1 year later

So as the 1 year mark of my diagnosis approaches I thought I'd give you all some facts about brain injuries.
As most of you know, the tumor was on the right side of my brain. It was right where the parietal, temporal and frontal lobes connect. Because it was touching all of them, removal damaged all 3 lobes. What does this mean? Well, it means that I have some disabilities from all three lobes, but not everything that is controlled by these lobes has been affected. Here is a list of things that are controlled by the right side of the brain:

Injuries of the right side of the brain can cause:

• Visual-spatia
• Visual memory deficits
• Left neglect (inattention to the left side of the body)
• Decreased awareness of deficits
• Altered creativity and music perception
• Loss of “the big picture” type of thinking
• Decreased control over left-sided body movements        

The things that I am dealing with are: Visual-spatial impairment- I only have this problem when picking something up or something that is far away; Left neglect- my left hand is almost useless, I have no feeling in my palm which makes it very hard to use especially when picking things up and when I'm typing; Loss of the big picture type thinking- It is very hard for me to think and understand plans for the future, Adam usually has to break it down in small parts in order for me to understand the end result;

Here is a list of things controlled by the temporal lobe:

Temporal Lobe Functions

• Memory
• Understanding language (receptive language)
• Sequencing 
• Hearing
• Organization

My memory is horrible now. If I don't write something down I WILL forget it. An example is the other day Adam asked me to get him a snack when I went into the gas station. I walked in, got drinks and the boys a snack and then paid and left. Totally forgot about Adam's snack and there was less than 5 minutes since he had asked me.

When someone talks to me it takes me a few seconds to process what they say before I can respond.

I can no longer do one thing while listening to someone talk to me. I don't know why, but my brain can't handle doing 2 things at once anymore.

Here is a list of things controlled by the frontal lobe:

Frontal Lobe Functions

• Attention and concentration
• Self-monitoring
• Organization
• Speaking (expressive language)
• Motor planning and initiation
• Awareness of abilities and limitations
• Personality
• Mental flexibility
• Inhibition of behavior
• Emotions
• Problem solving 
• Planning 

My concentration isn't bad when talking to someone, but reading is a challenge for me now especially if I am reading something like a history book. 

Speaking- I find myself tripping over my words a lot now. It is frustrating because I know what I want to say, but it doesn't come out the way I want to say it!

I have a really hard time accepting my limitations. I can't lift or hold anything in my left arm, but I always try. I also have a hard time picking up heavy things and I have a hard time holding the boys for a long period of time. The hardest thing to accept is the fact that I can't carry my boys when their legs get tired because if I do, I hurt later. 

Personality-- my personality has changed in the sense that I get angry really easily now. Something that used to not bother me will enrage me now. I'm working on how to control this though and hoping I can get back to how it was before.

Emotions--this goes along with my personality, sometimes I feel like I have no control over my emotions. 

Lastly, things controlled by the parietal lobe:

Parietal Lobe Functions Sense of touch Spatial perception Differentiation (identification) of size, shapes, and colors Visual perception As I mentioned above, I have pretty much no sense of touch in my left hand. One day Adam was pinching my palm as hard as he could and I didn't even notice until he told me to look at him. This makes it hard to pick stuff up and hold stuff in my left hand. The only issue I have with visual perception is long distance, same goes for spatial perception. I didn't make this post so people will feel sorry for me. I made this post so others could see that even though I am in remission, I'm still dealing with issues caused by the tumor and that even though I look fine on the outside, there are many things that I still struggle with everyday.

Good news :)

So everyone is yelling at me because I haven't posted an update. Well, my last treatment was 12/13 and they told me to have a mri done the beginning of Jan. We went in the first week of Jan and had it done, but wouldn't get the results until the following week. I felt pretty confident going in to the mri and even better when the tech pulled me aside and said, "I see you don't get the official results until nest week so I want to tell you that even though I'm not a radiologist your mri looks way better than the one you had in October." Well, we went in the following week to get the results. Dr. Bernat tortured us and did a head to toe exam, then talked to us about how I was feeling. Finally after being in the room for 20 minutes he said, "So, you want your mri results?" I almost started crying when he said, "There is no sign of regrowth. The only thing I see is some minor swelling." The plan is a mri every 3 months for at least a year alternating between just brain mri's and full brain/spine mri's. We also saw the surgeon that same week. He weened me off my Keppra(anti-seizure med), told me that after I have been off for a full week I can drive again and said he doesn't need to see me until July unless something shows on the mri I have done in March. Adam has gone back to work, but he is only working half days until next week because he is worried about me having a seizure. I had a pretty nasty cold that I am finally over after almost a month and finally starting to get back to doing housewife/mom stuff. Up until this past week I still got tired easily and needed a nap, but I think I am finally able to take care of the boys all day and be okay. I am very excited to finally be able to get back doing normal things and not needing help. It is so great being able to pick up the kids too! We are trying to plan a trip home since I miss all of my family and we have a new niece to spoil. We aren't exactly sure when since it all depends on when Adam can get the time off. I will be sure to let everyone back home know when we know!

Oh yea--I always tell everyone I always go big or go home. Here is the proof. We asked the surgeon how many brain tumors like mine he has seen. He said out of his 20 years of practicing and 1000's of brain tumors he has worked with I am only the 3rd he has seen. I told Adam I just don't want anyone to copy me ;)