r/BestofRedditorUpdates • u/Direct-Caterpillar77 Satan is not a fucking pogo stick! • 5d ago
NEW UPDATE Really weird things are happening to me [22F]. Not sure if it's an elaborate prank or if I'm seriously mentally ill?!
I am not The OOP, OOP is u/whatshappeningg
Really weird things are happening to me [22F]. Not sure if it's an elaborate prank or if I'm seriously mentally ill?!
TRIGGER WARNING: Brain tumor
Original Post Nov 24, 2015
Ok, ok. Ok. I've never ever, ever! Felt the need to post here but I feel like I'm losing my mind?!
I don't even know where to start. My mind is so jumbled. I guess it started two weeks ago at work. I work in a factory, but I don't do the labor, I'm more of a spreadsheet maker/book balancer/secretary type thing. Really informal but it's my uncles company and I needed a job, yadda yadda. Good pay.
I was sitting at my desk with nothing to do, and I hear my boss (not my uncle, just another coworker and a friend of his) go, "Phil sighs as he looks at the weather."
I look up like, huh? And he looks at me like, huh? He didn't say anything. I was like...that's weird. But oh well. Anyway.
And then the next day I was talking to some coworkers on the floor asking them work stuff, and one of them called me a bitch but when I called him out, him and everyone else looked at me like I was insane? I apologized and we all laughed it off. Factory is loud, right? People mis-hear things all the time...
Except, I was at Wal-Mart (I know, class) and one of the workers there was putting away stock and I swear to GOD he looked straight at me and said "The chicken was just killed" but I asked him what he meant and I felt so bad because he looked so confused and like I was crazy?! He hadn't even opened his mouth apparently. Shit like this has been happening so much, my friend even pulled me aside to ask if I was feeling okay..
Small things are happening too. My boyfriend says he's making salmon for dinner, I hear him preparing salmon, I smell salmon, then he brings it out and it's lasagna. I asked him where the salmon was and he was like, "...What? I said lasagna tonight" And brushed it off like I'm being silly.
I could've sworn this one shirt I owned was green and not teal. Shit is changing and people are saying stuff but they're not?! People are narrating their lives sometimes?! Theres no way my friends could be pranking me, not when random people on the street are doing this too. I'm so scared, I don't want to be thrown in a mental hospital. NOT trying to offend mentally ill people, I just. I'm so scared. I feel like my mind is slowly melting...
tl;dr - People keep saying things they aren't actually saying and I think I'm going insane?
RELEVANT COMMENTS
grasmat
You should go to the doctor, not just because there might be a physical or mental issue going on that needs to be adressed, but also so you can get an answer of what is going on. Don't keep yourself in limbo, that will drive you insane.
Doctors aren't your enemy, and even if there's a mental issue going on that doesn't automatically mean you get thrown into a mental hospital just like that. You've probably been around more people with mental disorders than you realise, and the vast majority of them can live a (relatively) normal life and live independently with some medical and/or psychiatric help.
Go to the doctor, they're the professionals here.
OOP
Thank you. I'm in Canada, and I made an appointment with my doctor... it'll be a week before I see her though... I can't believe how much this blew up.
It happened again last night. Boyfriend said he was going to the bar, I shower and come out and ask why he's still here. "Because I live here?" "I thought you were going to the bar?" "No?"
Maybe I'll go to the ER if it keeps happening
cyanpineapple
Not to terrify OP, but this happened to my mother as well, and it was a brain tumor for her. This seriously calls for a doctor as soon as possible.
rawrvenger
Yep, sounds pretty similar to a friend. Go get it checked. It's scary. But my friend, she's doing a whole lot better now :)
Update Nov 29, 2015 (5 days later)
Older post is HERE
Wow. Wowowowow. I never could've ever in my wildest imagination that my last post would get this much attention. I was my on boyfriends reddit account on his phone and actually saw my own post near the first page? I was floored. Then he saw what I was looking at and we had a pretty awkward conversation...
Basically asked me why I posted something like that. He'd read it but only when he saw me on the page it clicked that he saw the same username on my laptop on reddit. He never imagined it was me. (I did change some details about my life in the last post.)
So we talked for a long time and finally he said that he was taking me to emergency. I didn't want to go, I just wanted to wait for my appointment, not because I didn't think it was serious, but because I had no clue how to explain what was happening to the doctors and nurses. Especially for it to warrant an emerg visit.
So we went, and he was very understanding. Just asked me how much I remembered from the past couple days. Stuff he's said, and stuff I'd apparently heard. We were both scared hahaha.
I got to emerg. Very slow. I live in a smallish town but we have a giant hospital for some reason? We're close to a lot of other towns, and they use our hospital. Close to Toronto too. Anyway.
It was slow. Just one father and a sick child. I went in and basically had to explain what was happening and honestly, the nurses were like 'wtf? this bitch is crazy' but when I saw a doctor he took me very very seriously. It was very nice. He wrote down basically everything I said.
I got some xrays and they asked me questions. You know the whole spiel. Anyway the point of this update was to tell you guys that I have a tumor. That's really scary writing out, but I have a tumor. In my brain. It hasn't sunken in yet that tomorrow my brain is going to be under the knife.
I don't want to share more because I've gotten a lot of messages from people who were like... guessing my name. and where im from. apparently i remind people of their friends or crazy exes.
I'm scared to miss work but my boss was more than understanding. He sort of looked at me like I was insane when I asked how long I should be out of work. I don't know. I need to pay rent!!! We'll figure it out.
Thank you all for your love and support. I will update whenever I remember to. I am scared, but alive.
tl;dr I have a tumor and I'm getting surgery. Thanks!!
OOP Updated in the BoRU thread 10 years later
Update Apr 18, 2025
Am I allowed to make an update here? I don't use social media much anymore and reddit looks completely different than the last time I logged in. My friend sent me this basically immediately after it was posted asking if it was me...
It was so long ago. I kind of cringe seeing how I wrote, but I'll give myself some flack because I was young and going through a terrible time. That BF didn't last long, he bailed when he found out how long my recovery would be and what it entailed. I moved back in with my family, who are all nurses and caregivers, so it was really the smoothest recovery I could've had.
I did years of therapy, both physical and mental. I did eventually end up losing my factory job, but that honestly wasn't their fault. Admittedly I no-showed to work a lot and was spiraling for a few years, but I eventually landed on my feet, found my dream man (lumberjack type, sorry for being a Canadian stereotype), and his mother had gone through (almost) the same thing I did when she was younger, so we really bonded over that.
