Five months ago, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor; a "benign" meningioma which is blocking part of the main vein between the two hemispheres of my brain. I was told it's complex, but treatable with surgery, radiation, or some combination of these.
I immediately fell back on my skill of coping through humor, and named it Tina Tumor. Why? Because What's Blood Got To Do With It, and also, Better Benign To Me.
Unfortunately, Tina doesn't seem to have my sense of humor, because things have become much more complicated.
On April 3rd, I went to the ER with a bad headache that would not go away. A CT scan showed that I had a brain bleed (subdural hematoma) and would require an emergency craniotomy to relieve the pressure it was causing. I had surgery a couple of days later, and spent 6 days in ICU. I've just started seeing the bills from that. They're going to be considerable, and I'm still not finished with Tina yet.
My neurosurgeon says that he's not positive anymore that Tina is JUST a meningioma. He believes the tumor caused the brain bleed, and that it's possible that at least some of the tissue in and around it could be metastatic breast cancer cells that migrated after I had breast cancer in 2022. I really hope that's not the case, but regardless, it's necessitating more surgeries.
On May 5th, I will have a "mini craniotomy" to biopsy all the tissues and fluids around the tumor. This is a necessary step, because different tumor types sometimes require different treatment steps. After they identify exactly what we're dealing with, then another surgery will happen, likely in July or August. I'll probably also have some kind of radiation and/or vascular procedures because of the sensitive area that's being affected by the tumor.
We have decent health insurance, but I'm more concerned about the fact that this situation leaves me unable to work as much as I need to in order the keep us afloat. I haven't got much PTO, and I don't have short term disability insurance. I had to be off work for three weeks following my first surgery, and I will probably be out at least that long after the May 5th mini craniotomy. The third surgery will be the longest and most complicated one, and I think I'll probably have a longer recovery period because of that.
If you know me at all, you know how much it's killing me to make this ask. I'm MUCH more comfortable being the one who helps, not the one who asks for it. And I know it's tough times for everyone right now, so I feel even worse about asking. But I do need help, and I need it soon. Any amount will directly help me to keep the lights on and food in the fridge, not to mention allowing me to stop being so anxious about those things, so I can focus on healing.
If you made it through all of this, thank you for reading it. And even if we've never met, please know I love you. How, you ask?
I believe 💜
