How it began...

In December of 2004, I had a grand mal seizure at work and ended up at Stanford Hospital. Within a few hours, I was told that I had a tumor the size of a golf ball in the left frontal lobe of my brain.

I was admitted and a few days later I had my first surgery to remove the tumor. I learned that I had a Stage 2 Oligodendroglioma. I was 27 years old. The first recovery was pretty rough but, I recovered and was back at it. I was back at it...
but with seizures.

A few years later, my MRI showed tumor growth and I started on a year long treatment of oral chemotherapy. The Temodar gave me a few more years before the tumor started to grow again. I had a flurry of seizures that put me in the hospital. That's when I had my second surgery...February 14th, 2011.

I've always struggled with the seizures but they've increased so much in the past few months that they have effected my quality of life. On top of that, my most recent MRI shows tumor growth - and shockingly it's already walnut-sized.

I have a great team of doctors helping me come up with a treatment plan. My Neuro-Oncologist, my Surgeon, my Epilepsy Specialist, and a Radio-Oncologist have all offered their input. We've gone back and forth about which path to take...with another surgery being my last personal preference.

However, after weeks of appointments, discussions, and thought, I'm scheduled for two surgeries - February 2 & February 9.

During the first surgery, they will place electrodes on my brain that will identify where the seizure focus is. The doctor will decrease my anti-seizure meds and monitor my seizures for about a week. Once they locate where the seizure activity is (most likely at the tumor site), I'll have the second surgery to remove the tumor and if the seizure activity is elsewhere, then they will deal with that area too. If the patholgy shows that the grade of the tumor has gone up, then I will follow the surgery with either chemo or radiation.

So, that's the plan for now. We've decided to document things this time and make a site for friends and family to check in to see how things are going.

I'll be stuck in the hospital for about 12 days, so feel free to leave me messages.
Hopefully my recovery will be fast and I'll be back to myself again sooner, rather than later.

Most recent MRI - November 2014

After Surgery #1 - December 2004