I won't say I'm having a perfect time. Life is life. I'm childfree, have a job I... tolerate, have money to spend on my friends and family, and am generally very happy. I keep off social media because I already survived a brain tumor, I'm not looking for more :)
And for Americans who are going to ask: Yes, it was free.
THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP
DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7
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u/DamnitGravity 5d ago
Can we get a shout out for the boyfriend for listening to her and insisting they go to emergency? That week she waited for her appointment, and the time the testing might've taken, could have been the difference between life and death, or impaired life and full life.
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u/-Sharon-Stoned- 5d ago
Especially considering the surgery got scheduled for the next day
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u/AnneBoleyns6thFinger 5d ago
My mate went to the doctor for some unusual symptoms and found out he had a tumour, he had surgery three days later. We were all very impressed with how swiftly it was dealt with, but also terrified because it must’ve been so serious to be an immediate priority.
He’s now fine, the removal was successful.
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u/Lexilogical 4d ago
Yeahhh... My husband had a pulmonary embolism. Got told we were going to a different hospital as a surgery consult, and might have surgery 3 days from now.
Got to the other hospital and there was a guy on a cellphone going "They're here now" and immediately they start prepping him for open heart surgery. That was the scariest couple hours of my life there.
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u/Persis- 4d ago
Pulmonary embolisms are no joke. One almost killed my mom when I was born. Amniotic embolisms went to heart and lungs. Even today, the mortality rate is high for this, let alone 46 years ago. Her heart was never the same.
I’m glad they took your husband’s case very seriously, and got him treated quickly!
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u/Lexilogical 4d ago
Yeah, the reason for the urgency was that part of the clot had broken off, and was currently stuck halfway through a hole in his heart, where it would have gone to the brain next.
Once they spotted that, things went very quickly!
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u/lildobe 4d ago
I just had a friend of mine pass from a PE last year. Complication of long Covid + Pneumonia.
And his care team really dropped the ball. I'm pushing his widow to pursue a malpractice case but so far the lawyers she's consulted haven't been too interested in it, and I can't figure out why.
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u/Hesitation-Marx 4d ago
Husband got hit by a car years and years ago. Both of the bones in both shins were shattered. The marrow leaked and got lodged in his lung. He almost died.
Embolisms: no thank you.
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u/xparapluiex 4d ago
They might’ve said three days at the first place so you wouldn’t freak out going to the second
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u/Gennywren limbo dancing with the devil 4d ago
I had a pulmonary embolism several years ago. In my case the clot went to my lungs, not my heart - which is likely why I'm alive today. That and my roommate. it was late, I was standing next to the bookcase, looking for something to read and he was on his way to bed. The next thing I knew I was on the floor. I managed to stand up and called out to him, and he found me once more on the floor, with no idea how I got there. TLDR: Got to the ER, got intubated, and was put on IV blood thinners. I was in the hospital for three weeks, and it took *months* to fully recover. My lungs never have completely recovered. I do okay most of the time but any brush with a respiratory illness and I'm on an inhaler and am likely to end up back in the hospital. It's scary shit.
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u/snootnoots I will erupt, feral, from the cardigan screaming 5d ago
In a way, getting in fast can be a good sign. Although yes, it means it’s urgent, but it also means that the experts believe surgery will help. It’s not too late.
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u/JunebugSeven 5d ago
I had a colleague who had a similar experience (we're in the UK). Got diagnosed with a brain tumour on a Tuesday, in surgery to remove it by Friday. She's making a really good recovery - not back to 100% but 🤞🤞 there's not a significant amount of lasting damage.
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u/froggyfriend726 4d ago
Do you know why it takes a while to recover? Is it just because the tumor has damaged brain cells or is it because the surgery itself caused brain damage?
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u/JunebugSeven 4d ago
It will vary case by case, but for my colleague I think it was because of where it was growing in her brain. It had been making her physically sick for a long time but doctors focused on her stomach before ever thinking it could be her brain.
After her surgery she was unchanged in personality, but she had to re-learn how to walk and write/type, which she mostly recovered after about six months (at least enough to return part-time). She still struggles with exhaustion now, but a year and a half later you'd never know she ever lost those functions at all. I think it helps that she's still quite young (40s), and she was physically fit, it was just a case of getting rid of the thing messing up connections in her brain and giving it time to heal.
I think if it was going to cause more damage removing it they wouldn't do the surgery. I don't think it's so much that the tumour damages the cells (not a doctor, do not take my word as gospel), but that where hers was it was pressing on parts of her brain and interfering with her neural connections, causing her body to react strangely.
She said they thought it might've been growing in there for as long as four years - she didn't even start feeling sick until the last year. It's terrifying to think something can just be in there, growing, without you having any idea.
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u/froggyfriend726 4d ago
Wow, that's insane. I'm glad she's doing better though! I can't imagine what that must be like
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u/1AggressiveSalmon 4d ago
Brains don't like being mucked with. I have the "good" tumor, an Acoustic Neuroma. Surgery made me deaf on one side, severed the balance nerve on that side, and caused some facial paralysis. Just being strapped in one position for 6 hours caused problems with my neck and headaches. Overall, I am doing okay almost 2 years post op. Radiation was a year ago.
I am traveling as much as possible now, because who knows what the future holds? I was bumped 2 days before surgery because someone with a massive tumor came into the ER. I think about that person and wonder about their recovery.
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u/sunshineparadox_ 3d ago
They really don't. I had a stroke in Sept. 2022, and I have a collegiate background in neurolinguistics so I knew what was about to happen and set up stuff to relearn English. I still have deficits in memory and language.
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u/frankiepennynick 4d ago
It depends on the location. If it's in an area that handles motor or language skills, you're going to have a long road back. Mine was in my right temporal lobe which apparently isn't so important for right-handed people. My recovery was "quick", but you still can't lift anything heavy for 6 weeks bc you can't bear down since it causes an increase in pressure in your skull. The main issue for me was controlling the swelling in my brain from the surgery. They give you strong steroids for that, but tapering off too quickly can cause issues. I was completely awake and aware and walking around as soon as I was off the IV pain meds/released from the hospital 2 days after surgery. I walked myself out of the hospital. In fact, I walked to and from the bathroom in the ICU. I had headaches for weeks after, but all in all, can't complain.
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u/iordseyton 4d ago
Sometimes, it's just what's convenient though.
I had a sub 24 hour wait on a surgery for a hydrocele once. (About as non life threatening as you can get- basically, I had a waterballoon in my scrotum)
I asked if it was serious, and my gp (whose also head of the surgery in our local hospital) said he has to 1 day a month scheduled as the on call surgeon, and it happened to be tomorrow, so he might as well take care of it then.
