meningioma

@bob5555 We will all be thinking about you tomorrow. Best of luck to you.

@krinlynn
Just curious where your meningioma is located. This sounds like mine that was found in 1999. It is still there. Located in the anterior Falx. They did gamma knife radiation to stop growth.

@csue1 mine is in left parietal. They are waiting until 2027 to do anything. At this point, I am not a candidate for gamma knife.

My six month MRI for a 1.4 x 1.1 x 1.5 cm left dural based meningioma near the optic nerve showed no change in size. I see my neurosurgeon at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento on August 12th and am scheduled for a second neuro ophthalmology appointment in September. The meningioma was found incidentally in February and, so far, I have not experienced any symptoms. My fingers are crossed for more of the same.

@vernicek 🙏🙏

@vernicek : Great news! Thanks for the update. The meningioma I had removed that was near the optic nerve was 2.7 cm. and I was having symptoms. So you are in a good spot, that being that it hasn't shown any growth at this point (and they are usually slow growing) and you are not having symptoms. Sounds like you're the perfect candidate for watch-and-wait (a.k.a. "active surveillance")

@mkoch Thank you for the encouraging reply. Watch and wait is what I’m hoping my neurosurgeon will recommend on August 12th. I’m very active and healthy at 75 and plan to travel while I can. Will take this meningioma diagnosis one MRI at a time.

@mkoch What were your symptoms?

@vernicek: pain above my left eyebrow-5 years prior to the meningioma being found, incidentally, I had a CT scan of my "face," I guess you'd call it, to try and figure out why that pain was there. The reporting radiologist called out "chronic sinusitis." My P.C.P. remarked, "Oh, this is going to be really hard to get rid of." Then, the neurosurgeon that I saw 5 years later after that CT scan, upon his review, also called out a chronic sinus infection and the reason was because of the presence of the 2.7 cm meningioma abutting the sinus space above my left eyebrow. I also had a frequent (maybe 2 or 3 times a week) burning sensation in my left nostril that was so annoying it would make me irritable. I had seen an ENT 4 times in 5 years but he could not explain it nor offer a way to resolve it. Happily, after my craniotomy to remove the meningioma, both the aforementioned symptoms went away and haven't come back. So, obviously, a direct link. Also, only in my left eye, not actual double vision but what the optometrist called "ghosting" which was each letter in a word presented itself one and a half times, vertically. I can draw what it was better than explain it.

My husband and two girlfriends have had meningiomas removed surgically, all at different hospitals. In each case surgery was performed without complications and recovery was excellent. One friend lost her sense of smell due to the location of the meningioma.

No seizures occurred for any. Seizure medication was used for a period of time post surgery to prevent occurrence, and it worked.

Meningiomas are scary- my brain! But with proper observation and surgical care as needed, they are not life threatening at all.