The New Normal

Since the very beginning of treatment for my brain tumor I have heard that after treatment life will settle back down and there will be a “new normal.” I have been told by the doctors that I will never feel the way I did before my seizure or before radiation and chemotherapy but that I will return to a good quality of life.  The question that I have been wondering about is how will I know when I’ve reached the point of the new normal? That is, at what point will I have improved the most that I am going to, both mentally and physically?

I completed radiation treatments in December 2009 and finished chemotherapy on January 1, 2011, so I’m off of the heavy duty stuff. Even so, I still take about eleven pills a day for seizures, headaches, tremors, vitamins, etc.  Part of the new normal includes taking a small pharmacy with me on overnight trips and keeping a list of all my meds in my purse at all times in case of an emergency.  I am feeling much better these days.  I still get fatigued and take a nap most afternoons. I’m working two part-time jobs though and taking a class.

I had a taste of the new normal last week that I had not anticipated.  On Friday, February 4, I had an episode of slight dizziness and double vision that lasted about 45 minutes.  Before I knew I had a brain tumor I probably would have said, “Hmm, that’s weird. I must be getting old.”  Instead, I emailed my neuro-oncologist Friday morning who emailed me back saying he wanted me to have an MRI, to start taking medication that would decrease edema on the brain and no driving until I saw him on Monday.

Thankfully, the MRI showed no change with the tumor and my vision issues would have been caused from an entirely different area of the brain.  They did make an appointment for me to see a neuro-opthomologist  at the Eye Foundation at UAB just to check things out from a neurological point of view. 

For now I guess the new normal involves that many little things will be treated as big deals until proven otherwise. It makes me tired just thinking about it.