PATIENT STORY
I’d seen an awake craniotomy on Grey’s Anatomy - this was not a role I thought I’d ever play Having been diagnosed with a brain tumour, Helen Fall then faced the trauma of knowing she must undergo an awake craniotomy. Here, she discusses her experience and how it has enabled her to move on and rebuild her life At the age of 40, I received the diagnosis of a low grade glioma (astrocytoma) in the left temporal lobe. The tumour was pressing on my speech and language centre. Looking back, I recall symptoms over the last five years. More startling was the idea that the tumour had potentially started growing up to two decades before. My symptoms began with slight memory loss. I recall an awkward moment on the phone when I was booking a nail salon appointment but couldn’t remember the word ‘manicure’. Yet the majority of symptoms resembled deja-vus or auras. When listening to an audiobook I might suddenly have a strong feeling of familiarity as if I knew the narrative by heart. Occasionally I got the feeling that a radio presenter was speaking only to me. On other occasions, I imagined hearing a message from a third party, which I’d quickly forget or rush to note down. Any notes I made were always gobbledygook. I had no idea that these ‘deja-vus’ were in fact mini seizures. I had assumed that growing older and having tough sleepless nights raising two young children were the cause. In addition, if I ever approached a GP, I found my experiences
NRTIMES
The news that my tumour existed and that I should have an awake craniotomy felt like a punch in the stomach. 96
