meningioma
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Imagine having your skull opened up for a few hours so a surgeon can dig out some invasive tissue, the opening glued, bolted, and drilled back together, and the skin re-affixed with a long row of staples…and then having a (mostly) cogent conversation a couple of hours later. I’m absolutely in awe of what Dr.…
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When our daughter was young, she wanted a hamster. We ended up giving in and little Felix lived with us for a year or so. Like most hamsters, he ran a ten-hour road race every night. He got in his wheel and just went. Why we don’t harness that energy, I’ll never know. The local…
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**I was a little concerned about whether I should post this, but this morning I woke up to discover that today is Atheist Day, a day for normalizing atheism. It felt like divine intervention, so here goes… I’m an atheist. Let’s just get that out there. I do not believe in any gods. I’m not…
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My surgery is in two weeks and I’m starting to think about packing. What does one wear to brain surgery? I’m finding a lot of help on Reddit, but if you have thoughts, let me know. In the meantime, here are some of the questions I’ve been fielding lately. What’s going to happen to your…
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I’m so fortunate to have good insurance. Imagine the pain this causes to people who don’t. We’ll need to do a deeper dive into healthcare in America at some point. This is insane.
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Before I got my heart set on Dr. Fernandez-Miranda, I needed to do some due diligence. By an amazing coincidence, I learned that my dad’s wife’s best friend’s stepdaughter had her brain tumor removed by Dr. Fernandez-Miranda a couple of months prior. We texted, then emailed, then finally talked. “He’s a miracle worker. He saved…
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To recap my journey so far, my first opinion was with Dr. Idiot, who only found out about my tumor when I told him I had one and then said it was no big deal. My second opinion was with the team at Vanderbilt. They had been great, but I believed they were limited to…
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As my next MRI approached, I was smelling everything I could get my nose on. Stopping to smell the roses took on an urgent, somewhat existential meaning. I know that in terms of tumors, I’m very lucky. Everyone who has looked at my MRIs has concluded that the tumor is likely benign. Too many friends…
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In one of my follow-up visits with the brain surgeon – who I really like but I swear to god looks like he’s 14 years old – he described the procedure he would use to remove the tumor. He called the surgery “transnasal” and it’s exactly what it sounds like. They go through the nostrils.…
Just Breathe 