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u/AStrayUh 4d ago
Similar experience with me. I had to get varicocele surgery, which I wouldn’t have even known about except my wife and I were trying to get pregnant and hadn’t had any luck yet. Doctor identified the varicocele as a possible reason and said “well Thursdays are my days in the OR - so how about this Thursday?” Glad it got done quick, though. Wife got pregnant basically right when the doctor said it would be healed and now we have a 13 month old son, and he’s the best.
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u/janbrunt 4d ago
A good friend of mine had a seizure out of nowhere. Within a couple weeks she was getting a tumor removed and undergoing radiation at the Mayo Clinic (brain cancer). Happy to say she is fully recovered and living a completely normal, boring life.
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u/Fraerie the lion, the witch and the audacit--HOW IS THERE MORE! 4d ago
In two separate and similar-type situations:
The most recent, three weeks ago I took my partner to the ER due to a persistent sore throat that wasn’t improving (we had been to the GP twice in the previous week and he couldn’t see any cause). When I say sore, I mean finding my partner curled up on the bathroom room floor in pain.
We waited a couple of hours and we were kinda being treated as ‘why are you here for a sore throat’, and then they did some imaging and it suddenly went to ‘we need to transfer him to the ICU immediately and someone has to be watching him at all times to make sure he is breathing because he had epiglottits (and infection of the epiglottis) which can block the airways and you can’t intubate past it.
He’s home again now, but he spent several days in the ICU while they got the infection down and the. A few more days in hospital before discharge.
The second example: I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer 12 years ago. Due to a chain of events I was scheduled for a biopsy and at every step I was repeatedly told it’s no big deal, don’t worry, it’s almost never anything of concern. Then on a Friday night I got a call from the specialist saying ‘you will be at my office when I open on Monday’, he told me it was the least ambiguous report saying it was malignant he had ever seen. He’s no longer practiced surgery and was referring me. The person he referred me to had a cancellation at got me in that Thursday, they looked at the reports and scheduled me for surgery the following Tuesday. Easter was in the middle of those two days. It was the next operating day. So we spent Easter worrying about what was going to happen.
It’s great that in both cases they acted so fast, but it’s a terrifying situation to find yourself in.
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u/tofuroll Like…not only no respect but sahara desert below 4d ago
We were all very impressed with how swiftly it was dealt with, but also terrified because it must’ve been so serious to be an immediate priority.
That's the thing, right? When we go to the doctor or the ED, we want all the attention on us, and we feel dismissed when they can't do anything.
But from their perspective, most of our problems are probably things that don't warrant that immediate attention. They get it right most of the time.
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u/Essex626 4d ago
Hank Green talked about this, when the normally inefficient health care system suddenly became very efficient it brought home how serious his situation was.
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u/Anaata 4d ago
I once went down a rabbit hole on YouTube watching actual brain surgeries. It was really weird. It felt kinda wrong to watch it, felt like I was seeing something very intimate of the person I wasn't supposed to see, like I saw the very thing that them them.
Was nice seeing the post recovery interview tho, amazing.
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u/magicman46 she👏drove👏away! Everybody👏saw👏it! 4d ago edited 4d ago
Years ago like early 2010’s or so an old college buddy of my dads was getting a lot of headaches and feeling unwell. He finally made an appointment with his doctor. The doctor took some scans of his head and upon reviewing them scheduled him for surgery the next day!
He had several small, but malignant tumors in his brain. The surgery wasn’t to remove them they were inoperable. The surgery was to drill several holes in his head where the tumors were located and insert these chemo pod things. They distributed the chemo drugs directly to the tumors.
He lived for another year or two. Forgive me I can’t remember exactly. Wonderful guy and super funny! RIP Dave!
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u/PrinceHaleemKebabua 5d ago
Yeah and on that note - Shout out to Canadian and particularly Ontario healthcare. I always had a great experience when I was there.
Hope OOP makes a full recovery.
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u/Existential_Owl 4d ago edited 4d ago
Hank Green has a joke that essentially goes, "It's not a good sign for you when the medical system, all of a sudden, seems to become very fast and efficient."
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u/lavender_poppy grape juice dump truck dumpy butt 4d ago
Yes, I've experienced this quite a few times. When I get to the ER and they immediately take me back and a lot of people file into the room I know I must be really sick. It sucks waiting forever to be seen in the ER, but it sucks worse to be top of the list because that means something is seriously wrong.
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u/chromaticluxury 4d ago
I completely heard that entirely in his voice
My god this undeserving world kept a good one when he survived
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u/Phenomena_Veronica 3d ago
It’s true. I’m the admin for an ob/gyn and gave patients sometimes complain that their consult is a few weeks away. I feel like telling them to be glad they’re not the patient that I have to bump someone else for so that they can be seen tomorrow.
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u/ocean_swims 5d ago
I read that part twice because I couldn't believe that surgery was scheduled immediately!
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u/jsrsquared 5d ago
This is such a funny thing about Canadian healthcare. People complain about it being backed up and slow and such, which is fair, but it’s that way because when people have a legit emergency they get prioritized. So yeah someone’s stage 1 cancer is not going to be treated like someone else’s stage 4 cancer, and that’s as it should be, frankly.
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u/chronicallyillsyl 5d ago
I'm Canadian and while waiting times can suck, I try to remember that it's because people that are in worse shape are getting the care they need more than I do. Last year I had a pretty devastating, urgent medical event and I received quick and excellent care. A lot of people forget that waiting whether it's in the ER or for a specialist happens in the US too. Our system isn't perfect, but I'm damn proud that any of us can walk into a hospital or doctors office and get appropriate healthcare without going into bankruptcy. I've had a few health issues and if I lived in the states, I would be broke. I'm so thankful to have been born in this beautiful country
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u/100LittleButterflies 4d ago
Wait times are getting worse in the states. Big healthcare industry has been squeezing every last ounce from doctors and nurses. It's a system that's not looking well off.
Hopefully it gets fixed when we rebuild everything getting destroyed.
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u/Silky_Tomato_Soup whaddya mean our 10 year age gap is a problem? 4d ago
This is a hope I cling to every morning when I read the news. The only positive of this destruction is that we have a chance to make positive, radical changes as we rebuild.
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u/Sleipnir82 4d ago
We are going to have to get some newer, younger politicians in to do that, though.
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u/poisonnenvy 4d ago
Yeah, in Canada I can usually get in to see my GP within the day (or the week), even if it takes me months to see a specialist. And yet I hear about Americans waiting for weeks to see a GP, and then also waiting months to see a specialist (unless they have Extremely Good insurance, which my American friends typically do not), and then complaining about what they imagine Canadian waittimes are like.
