Not sure how to explain this without being very graphic. Last week on Tuesday, 4/21, I had a craniotomy; this means the neurosurgeon opened a hole in my skull in the right temple area to reach the tumor that was compressing the optic nerve and causing some peripheral vision loss.
When you think of peripheral vision being impaired, you don't immediately think they will have to open your skull and move your brain out of the way to fix the problem. But basically, that's what they did. The sort of tumor I have is fairly common and usually non-cancerous; it's called a Meningioma. It was just in a bad spot where there wasn't much room for it to exist. This is my second time around, having had the exact same surgery in 2008. This time the neurosurgeon removed more bone above the optic nerve to give it room. He wasn't able to remove any more tumor or scar tissue under the nerve because the nerve itself was too fragile and could have been destroyed by further manipulation. I am able to see, but it will probably take a visual field test to determine if I have any loss in my peripheral vision.
Yes, I'm on some very good meds, so no, it doesn't hurt. Mostly my head is numb. Mostly I'm really doing good. Mostly I'm amazed by medicine and what we're capable of doing to the human body.
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