Left Frontal Meningioma surgery recovery

@mrector may I ask....I know what caused my meningioma. I had mantle radiation in 1988. This for sure was the cause. I was 12 and it was for hodgkins lymphoma. At 30 I had cardio myopathy, congestive heart failure. The radiation thickened 2 valves in my heart. A few years later, pancreatitis. At my first mamogram in 2015 we found breast cancer starting. It was starting in both breasts. In 2018 after asking more than once for a CT they showed me a large tumor on my MRI. All of this is from that mantle radiation.
Were you given a cause or it just happened...

@julie1976 I started losing vision in my left eye. The eye Dr thought it was glaucoma but my vision rapidly got worse. Finally I had a MRI ordered and found the tumor in July 2018. They don't know what caused it or how long I had it. The tumor is wrapped around my carotid artery and optic nerve so the neurosurgeon could only get 85% of it. I have lost most vision in left eye and will eventually lose all of it in that eye. I will go for MRIs regularly to make sure everything is okay.

@mrector thank you for your reply. Everyone's story is different...I guess I'll find out more information about mine at the post op

@julie1976 Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic pain disorder that affects the trigeminal nerve, a cranial nerve. In my case, it was the reason I found my tumor. For five years, I had been experiencing pain, numbness, tingling, burning, on the left side of my head, face, and mouth that could be a level 2 pain one day, and a level 10 the next. I explained this to several doctors and dentists - they all said it was likely due to a root canal that damaged the nerve. It wasn't until I was at a level 10 for months straight and went to an oral surgeon and told him the pain felt like there was an infection in my brain. Finally, he became concerned enough to order an MRI, which revealed the meningioma right near the nerve. The pain since surgery has subside tremendously. It's not gone, but it is manageable at a level 2/3 with an exacerbation to a level 5 during the times I mentioned in my last post.

@ccmars Wow! So glad to hear that surgery helped. With pain that bad...anything is something.Thank you for your reply 🙂

@julie1976 Moral of the story....listen to your body, trust your instincts, if something doesn't feel right, press your doc! Good luck, be well!

@ccmars Exactly. When I was starting to have problems...I asked my doctor...could it be my heart? She said Julie your heart is just broken ( I had lost a friend) She later called me in the ICU to apologize . I told her...you are only human and we all make mistakes. Not many people think heart when it's a 30year old female. I've had this doctor for 25 years now. I hope from now on when I ask for a test we just do it lol

I have had 3 surgeries and done radiation in a 5.5 year time period. Mine first tumor was found because we thought I had trigeminal neuralgia. Turns out the trigeminal nerve was wrapped around a meningioma and that was causing the pain. I have another tumor on the same side but in a different location that effects my vision and hearing.

@handerson31276 thank you for your reply. I'm sorry this is an ongoing problem for you.Prayers and positive thoughts 🙂

I had two meningiomas .. one in my nasal cavity one wrapped around left optic nerve. I had a 2-3 month recovery. I now after 10 years have reoccurring ones in the same spots