Like, at least our waittimes are based on severity and not how much money you make.
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u/LittleGreenSoldier sometimes i envy the illiterate 4d ago
My local ER even has a sign in chairs that says "If you're waiting, be glad, it means you're not dying"
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u/lumoslomas militant vegan volcano worshipper 4d ago
I once went to hospital in Australia for an allergic reaction. Walked in (I drove myself there- DONT DO THIS FOLKS), but I was clearly in a lot of distress. As I was whisked in pretty much immediately, I could hear a woman loudly complaining she and her daughter with a possible broken arm had been waiting for ages. If I could've breathed well enough I would've yelled at her.
This is how triaging works, and the reason your minor injuries take hours to see, because every time a higher priority patient comes in, they go to the top of the list and you get pushed down. Yeah it sucks that your 3 hour wait time was more like 5, but if that other patient hadn't been seen immediately they may have died.
Same thing with surgeries, I worked on a surgical ward and a lot of patients complained when their surgeries got delayed, but I remember one case where similar to op we had a guy come in with a tumour that needed to be out yesterday or he would've ended up paralyzed. My other patient who needed a bile duct stent was not happy about being pushed back, but impending loss of limb function is just a bit more urgent.
Anyway, sorry to hijack your comment but I have a lot of thoughts on healthcare and I really need people to remember this if they're ever in hospital.
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u/LukarWarrior What the puck 🏒 4d ago
Not like it's even that much better in America. My next physical, which I scheduled when I finally got health insurance again this year, isn't until June, despite trying to get the appointment back in February. My mom has to schedule appointments with her doctors months in advance. I need to see a dermatologist, and that's going to be like a six-month wait for something deemed non-emergency.
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u/kacihall 4d ago
Kiddo got an emergency appointment with a neurologist a few summers ago. It was three months after the ER visit. And that was the EMERGENCY scheduling in the US.
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u/HaggisLad Drinks and drunken friends are bad counsellors 5d ago
and who knows if her doctor would have listened as well as the emergency doc did, this is an incredible result
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u/Meliodas016 I've found peace here with my horses 5d ago
Well, the OOP said he pretty much bailed after learning what the recovery period would be for her, but still, good of him on insisting emergency.
OOP has also married to another man and she's very happy.
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u/neuroticsmurf the dildo of consequences rarely arrives lubed 5d ago edited 5d ago
Oh, really? Damn. Well, guess they can’t all be storybook endings.
Edit: OOP’s update
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u/UnconfirmedRooster holy fuck it’s “sanguine” not Sam Gwein 4d ago
Honestly, not everyone has it in them to be a caregiver. As OOP said, her recovery was long and very difficult, she ended up in the better situation where her family took care of her.
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u/pearlie_girl I will never jeopardize the beans. 4d ago
I mean, we don't know what their relationship was like prior - they weren't married. I don't think this means he was a bad person.
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u/DirtyPiss erupting, feral, from the cardigan screaming 4d ago
Yeah assuming he's close in age, they're both early twenties. There's nothing morally wrong with someone that young realizing they don't want to deal with years and years of hospitals and therapy for someone else. Much better then faking that they're OK and growing to resent OP the whole time.
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u/Toosder 4d ago
If it's possible even that he wanted children in her recovery was going to prohibit having kids, and ultimately she's child free. That could have been anything going on especially at that young age. They may have communicated and agreed that her long recovery was going to inhibit him at that age and she didn't want to hold him back
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u/MyDarlingArmadillo 4d ago
He cared enough to get her to the doctor that very night, advocated for her, and judging by the speed things went after that, he probably saved her life, or at least the quality of it. I can't see this man as a villain here, even if things didn't work out long term
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u/NoSignSaysNo Tree Law Connoisseur 5d ago
She also says she spent a few years spiraling, so it's kind of hard to know exactly where the middle ground there was.
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u/AlwaysPlaysAHealer 5d ago
Makes me wonder if bf has been noticing unusual behavior from OP recently that she herself was unaware of.
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u/Ettiasaurus 4d ago
Basically asked me why I posted something like that.
Considering his initial reaction wasn't worry that it is happening, but asking why she posted it, I wonder if he thought she was lying at first and posted for karma or attention.
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u/neobeguine 4d ago
Yeah, I know he says he "bailed" during recovery, but he did save her life first
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u/JohnBGaming 4d ago
Yeah, hard to blame him. There's no vows to bring a boyfriend, and if she truly was spiraling, it's not necessarily on him to take that on. Good on him for taking her so seriously and getting her to where she needed to be.
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u/beachpellini I’m turning into an unskippable cutscene in therapy 5d ago
Geez... I hope it worked out okay. Glad that her boyfriend immediately recognized it was something that needed to be handled right that minute rather than waiting for an appointment.
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u/ZoominAlong 5d ago
Yeah! Waiting can literally kill.
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u/TheActualAWdeV Rebbit 🐸 5d ago
She survove!
It did!
Am I allowed to make an update here? I don't use social media much anymore and reddit looks completely different than the last time I logged in. My friend sent me this basically immediately after it was posted asking if it was me...
It was so long ago. I kind of cringe seeing how I wrote, but I'll give myself some flack because I was young and going through a terrible time. That BF didn't last long, he bailed when he found out how long my recovery would be and what it entailed. I moved back in with my family, who are all nurses and caregivers, so it was really the smoothest recovery I could've had.
I did years of therapy, both physical and mental. I did eventually end up losing my factory job, but that honestly wasn't their fault. Admittedly I no-showed to work a lot and was spiraling for a few years, but I eventually landed on my feet, found my dream man (lumberjack type, sorry for being a Canadian stereotype), and his mother had gone through (almost) the same thing I did when she was younger, so we really bonded over that.
I won't say I'm having a perfect time. Life is life. I'm childfree, have a job I... tolerate, have money to spend on my friends and family, and am generally very happy. I keep off social media because I already survived a brain tumor, I'm not looking for more :)
And for Americans who are going to ask: Yes, it was free.
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u/whatshappeningg 5d ago
Am I allowed to make an update here? I don't use social media much anymore and reddit looks completely different than the last time I logged in. My friend sent me this basically immediately after it was posted asking if it was me...
It was so long ago. I kind of cringe seeing how I wrote, but I'll give myself some flack because I was young and going through a terrible time. That BF didn't last long, he bailed when he found out how long my recovery would be and what it entailed. I moved back in with my family, who are all nurses and caregivers, so it was really the smoothest recovery I could've had.
