Freewriting (1)

Two posts in one week because, in HOW MARKETS CAN PROMPT YOU TO WRITE: PART TWO, I wrote:

Time to freewrite, or write freely

Ignore that INNER CRITIC,

stop looking for distractions,

just write.

Topic: I Survived Brain Surgery

I will freewrite for 20 minutes… [shackle Inner Critic]

I Survived Brain Surgery

I know a man, a Neurosurgeon highly skilled in skull base surgery, who has seen inside my head. Not many people can say that – “I’ve seen inside your head”. To be fair, my Doc was there to remove a brain tumour.

I first knew I had a tumour in that delicate part of my anatomy, late last summer. While everyone was fearing or succumbing to Covid19, I was growing a Meningioma within the first two vertebrae of my neck, using Meninges, the covering of the brain.

The Consultant in charge of my care when I fell earlier in the year, had ordered the spinal MRI. I had to wait through Lockdown. It was this Consultant who phoned me early one morning, late in July. Do you know what the right reaction is to “you have been diagnosed with a type of brain tumour…?” It is: oh…I’ll turn the speakerphone on so my husband will hear this call.

Surgery came along on 9th October after all the finding-out-what-I-had, and pre-op procedures, including more MRI scans. I am not giving you all the private and gory details of what happened, and how it has taken 8 weeks to get me back on track.

I will only say: Do not fear neurosurgery…allow the surgical team full access to everything thing they need…sleep under anaesthesia well (8 hours, in my case)…and follow all the advice afterwards. I came home with a scar from the top of the middle of my neck up onto my skull, and a small wound somewhere between my midline and ear, where the Doc entered the skull.

Here I am writing again! My hair has regrown enough to be having a restyle on Tuesday. I survived a Brain Tumour has quite a ring to it.

You can visit The Brain Tumour Charity for more information and support.