Brain Tumor-what I did about it

One moment I was sitting relaxed in a chair and speaking normally, and the next day I was told that my face was suddenly twisted, bright red, and gradually fading to a bluish gray. My body stiffened as if bound by steel bands. Then I relaxed and my limbs started to shake. In about half a minute my face turned chalk white. My breathing stopped and it seemed dead.

Soon, however, the breath began to breathe again. The color returned and he looked like he was sleeping soundly. When the doctor came, I regained consciousness, but I was in agony. A cramp, the first in my life, hit me. My pain was not from the seizure itself, but from my violent actions during the attack. I had dislocated and broken my right arm and persistent compression fractures in my spine!

It wouldn't be my last encounter with the strange force that suddenly invaded my body. Three weeks in the hospital fixed my broken arm a bit, but I only came home to have more cramps. It was less serious than the first one, but my injured arm was injured again.

What prompted me to encounter this alarming loss of body control without warning? To find out, I visited a neurologist who specializes in diseases of the brain and nervous system.

Tracking down the cause

First, a very thorough examination did not reveal any significant physical or mental abnormalities. The neurologist performed another EEG (electroencephalogram). About twenty electrodes or electrically conductive electrodes attached to selected parts of my skull picked up the extremely small electrical impulses there, and an EEG machine recorded them as waves on a moving piece of paper. Usually, the pulses occur at a constant frequency and are the same on both sides of the head. But unusually slow, fast, or strong waves can be a sign that something is wrong. Abnormal electrical activity in a single area usually means there is disease in that part of the brain.

This test revealed what the neurologist was looking for! The graph that appeared under the magnetic pen indicated abnormal activity in part of my brain. However, I have other tests to verify this, so I went to a neurosurgery hospital three weeks later. There I was quickly drawn into a whirlwind of examinations and tests. Two more EEGs confirmed that the abnormal activity was on the right side of my brain. This meant that the brain itself had to be examined for clues as to the source of my mysterious attacks.

First, the doctor injected a radioactive compound into a vein on the back of my right hand. After a few minutes, this substance took over the abundance of blood vessels in my brain, and an anti-Geiger device began to scan for radioactivity and map its position on the film. Abnormal concentrations may indicate harmful growth. This relatively harmless procedure revealed a small shadow that showed we were getting closer to the culprit!

However, another test was needed for a positive identification. There are several potential risks associated with this angiogram. They put a special tincture in one of the two main arteries in my neck that lead to the brain. It quickly filled my cerebral arteries and made them appear clearly on x-rays. However, the dye can also cause hallucinatory effects and possibly temporary blindness. In my case, the result was a feeling of misery, which for me was the worst part of the entire test run. I had to stay in bed for three days to recover.

Another dangerous test, called an air ultrasound, involves removing some of the fluid that is constantly bathing the brain and replacing it with air. The air acts as a contrast agent to illuminate the shape of the brain on X-rays. This will help you identify any distortions in the normal shape of the brain.

But this test was not necessary in my case because the angiogram told the story. It clearly showed a tumor just below the surface of my brain and even indicated its size. Theft has been discovered! I was amazed and shocked to learn that there was a fatal tumor in my head that was probably growing day by day.

Even though he knew something was wrong for a few months, the last thing he suspected was a brain tumor. I have never had a headache in my life! But then I learned that tumors manifest themselves differently depending on the type and location.

Although he knew something serious a few months ago, the last thing he suspected was a brain tumor. I've never had a headache in my life! But I later found out that tumors manifest in different ways depending on the type and location. To understand what happened to me, I had to learn something about the brain itself.

A wonderful tool

The kilo and a half of gray matter in our head contains about ten billion nerve cells called neurons, two and a half times the current population of the earth! Different groups of nerve cells control different bodily functions. For example, when we move our arms, hands, legs or feet, control comes from the "motor fascia" of the neuron. Other groups of nerve cells control vision, speech, thinking, etc. His way of working is wonderful.

Each neuron draws a minute of electrical charge to another preselected neuron, which in turn sends its pulse to the others. This can be compared to using the phone to select another phone of millions and quickly connect via multiple lines and relays. But neurons do not create connections between millions, but between billions of others, almost directly. It is estimated that the daily activity of the brain is more than a hundred times the number of connections in all telephone exchanges in the world!

