Blog 4 - Going to the Doctor When Female

I have always noticed that when I visit doctors I go into 'pleasing person' mode.  Meaning, I often smile and laugh- act as if all is fine.  So, in many ways, perhaps I cannot blame the doctors for their misdiagnosis.  I also know that brain tumors are often not diagnosed for long periods of time.  Especially slow growing ones.

However, I also know that the symptoms that I presented with were not consistent with a mental illness.  Losing my balance, buzzing in my ears, loss of memory in my early fifites- not mental illness.  And even if it had been, there were no tests set up by my primary doctor to see if there was any physical causes for my problems.

Only the Redi-Med doctor set up an MRI, and she didn't take the time to read it- or perhaps she sent it to my primary.  I don't know what happened at that time.  Because I was soon sent to a heart doc who said he thought I 'might' have had a mini-stroke. 

I often wonder what my life would have been like if this great big tumor had been removed 7 years ago.

Today, my memory is as sharp as it was prior to this 7 year timeline, I am healthy as any woman can be at 57, and my vision is good.  There was a lot of concern at the time of diagnosis if I would have any vision problems after the surgery because of the location of the tumor.  For the first year or so I did have blurring which has receded over time.  I still have partial onset seizures when under extreme stress- and am on seizure meds for that.  On the whole, I am not doing too bad.  And, for that, I am glad.