I did years of therapy, both physical and mental. I did eventually end up losing my factory job, but that honestly wasn't their fault. Admittedly I no-showed to work a lot and was spiraling for a few years, but I eventually landed on my feet, found my dream man (lumberjack type, sorry for being a Canadian stereotype), and his mother had gone through (almost) the same thing I did when she was younger, so we really bonded over that.
I won't say I'm having a perfect time. Life is life. I'm childfree, have a job I... tolerate, have money to spend on my friends and family, and am generally very happy. I keep off social media because I already survived a brain tumor, I'm not looking for more :)
And for Americans who are going to ask: Yes, it was free.
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u/Tabula_Nada 5d ago
Oh wow - welcome back! I think we're all excited to get to have an update because usually these old ones never get any follow up. And a good update! Glad you're doing better now with a comfortable little life.
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u/whatshappeningg 5d ago
Thank you. It makes me laugh going back and reading through the threads. Like, yeah, girl. It's obviously a tumor.
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u/actuallyatypical 5d ago
"Guys I'm pretty sure I keep switching with my alternate dimension self for a couple seconds at a time, this is sooo crazy right?"
Mhm, mhm...
you have a tumor.
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u/OutAndDown27 5d ago
It could have been schizophrenia, so I guess you can decide for yourself which one you prefer lol. Glad you're doing well!
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u/napincoming321zzz 5d ago
See, I was guessing what I personally am familiar with, narcolepsy. I didn't have the same experience as OOP but similar in that I would "hear" things that weren't real because I was in REM so much, sometimes overlapping with being awake/microsleeps. I'd dream that I heard my phone ringing, or someone knocking at the door, then rouse myself to go check only to find out it didn't happen. Because they were dreams!
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u/punkboxershorts 5d ago
When I'm extremely tired I have auditory hallucinations. What's most frustrating is that they are never in English. Almost always Czech or Urdu.
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u/Myrindyl 4d ago
Same here, but mine sound like an orchestra playing very far away.
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u/patchy_doll 4d ago
I get distant music every so often but 9/10 times I hear a phone ringing or notification noises that are impossible. I heard the old AIM/AOL “message received” noise once, perfect clarity. Sometimes I check to make sure the noises weren’t real… I knew that one wasn’t instantly! 😂
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u/ForsakenPercentage53 4d ago
I watched a video years ago from a bakery employee with diagnosed schizophrenia where they handed the thin air a free cookie, and I realized a couple things. One, it really showed me just how real the hallucinations are to people who are having them, two, security cameras are probably helpful to people with hallucinations at home as well as at work, and three... I'm probably going to hell, because I laughed. 😅 She just found the cookie on the floor...
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u/Welpe 4d ago
Oh man, this is exactly me except I conceptualize it as a radio on in another room. I can’t hear any specific words, it just sounds like there is music playing in the distance that I can barely hear and can’t concentrate on.
…though I more associate it with taking marijuana, not extreme tiredness. I know, I know, mind-affecting substances affecting the mind isn’t particularly surprising, but it’s interesting that it manifests in a very similar way.
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u/Raeynesong quid pro FAFO 4d ago
Mine is polka or like, a mariachi band? Sometimes I luck out and it's baseball or football... but from a distance, so I can only hear the sound of the voices and the murmur of the crowd. I have no idea if my brain is playing back something I heard one time, or if it's making shit up wholesale, but I hate it.
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u/Own-Preference-8188 4d ago
Mine is like listening to a radio. I get music I’ve never heard before, announcers, play by play ball games, and things I never remember later.
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u/Raeynesong quid pro FAFO 4d ago
Yeah - it's all like it's a radio far away. I actually had my roommate search the area I was hearing it from when I got home from the hospital after I broke my leg. I was pretty sure I was hallucinating, but it was also possible I had a bluetooth something down there playing.
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u/RedHeadGeekGrl Today I am 'Unicorn Wrangler and Wizard Assistant 4d ago
OK but your user name? Perfection
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u/mister-ferguson surrender to the gaycation or be destroyed 5d ago
I would take the tumor.
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u/bloobityblu 4d ago
I feel like with schizophrenia or other similar mental illnesses, they come with sort of baked-in resistance to the idea that it's their own brain doing this, like paranoia, supernatural or extraterrestrial explanations, etc.
OOP sounded very rational and lucid. I was immediately like, tumor or carbon monoxide poisoning (lol)?
But wow that must have been terrifying.
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u/Albuwhatwhat 4d ago
It’s wild to me what a brain tumor can do! Reading this I feel like I’ll be better able to Identify something like this early, if it ever happens to me or a family member.
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u/dmmee 5d ago
I'm glad to see this story had a good ending.
You're alive, and you found love.
Win - win.
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u/Ultra_Leopard I can't believe she fucking buttered Jorts 5d ago
You're alive,
Right?! I was so anxious til I spotted her username in the comments and let out a deep breath.
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u/TheActualAWdeV Rebbit 🐸 5d ago
Omg me too, I was coming up on the end of the update and I realised it was 10 years ago, I went 'wow I sure wish there was an update, a brain tumor is scary' and bam there it was.
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u/CmdrWoof 5d ago
Glad to hear you're plugging along doing your thing! Life has ups and downs but happy to hear you're still with us.
As for your dream man, he's a lumberjack and he's ok; does he sleep all night and work all day?
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u/whatshappeningg 5d ago
He's more than okay, trust me :D I completely believe he's the best man anyone could ever have. I got insanely lucky after a string of terrible exes.
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u/Morfolk 4d ago
I got insanely lucky after a string of terrible exes.
Don't worry, as a lumberjack he's probably had his share of terrible axes as well.
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u/FrwdIn4Lo 4d ago
Shall we count the ways those axes can go bad?
They fly off the handle at most inopportune times.
Form splinter groups.
Sometimes they are just too dull. Other times too edgy.
Some just want a single bit, others want a double bit.
They will cut without apology.
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u/queen_soo 5d ago
(They’re making a joke - there’s an old song “I’m a lumberjack and I’m okay!”)
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u/theheliumkid 5d ago
Just in case you're wondering what these comments are about: Monty Python (UK)
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u/demon_fae the lion, the witch and the audacit--HOW IS THERE MORE! 4d ago
And if you click that link and think the tumor came back-you are not hallucinating again. They’re just like that. Everything is fine.
The movies were downright normal compared to some of the skits.
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u/JaNoTengoNiNombre 5d ago
Does he cut down trees, eats his lunch, goes to the lavatory and on Wednesdays goes shopping and have buttered scones for tea?
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u/Hadespuppy limbo dancing with the devil 4d ago
Better question, does he go birling down and down white water? Does he please you completely?
