The beginning

Well, I thought I would start a blog so that my friends and family would be able to follow along on my journey with me. For those of you who don't know I was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in December this past year. It was a day I can't seem to erase from my mind. I went in for a CT scan because of some headaches I was having. When the technician told me to take a seat in the waiting room I had a feeling that something was not right. When everyone else was aloud to leave right after their CT and I was still sitting there I knew that something was wrong. The Neurosurgeon came in to escort my mom and I over to his office and my heart dropped into my stomach. What was the big deal I kept thinking to myself. I just have a sinus headache. When he sat us down he starting trying to get my history but I just wanted to know what was wrong. He finally told us that I had a large brain tumour and I would need surgery right away to have it removed or I could leave it alone and I would die. I obviously chose to have surgery and signed the consent right away. He wasn't very postitive about this surgery telling us that most likely they wouldn't be able to remove the entire tumour and also he was 100% certain that it was from another site. He was sure that there was another even bigger tumour in my body somewhere. I just kept looking over at my mom and we were in complete shock.

Jeff called me then and the doctor left the room to give me some time to talk to him. I explained what was happening and he left to meet us at the hospital. The nurse came in to discuss the surgery with us and my new diagnosis. She explained that I had to be on a drug to relieve the extensive swelling in my brain which was causing most of my symptoms. She started asking me about my children and we both wound up in tears. What was I going to tell them? This has been the hardest thing that I have had to deal with. We then left to meet my dad and Jeff who were picking us up. We all met at my sister and brother-in-laws house and talked a little about what was going to happen. How your life can change in an instant! People always ask me what my symptoms were. I know that alot of people experience headaches and have sinus trouble but this is what I experienced: headaches which would make me vomit, blurred vision, double-vision, muscle spasms in my legs and static sound and fluid in my ear. You would think that I would figure out that something was more wrong but I didn't.