Hi y’all. My name is Nancy Metz, & I am Linda Metz’s daughter. Quite recently, last night in fact, we were bombarded with unbelievable news that my mom has a brain tumor.

 

March 7th, 2022 // 6:30 PM

 

Last night was like any other night - until she decided to go out to dinner with our cousin, Julie. As mom is driving down the highway, she is perfectly aware of where she is, and what she is doing, but she feels off. The way she describes it, her tongue felt “incredibly swollen”, and she was “incoherent”. She made it to the restaurant safely, but it had been 10 minutes already and she was still experincing this episode. Panic began to set in and she walked into the restaurant, waiting for Julie to arrive when the waitress asked where she wanted to sit - and my mom could not answer. There was nothing coming out of her mouth. A few minutes later, Julie arrived and could see the sense of panic and helplessness rising in my mom. It had been 15 minutes, and my mom could still not form any words, let alone a single sentence, and was incredibly confused and disoriented. Finally, she was able to get out, “I….. don’t…… know….. what……” and Julie made the decision, rightfully so, to take mom to the hospital immediately. After arriving, the ER team on staff that night asked her a few questions, and mom was still struggling to speak. Within a few minutes of asking questions, they immediately took her down to get a CAT scan and an MRI, and it came back conclusive with a tumor - a tumor that is sized 4 cm x 3.5 cm. Right then, the care she needed was downtown and off she went in an ambulance, where we awaited to see the next step with this diagnosis.

 

March 8th, 2022 // 8:00 AM

 

While waiting in the ER at SLU, she was taken in for another MRI and another CAT scan, so her team of doctors could consult on the next move. Her primary care team came in around 8:30/9 am and said they communicated with the neurosurgeon to see where to go from here. She recived an ultrasound on her thyroids, and they did another CAT scan on the upper part of her body to make sure there wasn’t a tumor or mass located anywhere else in her body, as it is more common for tumors in the brain to originate from somewhere else in the body due to spreading. If there’s a mass somewhere else, it would be safer to do a biopsy on the tissue there than the brain. Otherwise, they would have to do a biopsy on the brain. At that point, they might as well perform the surgery and do a biopsy after the fact. They will not know if it’s cancerous or not until it is looked at under a microscope. At this point, it’s a long waiting game.

 

Mom asked the nurse to be real with her & asked what to expect with all of this, so the nurse said to expect the next couple of months to be hell, because we’re in the unknown of what this journey is going to be like.

 

We have a LONG road ahead of us. We need all the prayers we can get.

 

March 8th, 2022 // 5:40 PM

 

We have been moved to a room after 18 hours - much better than the ER but still would prefer none of this be happening.

 

The neurosurgeon team came in and spoke with us - there was nothing that came up on her most recent CAT scan of her upper body & her thyroid ultrasounds were not concerning. She does have a nodule on one, but it has no connection to the tumor.

 

As of right now, surgery has been scheduled for Thursday, March 10th. They were able to squeeze her in sooner rather than later, as the tumor is pushing the left hemisphere of her brain into the right hemisphere, along with the massive swelling. Her brain should be symmetrical, and it is not. It has been confirmed by the neuro team that the tumor is indeed 4 cm x 3.5 cm, which is what the original diagnosis was with her first encounter at the first hospital’s ER last night. The important goal they want to focus on is trying to get ALL of the tumor out, leaving nothing behind, & hope this surgery is a one and done deal. That is also dependent on the biopsy results, as they will study the tissue removed from this tumor and look at it under a microscope.

 

Normally, this type of surgery will take 5 hours, but this particular surgery is predicted to be anywhere from 2.5-3.5 hours, assuming no complications arise. The reason for the shorter surgery time is that there is hope that the location of her tumor will make for an easier removal than a typical brain tumor, given that it seems to be on the outside of her brain rather than the inside. She will be placed under general anesthesia. And they will be closely monitoring her for motor function as well, as that area of the brain is sensitive and they want no permanent damage moving forward.

 

Her head will be shaved above and around the ear, they will remove part of her skull, go in and remove the tumor best they can, put her skull back in, and stitch her up. Then they will be sending it in to be tested, and we will wait for the results. We do not know what time the surgery will be, as we are hoping to find out tomorrow. We do not know if the tumor is cancerous either - we are praying long and hard that it is benign. We will see what the biopsy results conclude and go from there. She will be put in the ICU after surgery Thursday & through Friday, then they mentioned they might send her home Saturday or Sunday (again, if no complications arise).

 

At this point, we are just processing and taking everything in one by one. Mom is doing okay, if that’s even the right word for this. We are still trying to understand why this is happening & why it’s happening now, but also thankful it happened when it did when she was with our cousin, Julie. Waiting any longer, there would’ve been irreversible damage & we would be facing a much more complicated dilemma.

 

That being said, with this being sprung upon us, the hospital bills are going to be extremely expensive, from staying in the hospital, to all the care she is getting, and not to mention the surgery she will be undergoing. She will not be able to work for awhile and we have a long few months ahead of us - financially, mentally, physically, and emotionally. I made this page in hopes to ease the financial stress from my mom and help pay for the hospital bills, the surgery, and the aftercare that we will be dealing with. As I am only 20 years old, I cannot financially support the road we are about to embark on. It would mean the world if our families and friends could help make this a little easier for us.

 

This is a very scary chapter in our lives, but with God, we face no evil and we face no fears. If you can donate, it would mean so much. If you’re not in a position to do so, please send a prayer our way, as we need God to hear every word He can.

 

Thank you so much in advance, and God bless you.