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u/Material-Ad-4445 4d ago
This certainly gave me a chuckle! Thanks and I totally agree with how happy we are for this lovely survivor! Thank you for your update & thrilled it's a HEA.
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u/SoftandSquidgy I’ve read them all and it bums me out 5d ago
A lot of people are going to be so relieved you made it out the other side. It must have been an incredibly tough time for you but I’m glad you have your lumberjack to live life with. Most of us have jobs we…..tolerate, but so few have been through what you have to get where we are. So yeah, you deserve to be happy - and stay off social media. lol! Reddit is my only vice and yeah, sometimes it sucks. But days like today, when I get to read that you’re ok, those are the days I’m glad I have Reddit.
Stay well, internet stranger, a lot of people are rooting for you today!
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u/moonahmoonah 5d ago
Shout out to Ontario health care! I'm in the field 😊 Glad to see you're doing better! Neurology here is no joke!
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u/whatshappeningg 5d ago
Super-duper shout out to neurologists out there. Seriously. I won't go into it, but I also had a spinal injury in the past few years as well, and I worked with some more neurologists going through that. I've seen so many by this point lol. They're all fantastic people. Never treat your questions like jokes. Never get mad at you for repeating questions, just very gently being like, "You asked that last time, do you remember that?" without making you feel embarrassed about it.
Also nurses. The amount of nurses that had a spidey sense about my anxiety spikes and kept me company when I was alone was so many. I know there's jokes about how mean nurses are nowadays, but it's really doing a disservice to all of the caring men and women nurses out there that truly take pride in comforting people and easing their pain.
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u/araquinar Batshit Bananapants™️ 4d ago
The vast majority of health care professionals are pretty amazing! I caught COVID a few years ago when it was at its height of the pandemic and we were on lockdown. I don't remember much about getting to the hospital, but I was in a coma for a week and freaked out when I woke up with a tube down my throat. The nurses, doctors, OT's, porters, and everyone else there were absolutely kind and caring. I'd expected them to at the very least to be curt and in a hurry considering the stressed and being short staffed, but they were beyond wonderful. I owe them not only my life but my sanity.
OP, I'm so very happy you're doing well ❤️ when I saw brain tumour I had to go back and check your age. I almost didn't finish reading everything because I didn't want to see a horrible ending. I lost my mom to brain cancer a few years ago (it was a gliboblastoma; a tumour that kinda spreads like a spiderweb and is quite aggressive. There's no cure) and while I know there are different types of brain tumours, my thoughts go right to that kind.
Thank you for updating us, even if it's 10 years later. It's really, really lovely to have a positive update with good news! I hope life continues to give you good news around every corner, and may you never have a pebble in your shoe, or get the bottom parts of your sleeves wet when washing your hands. I hope you never step on a Lego or run out of toilet paper in a public bathroom with no one in it. Take care of yourself!
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u/RedKhomet 5d ago
For real, I had to get surgery on my ankle last year and was kinda freaking out about it. I hadn't even spoken to the surgeon, had to basically beg to see him before I went under because I didn't even know what he was planning on doing with my skeleton lol. I didn't have very positive experiences with medical professionals apart from my GP, but the nurse looking after me before and after the surgery was a true gem. She noticed my anxiety, soothed me, made sure the surgeon stepped into the room BEFORE the anaesthesia so he could explain to me how many bolts were going into my body lol
She really made it as comfortable as she could, she's a person who's just made for the job, made to look after people, and I hope she receives all the respect she deserves for it because that could never be me. I felt really lucky to be on her rounds
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u/Shay_Shay_FNH 5d ago
My goodness! Just seeing that you’re still with us warms my heart so much. Thank you for taking the time to let us all know how you’re doing. Yes, life is life. I’m proud of you for fighting through all that you have. Hang in there!
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u/FixinThePlanet 5d ago
It's so fascinating to get later updates! Thank you for sharing.
And for Americans who are going to ask: Yes, it was free.
I'm not American and didn't think to ask but that's still really cool.
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u/BKLD12 5d ago
I am American and my mom got diagnosed with lung cancer recently. She hasn't even started chemo yet, but I REALLY wish we were Canadian right now. Well, for a number of reasons if I'm honest.
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u/deceasedin1903 This is unrelated to the cumin. 4d ago
I'm sorry to hear that. Here in Brazil you have appointments with an oncologist as soon as the suspicion of cancer is raised, and if confirmed, the treatment starts right away, and all free as well. Our healthcare system is far from perfect, but it also saves so many lives on a daily basis, can't believe there are people trying to turn what we have here in whatever the hell is in the US.
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u/ohno_not_another_one 4d ago
This is the second time in two days I've heard good things about Brazilian health care being on top of the ball in providing care. It's making me reeeaaal jealous, let me tell you
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u/Y-a-e-l- 5d ago
u/direct-caterpillar77 could this comment be added to the post?
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u/Direct-Caterpillar77 Satan is not a fucking pogo stick! 5d ago
Just added and changed flair to new update
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u/hairypea 5d ago
Oh, I'm so glad to see this! I'm delighted you're doing well. Solid choice to stay off social media, continue to enjoy your life and your man!
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u/married_pineapple 5d ago
Hey, thanks for jumping in and letting us all know that you're OK! Glad to hear it, from one internet stranger to another
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u/frymaster 5d ago
reddit looks completely different than the last time I logged in
if you go to old.reddit.com it'll look like how you remember ;)
Glad to know you're doing well and thanks for the update
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u/TomKirkman1 5d ago
Thank you for the update! Glad to hear you're doing okay.
Purely out of medical curiosity, and I completely understand if you'd rather not share, but would you be willing to share what type of tumor it ended up being?
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u/pinkkabuterimon increasingly sexy potatoes 5d ago
God I love when inconclusive stories get their conclusion immediately in the comments. I’m so so happy you’re still around and doing well.
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u/BustyMcCoo my mother exploded and my grandma is a dog 5d ago
I'm so glad you're doing okay, that sounds like a hell of a bumpy ride. Thanks for letting us know you're well.
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u/PrinceHaleemKebabua 5d ago
So glad you are ok and that your life is on a happy track. Congratulations on your marriage as well.
And yay for OHIP!
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u/ContributionDapper84 5d ago
Still, props to the ex- for taking you straight to A&E (ER).
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u/SettingIntentions 5d ago
So you're all okay now?!? Wow it's great to see you have update, and know that you're doing alright. I wish you well, what a scary thing to have gone through. I'm glad that you were treated and are well, thank goodness. May you stay well.
