With both peripheral neuropathy and a meningioma, I began to get regular brain MRIs every six months or so. I switched my care to a neurologist at Vanderbilt who specializes in neuropathy. She listened to what I told her about my personal assessment and self-treatment, ordered more blood tests, and eventually classified the neuropathy as “B12 deficient” rather than “idiopathic.” Yes! A real answer! The good news was that after two years of supplements, the symptoms were nearly gone. She said I didn’t need to see her anymore.

She referred me to a neurologist at the Vanderbilt Neurosurgery Center to keep watch on the slow-growing meningioma. I learned that until a meningioma becomes a real threat to functionality, many doctors prefer to put you on “watch and wait” rather than removing the tumor. Of course, brain surgery is among the most risky and invasive, so this makes sense. On the other hand, as I told my new neurologist, I plan to live a long time, I am currently healthy, and I didn’t want to get into my 70s or 80s and then start having symptoms related to the tumor, only to be told I was too old for brain surgery. If there was a safe way to remove it sooner rather than later, I wanted to discuss that. He took me seriously.

Over the next two years, I ended up with both the neurologist and a brain surgeon monitoring my tumor – my “team.” At some point, I also learned the correct way to pronounce meningioma – my Italian training was leading me astray – it’s five syllables with the accent on the “gee.”

By early 2024, the tumor had more than doubled in size, growing a bit faster than expected. It was also growing toward both the olfactory nerve and the optical nerve. At the rate it was growing, the doctors expected it would start impacting my sense of smell within a couple of years, and eventually get too close to the optical nerve for comfort. It was time to start talking about removal.