Introduction

My name is Megan, and five months ago I had brain surgery.  My tumor was a grade II oligodendroglioma in my left frontal lobe, about 2-2.5 cm in diameter.  The surgeon performed a gross total resection.  In another post I will go through what all this means in English because it's pretty complex and seems to get a little bit more complex every time I learn something new about my chronic illness. 

Just before my surgery, my husband and I created an e-mail group to give our family and friends updates about my surgery and recovery.  That worked well in the first month or two--I wasn't writing very much and people really just wanted to know how I was doing physically.  As more time has passed and I realized that my surgery was not so much a one-and-done experience, I started to wonder if I should write a blog about some of the things I have felt and struggled with emotionally, my medical questions, things I have learned, and, of course, the physical aspects of my recovery.  I hope that by writing other brain surgery patients will find helpful information and be comforted in knowing they are not alone.  I also hope that people will understand some of the complexity that comes with being diagnosed with a chronic illness, particularly one that affects the brain.