Yes, it really is brain surgery

The cyst is the round black spot at the end of the yellow arrow.

As some of you know and others do not, I was diagnosed with an arachnoid cyst in my brain (dubbed Archie) back in 2016 right before I got married. For a number of reasons (not the least of which is it's way more fun to plan a wedding then think about brain surgery) I decided to wait before doing anything about it, but this year it seemed to be growing and the doctor recommended removing it. 

First, a moment of gratitude: I want to say that there aren't enough thank-yous in the world for my patient and kind husband (and I do mean patient) as he deals with my moods and pain daily, my family who has been amazingly supportive (my parents came to help and I don't know how much laundry my mother did in her time here), my Portland friends and other friends across the country who have sent their love and good wishes, visited when I was falling asleep and continue to visit as I still can't drive. 

As you can imagine, the day I ended up being sent to a neuro-oncologist after the curious urgent care MRI, was one of the most surreal days of my life. I was sitting in the waiting room thinking, how the hell did I get here? I assumed it was a formality, not for me, and they would laugh at the misunderstanding and send me home. Instead, the doctor looked at me seriously and said he recommended removing the cyst in my brain. Seriously?

Instead of acting rashly, I asked if there was any harm in waiting and watching and although the doctor thought it best to go in and get it he said it would be fine to wait and watch over the next 3, 6 and 9 months. And by the way, it was a weird bit of dark matter on the image and, as a neuro-oncologist, he was of course concerned it was cancer. Again, what the fuck?

The curious thing of all of it is that it was found during a typical scan for a person entering urgent care with a migraine. The rub is that it's still not clear whether or not the cyst has anything at all to do with my increase in headaches. My only solace is that now, when I go to a doctor, I can forthrightly tell them that there is nothing else physically wrong with my brain and something still needs to be done about the headaches. However, I certainly hope that headaches are diminished at least in some capacity.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be publishing more info if you are curious, have a friend going through brain surgery, or just don't know what else to read on the vast internet. I will be giving you my story here. If you, yourself are planning for a craniotomy or know someone who is, this nurse gives a fabulous overview of what to expect.

Spoiler alert: no cancer! It's a benign cyst and is now gone.