Rundown

One of my favorite coworkers just recently returned for work after taking time off and upon learning that I was on medical leave sent a really sweet message to check in and offer help. I wrote her back giving an explanation of what has happened over the past two months and thought that I might be helpful to post:

Hi Janet! Thank you so much for checking in, you are so sweet! I am not sure how much how much you have been told about my situation but I am happy to bring you up to date: I had a grand mal seizure on November 24th in the bathroom of alls places and knocked myself out by hitting my head on the bath tub. Luckily my husband was home, dialed 911, and I was taken to the ER where they found a large mass in my right frontal/temporal lobe. I was then sent for an MRI where they determined that it was an epidermoid tumor that is benign but slowly growing and in contact with an artery. Me being me I did A BUNCH OF RESEARCH and found several neurosurgeons with expertise in this area, met with them, and was incredibly impressed by Dr. Piepmeier and his team at Yale. The craniotomy was done earlier this month and I am currently recovering at home with my family. Sorry for all the details but lol  I am not ashamed of anything (in fact, my research has revealed that the location of the tumor may explain a whole lot of issues that I ave experienced in recent years  including intense anxiety as well as difficulties with organizing, reading faces,  social interactions, mulltitaking, etc). I am going a little stir crazy at home because while I cannot drive, bend over too much, or lift anything more than 5 lbs (e.g. requirements for our job) I am intellectually starving and am frantically trying to put together my application for a neuroscience fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center before the February deadline because this whole experience has really inspired a new passion into the neuroscience of developmental disabilities. Once again sorry for the novel lol I hope you are doing well and miss you😊