Of course, brain cells work hard and it costs fuel. Even though they only represent 2% of our weight, even at rest our brain uses about 25% of all the oxygen our body uses, more than any other part. To supply all the oxygen and other nutrients, about 20% of all blood pumped by the heart circulates in our brain - about 375 liters per day!

But even though we know that large amounts of energy are used to make our senses work, we still do not know exactly how the brain works. No one knows why these billions of neurons produce thoughts, feelings or dreams. A brain expert recently commented on British television that we know a lot about the moon today - people have been there and they came back. But there was a time when it was thought that there was a light shining through a hole in the sky. This affects the current level of our understanding of the brain and how it works.

Brain tumor

Now suppose something flows into this wonderful mechanism. How about your role? An intruder is a brain tumor like the one I had. Some tumors are cancerous or malignant and can grow very quickly and cause death within a few months. Others grow more slowly and may not be malignant or benign. But they can also lead to death if left untreated.

How do brain tumors start? It is not certainly known, although a type called metastatic is caused by cancer in another part of the body that emits certain cells. The bloodstream carries them to the brain, where they establish a new colony.

Both types of cancer consist of abnormal tissue that eagerly feeds on the blood supply to the brain. We know that your appetite for blood exceeds the brain itself! As they grow, they destroy or repel the surrounding nerve cells in the research room and damage them, causing brain failure due to damaged tissue or increased pressure.

Headaches, nausea and vomiting, dizziness, mental changes and seizures can be symptoms of a brain tumor, but none of them necessarily prove the presence of a tumor. For example, a person may only have one attack in their life for no apparent reason.

To operate or not

Now he had to make a decision. Should I get rid of the intruder? The first modern day brain tumor surgery to remove was performed in 1884. The patient was initially fine, but died about a month after meningitis, an inflammation of the protective membrane lining the brain. For a while, more than half of the few surgeries performed were fatal to patients, and only about a tenth of patients were completely cured.

It wasn't until after World War I that brain surgery became more common and effective as surgeons learned more about the brain and developed new surgical techniques. Of course, not all cancers are easy to use. In some cases, only part of the tumor can be safely removed, and radiation therapy is often helpful when malignant tumors penetrate deep into the brain.

However, my doctor assured me that my tumor was almost certainly not cancerous and was in one of the best places for successful removal with a good chance of full recovery. He strongly recommended removal, but let me decide. I have met other people with confirmed cancers who refused to have the operation out of fear, but I was determined. I was determined to have an operation. He wanted to do everything in his power to regain a normal and useful life instead of suffering a gradual deterioration in his health leading to premature death.

Two days later, the surgeon and his team, ten people in all, came to see me. In discussing the proposed surgery, I warned them that due to my biblical religious beliefs, I did not want them to use blood. A few days later, the surgeon agreed to perform the operation using one of the alternatives to blood transfusions.

The operation then

During the operation, he cut a piece of my skull about four by five centimeters to reach the area where the tumor was. After cutting a flap in the hard protective coating of the brain or dura mater, the underlying brain was exposed and the tumor was removed without complications. Then the dura is sutured and the piece of skull is replaced. After the operation, I was in the intensive care unit for only two days and on the fifth day I was not helped. The ninth day came the pleasure of dressing and going to my wife's house.

But that did not end my experience. It is understandable that the brain would neutralize the penetration of the surgeon's scalpel. You cannot avoid destroying some nerve cells and damaging others by removing the tumor. Swelling occurs. Damaged nerve cells take a long time to recover. The scar tissue is preserved. Brain cells, unlike others, do not replace each other when destroyed, but through an inexplicable but wonderful process, they manage to recreate the circuitry of the area from which the tumor was removed. It takes time.

Although I appeared to be on the mend, I suffered for six months after the operation. I've learned that a full recovery can take up to three years, but at least I will get over it. My thinking skills were not affected at all and my memory was better than ever.

I am very grateful to the surgeon for his great skill and to the sincere friends who visited me during my stay in the hospital. I am also grateful that I can continue to express my gratitude to the Creator who has endowed our bodies with such wonderful resilience. In fact, my appreciation for life has increased. It's so good to live!

These seizures occur when the brain experiences something called an "electrical storm". A tumor or other disease can cause a large number of brain cells to fire repeatedly, creating electrical impulses that are much stronger than normal. Depending on the affected area, the muscles may suddenly contract and cause the victim to suddenly lose consciousness, experience sudden body movements and be unable to breathe. Injury or death from such seizures is rare, unless cerebral discharge persists in this way.