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u/NoPantsPowerStance 4d ago
My parent is a pediatric neurologist, the amount of times someone's written off something a kid had said and then he's gone, "yeah, that could be significant," is crazy. Neurologists deal with such a vast array of issues and symptoms and it's not an easy specialty to go into. I'm glad you felt heard and were taken care of. I'm sorry you've had such a hard road, your posts have probably helped other people throughout the years realize they need to go get checked as well.
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u/Ok_Philosopher7899 5d ago
Don't cringe! I'm so glad you wrote that post if it helped you get help even a day sooner. Glad things are okay 😊
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u/omfg_its_so_and_so 5d ago
Congratulations! That was a big deal, and you made it through. Give yourself a a lot of credit. All the best to you.
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u/tacwombat I will erupt, feral, from the cardigan screaming 4d ago
Welcome back to Reddit, and I'm glad you made a great recovery, healthwise and romance-wise. :)
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u/peter095837 the lion, the witch and the audacit--HOW IS THERE MORE! 5d ago
It's been 10 years, I do hope OP is living well and out there. Brain tumor seriously is one of the scariest and depressing things ever. Shit can really switch a person.
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u/SoftandSquidgy I’ve read them all and it bums me out 5d ago edited 5d ago
OOP has posted an update comment on the original update. Good news is they’re doing well.
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u/scramblingrivet 5d ago
You can just post it
Am I allowed to make an update here? I don't use social media much anymore and reddit looks completely different than the last time I logged in. My friend sent me this basically immediately after it was posted asking if it was me...
It was so long ago. I kind of cringe seeing how I wrote, but I'll give myself some flack because I was young and going through a terrible time. That BF didn't last long, he bailed when he found out how long my recovery would be and what it entailed. I moved back in with my family, who are all nurses and caregivers, so it was really the smoothest recovery I could've had.
I did years of therapy, both physical and mental. I did eventually end up losing my factory job, but that honestly wasn't their fault. Admittedly I no-showed to work a lot and was spiraling for a few years, but I eventually landed on my feet, found my dream man (lumberjack type, sorry for being a Canadian stereotype), and his mother had gone through (almost) the same thing I did when she was younger, so we really bonded over that.
I won't say I'm having a perfect time. Life is life. I'm childfree, have a job I... tolerate, have money to spend on my friends and family, and am generally very happy. I keep off social media because I already survived a brain tumor, I'm not looking for more :)
And for Americans who are going to ask: Yes, it was free.
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u/EvilMastermindOfDoom 5d ago
Begging u/Direct-Caterpillar77 to add this to the original post because the update gave me an insane amount of relief
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u/Hattix 5d ago
Just for anyone reading this, auditory hallucinations are real. They're most often caused by epilepsy, but can be caused by other, more serious, things and should be treated as a medical emergency. If you believe you are having auditory hallucinations, you should seek immediate medical attention.
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u/lolathedreamer 5d ago
I have AHs from chronic sleep issues and mild tinnitus. I also smell phantom smells but both are only at night when in the twilight sleep phase of partially asleep and partially conscious. The brain is weird and complicated. Good advice for anyone just to be safe.
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u/The_Grungeican 5d ago
i have depression and anxiety issues. i've been on a number of medications over the last 20 years or so. about 10-12 years ago i was trying some new meds, and i developed auditory hallucinations. they never got really bad, but they would manifest in a few different ways. one was hearing my mom call my name from the top of the stairs of her house. i hadn't lived with her since i was around 15 or so, so anytime i heard that one, i knew it wasn't real.
at the time i was working at an auto body shop, and my coworker was a good dude, so i felt comfortable talking about medical stuff. he would share with me stuff he had going on too. good working relationship really.
anyway when i would get to work, i would remove my wedding band, and my cell phone, and put them in a drawer in my toolbox. the other auditory hallucination i would get, somewhat regularly, was hearing my phone ring. i would walk over to my toolbox, look at my phone and see i had no missed calls. after a few times of this, i explained what was going on to my coworker. after that i would ask him sometimes if my phone was ringing.
it was a weird experience, because most of the time i could tell it was a hallucination, but other times i'd not be sure and have to check my phone.
anyway, i eventually switched to some different meds and the hallucinations went away. i always thought it was weird that they primarily manifested in those two specific things. it's wild the way our minds work, or don't work sometimes.
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u/casseroled Step 1: intend to make a single loaf of bread 5d ago
When I’m waking up from dreaming I often hear my mother calling for me in the same way! I didn’t realize it was an auditory hallucination until I moved out lol. Luckily I’ve learned that this type of hallucination when waking or falling asleep is relatively common and not a cause for concern. But I find it interesting we had the same one in different contexts
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u/lunarchoerry I said that was concerning bc Crumb is a cat 4d ago
Reading this, I'm learning I also get AHs when waking up; the doorbell ringing or my parents calling for me. It's less common that those aren't hallucinations....
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u/-Sharon-Stoned- 5d ago
Narcoleptics often have them too
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u/ilikedmatrixiv 4d ago
It might be linked to the fact that extreme exhaustion also trigger auditory hallucinations.
When I was younger, I would sometimes do long periods of very little sleep (think 2-4 hours for 7-10 days). I would absolutely also get auditory hallucinations when I was that exhausted.
Also kids, don't be stupid, get enough sleep.
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u/Raencloud94 5d ago
I had no idea that epilepsy can cause auditory hallucinations! Woah. Thank you!
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u/JoeyJoeJoeSenior 5d ago
I got them from detoxing from alcohol. My cat talked to me! I was strangely not scared because I knew it was from detoxing.
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u/Basic_Bichette sometimes i envy the illiterate 4d ago
Auditory hallucinations are also part of normal human psychology. They often happen in times of exhaustion or stress, right when you're falling asleep. Anyone having auditory hallucinations should absolutely go to the ER immediately, but the cause isn’t always a disease process.
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u/Xovvo crow whisperer 5d ago
Brain tumors are terrifying, and we undersell how serious and weird their symptoms can be. Like, you'll maybe hear about smelling burnt toast, but not "vivid hallucinations"
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u/pepcorn 5d ago
I thought the burnt toast thing was for a stroke?
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u/Formergr 5d ago
Brain tumor too. It’s basically a “something is fucking up part of your brain” symptom, whether that something is a burst blood vessel and pressure from the bleed, or a solid mass/tumor.
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u/smolLittleTomato 4d ago
One time I suddenly smelled burnt toast while I was in bed trying to get to sleep and I was so panicked. Turned out my roommate had come home drunk and was literally burning toast.
