The (happy) story of a tumor
I’m extraordinarily grateful for the story I’m about to share. I’m a VERY grateful survivor. If you are squeamish, please don’t read this. Instead skip to this post: The ultimate gift, learnings and silver linings
First of all no one knows how this story begins. We do know it didn’t begin before 2014 when I had my last brain scan. For me it really began a couple of years ago when I began to struggle with much of my life, my work and even my hobbies. It was gradual at first and I thought I was just languishing from the effects of isolation during Covid. I got more and more tired. I thought I must actually have Covid and did repeated PCR tests. The negative results were reassuring but I still didn’t feel well.
So not willing to give up on my health and really wanting to get back my purpose and meaning in life, I worked even harder on my Peloton to get as fit as I could to try to overcome the tiredness and lack of drive. I was proud when I exceeded 180BPM, as I thought I was sweating my way to health. I even took up weight lifting with a trainer. All this as it turns out could have been fatal, as after these sessions I felt very unwell and would lose control of my arms and drop things or get really faint overall. Finally after several weeks of this weakness, tiredness and other symptoms overcoming me I called and visited my doctor.
Nothing immediately showed up, even with blood tests. But an MRI was ordered and about 10 days later I got in one evening for a brain scan. However when the scans were done they rushed me to the ER where I stayed until 3am, joined by my wife who literally from that moment has been a superhero shepherding my recovery.
What followed is easier shown than talked so here’s the scan of the tumor and a short clip of the diagnosis.
I was diagnosed with a sizeable tumor with swelling affecting ⅓ of my brain. It was also located next to the executive area of the brain, an area that controls all one’s key functions. They wanted to remove it right away and get a biopsy as soon thereafter as possible.
Delay, and luck
Sadly but luckily, it was so swollen that the neurosurgery team told me I needed to go on steroids for a few days before they could operate, despite needing to remove it asap. The steroids were as much of a shock to my system as the news of the tumor but they bought us the time we needed to interview our potential surgeons. My wife was once again brilliant, she and my sister Dr Jane Skok who works at NYU identified and managed to get time with the very best neurosurgeons in Boston. We spent an exhausting week breaking through their already overly busy schedules to see them and understand their perspective and make our choice. In the end it was easy. We met Dr C. He immediately put us at ease with his calm knowledgeable and realistic but reassuring diagnosis. Both my wife and I knew right then we’d be fine. Amazing but true, he’s that good. But unfortunately he was booked solid because of it. Despite that, he went out of his way to find a solution and in the end brought his colleague Dr A. in to get the operation started that he then could join a couple of hours in. While this seemed daunting to us they reassured us that you need two surgeons anyway for this kind of procedure and that the operation would likely last some hours.
I was extremely lucky to have these two unbelievable surgeons operate for what turned out to be 8 hours of surgery to fully remove what they described as the “bloody and deep” tumor they discovered while operating. It’s a miracle to me that they removed it without impact to my executive functions at all. I am also incredibly lucky that about a week later the biopsy revealed it to be a type 1 non cancerous “Meningioma” that will not recur. (Wow and phew!)
Now it’s a joy to be recovering on pace thanks to the whole team at Brigham and Women’s hospital who sped my recovery day and night for my 2 weeks there. They were exceptional. And every day since leaving I’ve felt grateful for the gift of life they’ve left me with. It’s truly incomparable. Thank you ALL so very much.
While it’s way beyond words, I wrote this post: The Ultimate Gift to share my deep appreciation for what I’ve been given as well as what I learned and all the silver linings that resulted from it.
Michael, thank you for being vulnerable and sharing aspects of your journey over the past several months. Your renewed outlook on life is inspiring.