Second consultation complete! Yesterday, I had a telehealth consultation with Dr. Aaron Cohen-Godal from USC. Consistent with Dr. Theodosopoulos, he recommends debulking the tumor due to its size, location, and my age followed by stereotactic radiation to prevent further growth. However, he prefers to access the tumor via the retrosigmoid
Collecting Info Well, there's not a lot new happening but here's a quick update on the progress of my second opinions. On Friday, Stanford sent me the written second opinion I requested. They completed a thorough review of my medical records and, as I expected, they
First Opinion On Friday May 23, 2025 I spoke to the ENT who performs surgery with the neurosurgeon from UCSF and I honestly did not love his proposed surgical approach. Just to re-iterate, my meningioma is basically in the worst possible location, i.e. the skull base. As a medical
Consultation Yesterday I finally had my consultation with neurosurgery and it went about as I expected: 1. On imaging, the mass is highly consistent with a benign petroclival meningioma and further identification will occur post-op 2. Surgery is recommended as the tumor is compressing my brainstem, wrapping itself around some
First of all, great news! I have a UCSF neurosurgery consultation on Tuesday, May 20. However, since April 9, 2025 when I received the results of my initial CT, every step on this journey has been hurry up and wait. From getting my MRI scheduled, completing the MRI, waiting to
August 5, 2025: SURGERY- extended retrosigmoid August 4, 2025: Pre-surgery appointment with Dr. Almefty July 31, 2025: MRI/CT scans repeated for surgical navigation July 14, 2025: Surgery scheduled for August 5, 2025 with Dr. Almefty and Barrow Neurological Institute July 9, 2025: Fifth opinion with Barrow Neurological Institute in
Welcome to Healing Headspace! I'm Rachel, a 36 year old Doctor of Physical Therapy recently diagnosed with a 4 cm skull-base meningioma. Follow along with me as I navigate this journey of diagnosis and treatment... and healing along the way. About Me Originally from Missouri, I now live