CLEVELAND — Senior Health Correspondent Monica Robins paid a surprise visit to wkyc studios, following surgery to remove a brain tumor three weeks ago.
"You look amazing!" exclaimed many staffers. "Why, thank you!" said Monica, absolutely beaming.
But make no mistake, there is pain from a 10-inch incision on her head that required 51 staples. The meningioma, or brain tumor, was located behind her left eye. Her surgeon took out as much of the tumor as possible, but had to leave about 5-percent of it behind because it sits on her optic nerve and carotid artery.
Therefore, her vision is distorted for now, and there is some paralysis on the left side of her face. She is also at high risk for seizures.
However she did receive good news: The tumor is not malignant, which means it is non-cancerous. Still, the tumor's regrowth can be life-threatening.
"What next for me are MRI's, at least for the foreseeable future. Every 6 months, and if we see any growth, then radiation is in my future," Monica explained.
If not for her persistence, doctors may not have discovered the tumor. Monica never had any of the usual symptoms of meningioma, which includes headache, seizures, and memory loss. Doctors first thought the swelling in her left eye was due to her allergies from her orange tabby cat, Mojo. However, Monica kept asking her doctors questions, even after an eye specialist diagnosed her with Graves' disease, a thyroid disorder. It was a precautionary C-T scan that revealed the brain tumor.
"There is no better health advocate than you," she urged. "You need to open you mouth, and you need to say something if you think something isn't right," she said.
But above all, Monica is grateful for all the support from you.
"Grateful isn't even strong enough to describe what I am," she said. "There are no words strong enough to say, 'thank you,' enough for everything that I have received."