Mom Shocked at Daughter’s Calm Reaction to News that She Has to have Neurosurgery on her Brain

“So, you have a benign tumor in your brain, Mom. What happens next?”

Those were words that Valerie Swidock never expected she would hear coming out of her only daughter’s mouth upon telling her that she had a tumor located in her brain. Swidock had, after all, consulted with a psychologist, her pastor and pediatrician to discuss how exactly to give 12 year old Emily the news about her mother’s health and upcoming neurosurgery.

“It was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life,” says Swidock. “Even more so than the actual surgery to remove the tumor.”

As is frequently true with children, Emily took the news well and was full of questions about her mother’s diagnosis, the biggest of which was whether she could tell her friends.

In the early spring of this year, Swidock ‘s family physician sent her for a CAT scan of her head after she developed headaches. The CAT scan revealed an abnormality in her brain that was later confirmed by local neurosurgeon, David McKalip M.D. to be a benign meningioma tumor that had likely been growing for 3 to 5 years.

A meningioma is a type of primary brain tumor. It is a wart like tumor that grows on the delicate outer covering of the brain. Meningiomas grow slowly pressing on the brain which causes symptoms in the patient that may vary from headaches, seizures, slowly worsening speech disturbance, weakness, numbness or drowsiness and when very large, death. Sometimes the meningioma invades the brain, skull bone and muscle, but does not spread elsewhere in the body.

Meningiomas are more common in women than men. Over 80% are benign, with approximately 15% being intermediate grade (called atypical meningiomas) and 5% being malignant (brain cancer). The cause of meningiomas is unknown. Many patients with meningiomas have no risk factors, like Swidock. Surgery was suggested to remove it although she was also offered specialized, focused radiation therapy as an alternative.

“When you need to find someone to operate on your brain, what do you base your decision on?” says Swidock. “My husband arrived at the first appointment with Dr. McKalip in June of this year with a notebook full of questions in hand to ask. He needn’t have bothered though as Dr. McKalip was very detail oriented and explained everything. His ties to his community, the compassion he showed me and the caring way he spoke to me just demonstrated his trustworthiness and left me feeling very comfortable about putting my surgery in his capable hands.”

On Tuesday, October 21, 2008, Dr. McKalip performed Stealth MRI craniotomy neurosurgery which lasted four hours to remove the tumor from Swidock’s brain. A stealth MRI scan is performed before the surgery and then it is registered with the Stealth navigation computer system in the operating room.

“Stealth MRI works by using imaging data from computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging to generate a map of my patient’s brain.” explains Dr. McKalip. “Using this Stealth technology mean the neurosurgeon is guided to the precise location of the meningioma tumor in order to remove it which means less surgery time, fewer complications and shorter hospital stays.”

The only side effect Swidock says she experienced was a little discomfort where the incision was. She was discharged just three days after surgery, with no adverse reaction and completely functional. She only needed pain medication for the first week for the discomfort she felt at the incision site at the back of her scalp.

Swidock has since returned to her busy role as Emily’s proud mother, helping with homework and attending her golf tournaments and dance recitals.