How lovely of you Phyllis! Thank you! This forum has been wonderful for me emotionally- its also kind of sad that I had to join a USA org to find it as did not experience that in any way in Australia.

 I am always available also to help mentor others because I still remember vividly how terrified I was  - especially since for two years I had been told I was 'imagining' my vague symptoms and then I basically diagnosed myself from Google.

The way the MRI news was delivered to me was shocking too - a nurse called me at 8 am to say 'sorry to inform you, you have a brain tumor- please see the doctor at 5pm. No, I cant give you any more info.'  When I saw the doctor she said 'well the bad news is you were right after all- it is an AN. The good news is thats benign!'  Post treatment I did not have any real support either until I joined here. The resources also helped me a lot to recover and understand things.

Michele,

You've got this! For me... and for those I speak to on the Mentor list.... the waiting is the most challenging part of having radiation on an AN.  You really have to have mental strength to endure the wait... and, of course, have people like me and the rest of us in your corner.   So I'm cheering you on......... strength.... you've got it!

Phyllis

Thanks so much Phyllis!! I am so pleased to hear how well you are going. Very reassuring!

Intheagarden,

Sorry to hear you are suffering.  I believe Michelle is right, the treatment is doing what it was intended to do.  My symptoms were worse after CK.  I was fortunate enough that this lased only two months.  The initial swelling of the tumor may last different time frames.  A follow up MRI at six months is not uncommon after CK.  You might want to consider this to see if the tumor swelled.

Good Luck on your journey,
Dan

Hi I feel for you- I had and still have nerve pain on that side after CK. I can tell you to watch some of the videos in the webinar library because it sounds like the good news is your AN is responding (maybe swelling a little) and in fact thats a good sign. For dizziness I read somewhere that even 1 mg diazepam might help (read on it). It will get better - right now the treatment is doing what it is supposed to do. If you are very worried have another MRI though I would wait - it can take a year or so to settle down. Calming supps like palmitoylethanomide, medical CBD, even magnesium helped me. Oh and good sleep!

Great to hear that you are doing well and that AN is not the center focus of life anymore.   That is probably the best news people can hear.  I know before my surgery, the tumor was the main focus of everything in life.   I am one year post-op and it is not nearly as much on my mind as it used to be.   Like you have said, every time something does come up the first thought is, is that tumor related or just something else like normal aging.   People at the beginning of this journey need to hear from people who are past this and moving on with life so they can know there is life after AN.  And it can still be a good life.