Brain tumour ...

Around June 17th, Ben received a hit to the head from a badminton racket. His head hurt for a while but seemed to go away.  He then had to write 2 exams the following 2 days. He complained about his head hurting on the left side and some confusion.  We took him to our family doctor and he suggested rest for a concussion. So he rested for a couple of weeks. Ben slept much of the day with very little energy. When he got up his head hurt more. Then he seemed to forget things and couldn't find his words, so we took him to emergency at the local hospital. They suggested the same with rest and Tylenol. A week later we went back to our doctor, seeing no improvement, and were told, yet again, to give a few more days with Tylenol and then return to see him after the weekend. That Saturday, he got up after resting on the couch but when he smiled only the left side of his face smiled. His face returned to normal after about 30 secs. We immediately thought maybe a mild stroke? Now we were worried. We took him to emergency at our local hospital, again. There doctors looked him over and asked about his history.  We told them everything.  They debated about doing a CT Scan as they didn't want to expose him to more radiation and they didn't really think it necessary, especially after consulting with the oncologist on call. So, again, home with Tylenol etc.  Meanwhile, we emailed Ben's oncologist, who cured him of leukemia. She responded saying it was "concerning" and that she would like to see us on that Monday (July 20th). Meanwhile, I looked up symptoms for concussions and brain tumour. They were almost identical except a few. That got me worried. 
Picture
We came into Children's Hospital that Monday.  He had blood work done, which was perfectly fine. She suggested we do a CT Scan and she got us in right away. We waited for results. Then Ben's oncologist came in with two other nurses and told us the news.  Ben had a 5cm brain tumour on the left side of his head. Of course, we were devastated! We thought all this was just a concussion with maybe some bleeding involved. We had absolutely no clue it could be this especially since all the blood work always came back perfect. So right away he was admitted, they did a MRI to get a better picture. We were then told that he has to be operated on the following morning. I stayed over night with him.

The following morning at 7am, nurses, doctors, specialists, brain surgeons, fellows, and anaesthetists came in and out of the room. He was prepped and I went with him into the operating room. Scary place! I saw in the back the MRI of Ben's head showing the massive tumour. It was way bigger than I thought it was. Almost the size of a tennis ball. Ben was quite strong and didn't seem nervous at all.  I guess with everything he's been through since 2002, he's able to take this all in. I held his hand while the anaesthetist injected the the medicine to make him sleep. It was difficult to be strong at that point.
Picture
The operation began around 9:30 after Ben's stabilization from the anaesthetic. We waited in a small room for any news of how he was doing. We would get a call or two from the anaesthetist to tell us where they were at. Once he mentioned they had removed a third of the tumour. After 3.5 hours on the operation table, they started closing up.  The surgeon, a very renowned doctor (Dr. Steinbok), came in to tell us how it went. It went perfectly and as expected. Most, if not all of the tumour was removed. Ben did very well and was in intensive care for recovery. Obstacle 1 - complete.

We were allowed to see Ben a couple of hours after his surgery.  He seemed surprisingly quite fine, especially having gone through brain surgery. He still had all of his hair left except where they made the incision. He seemed in good spirits!
Picture
The swelling on the left side of his face started a few hours later. It swelled considerably but didn't hurt. Just uncomfortable.  The next day he had a black eye on the left side. All this is normal. Intensive care was not too much fun at all.  He was to be woken up every hour the first night to check how he was doing. Then he was woken up every 2 hours. We were anxious to go up to floor 3R where he could have his own room and sleep for longer periods. There were a few other patients in intensive care that were quite loud especially during the night, so that didn't help the resting. The following day, around 1pm, he was allowed to go up to 3R and his own room.  There, he stayed to recover for about 4 days. Everything went according to protocol. He caught up on his sleep. He had headaches here and there as the swelling went down and things moved back into place in his head. We shampooed his hair once which felt "strange" Ben said. He was released to go home that Friday. It was one crazy, stressful week! And we had just come in for a consultation that Monday morning!

Ben went to the mall with us for a couple of hours.  First time out of the house. He felt good to have some kind of normalcy. He was tired near the end of the 2 hours and needed to sit down. Ben's black eye has faded and is almost back to normal. He has taken the last of the pills he had to take after the operation.
​
Proudly powered by Weebly

Brain tumour ...

