About Laurie Dangler

Preliminary

I’m an August baby and have always had the Leo personality: strong-minded, determined, motivated. This has helped me through medical school, two children, and 16 years of marriage. In 2007, I decided to train to run half of the Columbus marathon, to help decrease my weight and better my health. Throughout the year, I had short “spells”: I would feel distracted, get a metallic taste in my mouth, and then feel as if I might vomit. The spells only lasted for 60 seconds at the most, and in the beginning, I would have one short spell every three to four weeks. I had a history of migraine headaches, and even as a doctor, I thought this might be a new kind of migraine for me.
August 2007 was a busy month, with my 15th wedding anniversary and my 37th birthday. I had the worst run of my life on August 5th, 2007, a hot and muggy day in Columbus. After running only four blocks, I thought for sure I was going to vomit, even though I had an empty stomach. I had to slow down to a walk several times to get through the run.

I was scheduled for an MRI of my brain on August 9th, to make sure these spells weren’t caused by anything but a migraine. I was worried about an aneurysm (swollen area of an artery that can cause a stroke). My MRI was early in the morning, but by the time I had arrived home, my doctor had already left a message on my answering machine. I had a brain tumor.

Treatment

I didn’t ask for details when I found out about the tumor. But when I saw a neurosurgeon that afternoon, he showed me the MRI. It was enormous! He told my husband and me that I needed to have it removed surgically within one week. I asked if I could have put it off until after my daughter’s birthday and slumber party. My surgeon would not allow any more time, so my sister was drafted into hosting the party, and I went to the hospital.

My family and in-laws all waited at the hospital the day of my surgery. The surgery team said it would last 4-6 hours, but at one point, they told my family that it might take 15 hours. After about 12 ½ hours of surgery, they brought me out with only some of the tumor removed. I was in the hospital for 8 days, mostly because they were waiting for the pathology results before a second operation. A side effect of the surgery was a cerebral spinal fluid leak through my sinuses, so I had to lay flat for 4 days to see if it would heal on its own. If I sat up, pink-tinged fluid ran out of my nose.

My surgeon didn’t have my pathology report until Friday evening. It was too late to take me to surgery that day and he was nice enough that I was able to have him discharge me so I could go home for the weekend. Eleven days after my first surgery, I had a second. The second surgery lasted around 7 ½ hours. I was awake for large portions of both surgeries so they could test my movement and speech - but it’s hard to remember what I talked about during brain tumor removal!

My surgery team did well and I had no deficits in speech, hearing, or movement. Some of the tumor was in a place where it could not be removed without it affecting my abilities. So, I had six weeks of daily chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Small bolts were inserted into my skull so they could bolt my head to the radiation table to keep me from moving while they irradiated a large but specific area.

Before and after my surgery and radiation treatment, I was on steroids, which usually makes a patient gain weight. For some reason, I lost over 40 pounds. Some diet! This may have been due to my pain medication. I got by with relatively little pain medication after the first surgery, but the second hurt much more. I weaned steadily off them, but I sure needed them in the beginning.

Now, I am on chemotherapy for five days every 28 days. The plan is for me to continue this for 24 months. If that happens, my last treatment will be in December of 2009. Fortunately, this chemotherapy is a capsule and can be taken orally, but it really wipes out my energy for almost a week. I sleep at least 12 hours a day while on chemo.

Future

I wish I could tell you that there is a cure for what I have, but there is not. I wish I could tell you that at least one of my doctors think my cancer won’t come back, but I’m fairly sure they all think that it will. That is how brain cancer is. My oncologist at Ohio State University’s Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital, Herbert Newton, is the chair for the Esther Dardinger Neuro-Oncology Center at the James Hospital. Esther was his patient and died of brain cancer. ROC on exists to raise donations for the center. The James Cancer Hospital is ranked #1 in Ohio for cancer care and #15 in the nation for cancer care. They deserve additional funding for research. I’ve been lucky to have had many friends and family members support me throughout this time, and now I’d like to help give back to the James. Please donate to this valuable work!

Thanks,

Laurie Dangler, M.D.