Benign Brain Tumor ≠ Good Health

One of the oddities of having a benign brain tumor is that friends, family and co-workers often assume than you’re going to be just fine/just like you used to be before the operation. 

A recent article from the ABTA entitled “I may look OK, but I’m not.” explains this disconnect.

In the article, Paula Sherwood, R.N., Ph.D., C.N.R.N., associate professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing and medicine says observes that “Friends and family members may assume that just because the brain tumor has been removed that all the problems have been solved.” said 

She goes on to say that “patients are happy it’s not malignant; happy it’s been taken out. And some do very well with few side effects. But there are others who have significant side-effects.” “Benign is a tough word. It conjures up the sense that everything is going to be OK.” She goes on to say “I get the sense that patients are not adequately prepared for “the reality.”

Terri Armstrong, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Texas-Health Science Center School of Nursing and adjunct professor at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center reiterates that thought - “Benign is a tough word. It conjures up the sense that everything is going to be OK”.

Providing the patient viewpoint, is Nancy Conn-Levin, a 15 year brain tumor survivor, author and facilitator of a large brain tumor support group who says “there is still a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding about the impact of non-malignant brain tumors, particularly when their effects can be life threatening.”

You can read the entire article at : http://www.abta.org/sitefiles/pdflibrary/HeadlineNews16pgr_SS11-F.pdf (be sure to scroll down past the first article in the newsletter).