Guys,

I hate to be writing about this. My beautiful wife of 22 years has been having a number of severe headaches recently, one of them so bad I had to take her to our doctor’s to stop it. They ultimately decided to do imaging to learn more. The headaches turned out not to be cluster migraines, as was originally diagnosed.

After a series of MRI’s Wednesday, the imaging revealed a tumor on the right side of her brain, above the right ear. The tumor is attached to the dura, the inner membrane of the brain, and just above the right ear. It is a largely "silent" part of the brain, assuming a brain organization like that of most right-handed people.

Surgery is scheduled for this Tuesday morning. We met with the most prominent, experienced neurosurgeon in this area on Thursday. He believes there are three possibilities, at least one of which is very terrible. I’m not clear on the relative strengths of these possibilities, but based on looking at the tumor itself, his first inclination is to ID it as a meningioma. They are almost - but not always - benign. They have a very high survival and non recurrence rate. However, the large amount of swelling he saw is not normally associated with these; although it can be. That swelling indicates a lot of recent growth. Seeing this, his next most likely candidate is a metastasizing cancer, from someplace else in the body. This would of course be extremely bad. The least likely identity is an infection. If it were that, surgical removal would be the end of the matter. It will take three or four business days after the surgery to get the pathology report and know for sure.

We are stunned. Difficult to believe we are talking about these sorts of things, let alone facing them. We've had our share or more of family grief - the loss of a child and all but one of our parents. The same day as the imaging results came in, my niece had a double mastectomy. She's being pretty brave, but as you can imagine, quite scared.

Best of luck Eugene, both with the final diagnosis (they will undoubtedly biopsy the tissue), and with the surgery itself, and the recovery.

Your wife has a good chance of being just fine. Also keep in mind that it isn't impossible to see two problems at the same time - ie. the relatively benign tumor and infection at the same time, which could explain the swelling. I really hope it isn't metastasis.

Again, I wish your wife and yourself the very best of luck on this one.

Prayers and thoughts. Battle on.

I hope that it turns out for the best. It is always sad to hear of anyone's having to face health issues. It takes a toll on everyone not only because of the known, but because of the fear caused by the unknown.

My best wishes for the both of you.

Tough to read this news. Be strong man. She needs that.

Prayers for your wife and you. Please keep us informed.

ps for what it's worth, my wife was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer seven years ago.
I made a similar post on SimHQ then. You would not believe the power of prayer.

Wish the best to you both, keep in mind positive thoughts, ALWAYS!

I'm terribly sorry to hear this, I'll definately be keeping you both in my thoughts and the very best of luck to you both.

Jim

I am so sorry to hear that Eugene, it's the kind of news everyone fears. My thoughts and best wishes are with you and your wife, and I hope all turns out as well as possible.

I have a friend who was diagnosed recently with a tumor in about the same location. I hope you guys get good news, and the strength and support to not only fight this, but to beat it. My thoughts are with you.

Hi Eugene.

All my prayers and good vibes to you and your wife. Best of luck and, even better than luck, keep a positive outlook on the situation. Hang tough, my friend.

- Dave -