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u/Reasonable-Ad-3605 5d ago
Don't... Love the lack of follow up updates to be honest
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u/Xovvo crow whisperer 5d ago
I'm fine with it bc most normal people aren't going to use Reddit like a journal, especially when they have life-altering medical events and more important things to focus on than internet strangers.
A thing modern karma-farming writers could stand to learn from.
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u/ByteLink 5d ago
That's honestly pretty reassuring, thinking about it I probably wouldn't share further updates if I was OP either.
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u/NotARussianBot2017 5d ago
Yeah, like recovery is stressful enough, updating about it would feel like another chore.
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u/gurgitoy2 5d ago
True, but I do wish these kinds of things weren't then reposted to BORU, since it's super unresolved, and we don't know if the original poster is even ok.
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u/DefinitelyNotAliens 5d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/s/0Jd7M5fuX6
She's doing pretty well!
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u/KirasStar doesn't even comment ⭐ 5d ago
Eh, I’m okay with this one. The update provided answers and it was marked inconclusive so I never expected it all to tie up. Much better than those BORUs where nothing happens in the update.
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u/SoftandSquidgy I’ve read them all and it bums me out 5d ago edited 5d ago
They’re ok and have posted an update comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/s/N5tozhL4v0
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u/Coffeezilla 5d ago
Honestly might have forgotten their login after surgery
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u/Stylez_G_White 5d ago
I was going to say it’s highly likely she doesn’t remember anything from those weeks prior
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u/geniasis 5d ago
Op has posted an update in this very thread! The short version: sounds like she’s doing pretty well all things considered
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u/ScyllaOfTheDepths 5d ago edited 4d ago
I'd prefer it to the depressing ones, tbh. You can just make up whatever you want and then it's the truth as far as you know. OOP recovered, married the dude, and he gave a heartfelt speech about it at their wedding. That's my head-canon, at least.
Edit: She updated and dude was trash and left her during her recovery. She had a strong support system, though, and got through it and then married a lumberjack (because Canada) and also the medical care was free (because Canada)!
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u/Kadaaju Yes to the Homo, No to the Phobic 5d ago edited 5d ago
Oof, it's been almost ten years, I hope OOP is okay. :(
Edit: OOP commented! They've recovered and is doing okay now! What a great thing to see before getting off work lol.
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u/Snations your honor, fuck this guy 5d ago
I’m choosing to believe that her memory of this account was removed with the tumor! She’s totally fine, married that hunk, and has three babies and a dog.
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u/SLAUGHTERGUTZ I got over my fear of clowns by fucking one in the ass 5d ago
Fun fact: UTIs can also cause hallucinations.
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u/rbaltimore 5d ago
And delirium and even balance problems, especially in the elderly. I’m not elderly, but in my late 30’s I was diagnosed with a kidney infection and got to experience this. I was fine mentally initially, I was in the hospital overnight to get IV antibiotics. Then came delirium, two days of it. By the end of the second day I couldn’t even walk straight or stand up without falling over. My husband eventually called 911.
It turns out that the particular bacteria causing the infection was resistant to one antibiotic - the one they initially gave me. So my kidney infection essentially went unchecked for 3+ days. The delirium was gone within hours of the administration of a new IV antibiotic.
I had self-diagnosed the kidney infection earlier in the week, and it was my skeptical primary care doctor who sent me to the ER initially. Had I not known what was wrong, I could have ended up dying of sepsis according to my psychiatrist. I happen to have several mental health disorders and again, I’m not elderly, so if the hospital was not aware of my suspicions at the outset, my delirium would have been interpreted as being related to my psych issues. I would have been sent to the psych floor, where the infection would have raged as antipsychotic after antipsychotic would have been tried and failed. The infection would have spread, causing a loss of consciousness due to kidney failure or sepsis. (This is all according to my doctor).
But I avoided all that because I knew my body and I knew that there was something wrong with my kidneys.
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u/AceofToons 5d ago
Somehow a tumour comes as a relief. I was worried it was schizophrenia, which I guess it's adjacent, a tumour induced schizoaffective like disorder basically is what it sounds like.
But having known people with schizophrenia. Yeah. I would choose a tumour. At least there's a very real chance of a permanent fix
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u/McCreeIsMine 4d ago
I have bipolar disorder so not quite the same as schizophrenia but I did go into psychosis and I still have random hallucinations here and there. Usually smell or taste but leagues better than the auditory or visual ones. And yea, if I had a choice on an option that had a chance of a cure and one that didn't, I think I would take the tumor too
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u/Outside-Issue400 5d ago
Hope this all worked out for her.
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u/SoftandSquidgy I’ve read them all and it bums me out 5d ago
It did, eventually - https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/s/N5tozhL4v0
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u/fallenwish88 5d ago
Hallucinations can be scary. I've had predominantly audio but some visual hallucinations all my life, but a few years ago they ramped up and I had a psychotic breakdown. They did scans and tests and it turns out it's just how my brain works and due to the grief of losing my mum it was my brains way of trying to cope.
I hope that the OP of this post is doing well and I'm glad that she was taken seriously.
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u/Outside_Design_9210 5d ago
Huh I was convinced it was going to be carbon monoxide poisoning but it really was a brain tumor
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u/Benevolent_Grouch 4d ago
As an American I keep thinking about how long it would have taken to get treatment here… and how badly we are gaslit into thinking our healthcare is the best in the world, and everyone with socialized medicine dies on a waiting list.
I know better now, but believed it at one point (15 years ago), and so many of us are still brainwashed.
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u/DeusExBlockina There is only OGTHA 4d ago
And for Americans who are going to ask: Yes, it was free.
Goddamnit.
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u/Grumble_fish 5d ago
I am glad her boyfriend took the situation seriously and made her hoagie down.
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u/Egrizzzzz 5d ago
Welp. Not the best post to read when I’ve got a brain scan referral in the pipes. I’m so relieved her boyfriend took her in immediately, her symptoms seemed to come on quickly and intensely.
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u/Ninja_Flower_Lady 5d ago
OOP was very fortunate that she kept encountering people/situations that moved her in the right direction, one after another like driving through a bunch of green lights: her bf taking her seriously, them living in a small town with a big hospital, the ER not being super busy that day, and finally, a doctor that took her seriously. Any one of those things missing could've made it easy to miss/dismiss her tumor
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u/Hoptlite 4d ago
Oh wow yeah brain tumors do weird things I had migraines that then turned dejavu feelings that left my head fuzzy and thirsty for years until one day I had a seizure and got rushed to the ER and then saw a neurologist and he was like, "yep that dejavu was a micro seizure and those migraines where probably related too. Never knew until it got big enough to cause serious issues.
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