HM’s Story

The 5th July 2022 was a normal day, working and looking after my nieces after school for an hour.  I went to bed around 10.30pm. When I woke next morning around 7am, my husband had already gone to work, and I knew something was wrong. I went to the bathroom and thought maybe I’d had a stroke, but remembering the FAST advert realised I could raise my arms, so maybe it was Bell’s palsy – my dad had had both so I was aware of the symptoms. I had a shower and got dressed and took myself off to hospital. When I got there and the nurse said ‘name and date of birth’, the noise my mouth made wasn’t anything that anyone could understand, and I knew this was serious.

I had got to my local hospital at 7.50am, was triaged at 8.15, and by 8.30am I was having blood tests and an ECG. They then sent me for CT scan. Realising it was getting bad, I text my husband to let him know and went for my CT scan. My husband arrived in time to be with me for the results. The doctor said, ‘We have your scan results and everything’s fine, so we’re sending you to the City Hospital by ambulance.’ I said, ‘That went downhill quick. Why do I need City Hospital if its fine?’. The doctor said, ‘Because you’ve not had a stroke, but there’s a mass on your brain, a brain tumour, follow me to the ambulance.’

By the time I got to the hospital, I had an extremely sore eye and extreme double vision. Anything I tried to eat or drink fell out of my mouth and I was unable to talk coherently. I sounded very drunk and slurry. I had 12 days of steroids and couldn’t drive or work for five months and had to wear an eye patch to stop me bumping into things.

18 months later, I still talk a little slurry, have no taste or smell, and my right eye still cannot blink, which I’ve been told, as it’s been over a year, is classed as permanent. But I’m back working, driving and looking after everyone just as I did before, and as it’s a meningioma grade 1 that caused it, I feel I’ve dodged a bullet as it could have been so much worse.