CBSI

As a number of you know, we had to use the same technique here recently for a much more serious matter. After a long period of cloudy and spotty vision that was getting worse by the week, I got back to Garden City to see the cataract specialist, knowing that would fix my problem. The doctor soon realized that the problem was not cataracts at all and with an MRI quickly found a very large mass under the front of my skull. Called a meningioma, the tumors are usually benign, slow growing and many times not even located unless they cause symptoms such as blindness. Mine was about the size a golf ball and located under the skull above my nose, obstructing the optic nerve.

Very familiar with one of the national health providers, we immediately made an appointment with one of the doctors at their southern facility and headed south. After reading up on meningiomas, skull surgery was daunting, but doable, and the return of my eyesight a must. As it turned out, that doctor was not reading the same material. After looking at the MRI, he announced there were two choices and his was to hope that the tumor would continue to grow slowly although the eventual result would be blindness. Surgery, on the other hand, had the risk of paralysis, major personality changes and a number of other possible complications along with a recovery time of six months to a year. The stunner was that, with the surgery, I would not see any better than I was that day and probably would see worse. As you can imagine, we left the facility in shock. “Be brave, Sunshine, be brave.”

It was time to start making other plans and, I have to admit, I did start trying to remember every sunset and loving face, in case I would not be able to do that soon. Contacts with a number of other facilities and doctors were made.

Then, a good friend remembered advertising he had heard on a Denver radio station. One Sunday night I e-mailed the Colorado Brain and Spine Institute in Denver, Colo., about my problem. The next morning, their staff called and asked for my records and by Wednesday we had an appointment with one of their neurosurgeons. The short version is that we met with Dr. Vollmer, who assured me that I was not only in good health, but also fixable, made an appointment for surgery and on January 12, 2011, the doctor spent ten hours taking the tumor out through a tiny hole in my forehead. I also got a free facelift, but that’s another story.

I went into the surgery hoping for three things: 1) to see primary colors again, 2) be able to wiggle my fingers and toes, and 3) come out with part of the sparkling personality I had worked so hard to develop through the years. It all came true. I could see perfectly when I woke from the surgery, am in full recovery at our home in Kansas and Dr. Vollmer thinks my follow-up will be going to the Denver Stock Show every year and stopping by for a MRI. It truly is a miracle provided by the staff at CBSI and Swedish Medical along with family, friends and staff, and cards, flowers and prayers. Thank you all.