:

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

5. WOW

glad you are still here to experience life!

[Roon]

6. Yaaaaaay!

That reminds me,later, I need to start a thread of my own medical milestone for this month.

Glad you're with us.

[LeftyFingerPop]

7. Wonderful!

Here's to another 50 years. :toast:

[DFW]

8. DEFINITELY a good trade-off

My brother-in-law had a brain tumor removed about 6 years ago. It kept coming back. We buried him this past January.

Good to hear the flip side of his story--you stick around a good while longer, OK?

[bigwillq]

9. To many more years!

:toast: :bounce: :hi: :hug:

[tigereye]

10. yay! Glad to hear it and happy anniversary. Glad you are still with us!

[Skittles]

11. woooo girl!

doing good! :thumbsup:

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. Wow! Glad you are sill here. :^)

[applegrove]

13. I'm so happy for you.

[rocktivity]

14. The exact same thing happened to Steve Colbert when he was 14

That's why his ears look that way--which I swear I NEVER noticed until HE mentioned it. He, too, lost half his hearing as a result. Whether he also lost his balance, however, is debatable.

P.S: Congrats!

:applause:
rocktivity

[hippywife]

15. Happy Anniversary...

and many more to count. :hi:

[Odin2005]

16. Wonderful that you are still here!

:hug:

[rurallib]

17. Fantastic. I have had close friends who didn't make it.

I am curious - what is your health insurance situation? Really curious and not trying to start anything.

[1gobluedem]

18. Thanks, everyone!

I appreciate the good wishes and congratulatory messages!

To answer the questions, no, it was not malignant but if it hadn't been removed it would have continued to grow, choking off the blood supply to my brain and eventually killing me. My doctor always referred to it as "a benign tumor in a malignant place;" it was on the hearing nerve, wedged between the inner ear and the brain. It took 11.5 hours to remove (and they had to leave 3% because I was bleeding too much to continue, but it's scarred off and can't re-form); I was given a choice of their saving the balance nerve or the facial nerve and I chose facial. The entire inner ear structure was removed and fat from my stomach was packed into the space to prevent spinal fluid from leaking, thus I can be officially certified as both a lamebrain and a fathead. I graciously offered to donate fat for anyone else who might come in needing the same thing for about the next twenty years, but the doctors declined.

The insurance I had at the time was from Mutual of Omaha and not good; it paid -- under protest -- 80% and I paid 20% which came to over $10,000. I didn't have a very good job at the time and it took me over ten years to completely pay everything off, wrecking my credit in the process (not from the medical bills which can't count on your credit record but by putting other bills off to pay the medical bills). I was in the hospital for seven days and each day I would receive a letter grudgingly allowing me to remain one more day. They arbitratily decided that an extremely skilled neursurgeon's work was not worth $5000 but $600 and if it weren't for my doctor, my portion of the bills would have been much higher. He took on the insurance company himself and I've always been extremely grateful to him for that.

If I'd had the surgery the following year, the first year of the job I currently have, I wouldn't have owed a dime because my insurance is Blue Cross. There is something wrong with a system in which two insurers can be so drastically different which is why I am so vehemently in favor of universal health care. Overall I'm very, very lucky.