Around June 17th, Ben received a hit to the head from a badminton racket. His head hurt for a while but seemed to go away.  He then had to write 2 exams the following 2 days. He complained about his head hurting on the left side and some confusion.  We took him to our family doctor and he suggested rest for a concussion. So he rested for a couple of weeks. Ben slept much of the day with very little energy. When he got up his head hurt more. Then he seemed to forget things and couldn't find his words, so we took him to emergency at the local hospital. They suggested the same with rest and Tylenol. A week later we went back to our doctor, seeing no improvement, and were told, yet again, to give a few more days with Tylenol and then return to see him after the weekend. That Saturday, he got up after resting on the couch but when he smiled only the left side of his face smiled. His face returned to normal after about 30 secs. We immediately thought maybe a mild stroke? Now we were worried. We took him to emergency at our local hospital, again. There doctors looked him over and asked about his history.  We told them everything.  They debated about doing a CT Scan as they didn't want to expose him to more radiation and they didn't really think it necessary, especially after consulting with the oncologist on call. So, again, home with Tylenol etc.  Meanwhile, we emailed Ben's oncologist, who cured him of leukemia. She responded saying it was "concerning" and that she would like to see us on that Monday (July 20th). Meanwhile, I looked up symptoms for concussions and brain tumour. They were almost identical except a few. That got me worried. 
Picture
We came into Children's Hospital that Monday.  He had blood work done, which was perfectly fine. She suggested we do a CT Scan and she got us in right away. We waited for results. Then Ben's oncologist came in with two other nurses and told us the news.  Ben had a 5cm brain tumour on the left side of his head. Of course, we were devastated! We thought all this was just a concussion with maybe some bleeding involved. We had absolutely no clue it could be this especially since all the blood work always came back perfect. So right away he was admitted, they did a MRI to get a better picture. We were then told that he has to be operated on the following morning. I stayed over night with him.

The following morning at 7am, nurses, doctors, specialists, brain surgeons, fellows, and anaesthetists came in and out of the room. He was prepped and I went with him into the operating room. Scary place! I saw in the back the MRI of Ben's head showing the massive tumour. It was way bigger than I thought it was. Almost the size of a tennis ball. Ben was quite strong and didn't seem nervous at all.  I guess with everything he's been through since 2002, he's able to take this all in. I held his hand while the anaesthetist injected the the medicine to make him sleep. It was difficult to be strong at that point.
Picture
The operation began around 9:30 after Ben's stabilization from the anaesthetic. We waited in a small room for any news of how he was doing. We would get a call or two from the anaesthetist to tell us where they were at. Once he mentioned they had removed a third of the tumour. After 3.5 hours on the operation table, they started closing up.  The surgeon, a very renowned doctor (Dr. Steinbok), came in to tell us how it went. It went perfectly and as expected. Most, if not all of the tumour was removed. Ben did very well and was in intensive care for recovery. Obstacle 1 - complete.

We were allowed to see Ben a couple of hours after his surgery.  He seemed surprisingly quite fine, especially having gone through brain surgery. He still had all of his hair left except where they made the incision. He seemed in good spirits!
Picture
The swelling on the left side of his face started a few hours later. It swelled considerably but didn't hurt. Just uncomfortable.  The next day he had a black eye on the left side. All this is normal. Intensive care was not too much fun at all.  He was to be woken up every hour the first night to check how he was doing. Then he was woken up every 2 hours. We were anxious to go up to floor 3R where he could have his own room and sleep for longer periods. There were a few other patients in intensive care that were quite loud especially during the night, so that didn't help the resting. The following day, around 1pm, he was allowed to go up to 3R and his own room.  There, he stayed to recover for about 4 days. Everything went according to protocol. He caught up on his sleep. He had headaches here and there as the swelling went down and things moved back into place in his head. We shampooed his hair once which felt "strange" Ben said. He was released to go home that Friday. It was one crazy, stressful week! And we had just come in for a consultation that Monday morning!

Ben went to the mall with us for a couple of hours.  First time out of the house. He felt good to have some kind of normalcy. He was tired near the end of the 2 hours and needed to sit down. Ben's black eye has faded and is almost back to normal. He has taken the last of the pills he had to take after the operation.
​