Hello all – my name is Pam  and I thought this important to do for two reasons ;

I am a young 62 year old woman who had a 4th ventricle ependymoma – (usually men, 40’s and in the spine!  I’m so lucky!
I am from the U.S. and Linda has made it so nice to be a part of the Facebook Support Group! (most of you are from the U.K.)

Thought I had vertigo for 6 weeks and it turned out my dizziness and vomiting daily was due to hydrocephalus and that was because my 4th ventricle was blocked with an ependymoma tumor. Had all removed at UCSF by Dr. MCDermott (3.1 cm) who had seen and done many. Even wrote a study on 20+ people he did. Recovery was 2 days in hospital then back to my home town of Chico (about 4 hrs from SF) to an acute rehab place where I learned to walk again, balance and think straight).

My family and friends helped me through all of this. Without their support I don’t know if it could of happened! My girls kept my floral business going and within three months I could function by myself. My eyes see double 100’ away and head is still somewhat in the fog, but have gotten better and i continue to work hard at fixing them.  I dropped 25lbs , exercise daily, take vit D3 with K2, turkey tail, stamets 7 and vit C. .25 mg of thca/cbd, oil of peppermint and frankincense. Once a week oil of Cassia.  My new norm is a-okay if this is it . It has been 1 1/2 years now and my MRIs are every 6 months! I pray to God that it stays this way! He and I have met up again as well and it’s a work in progress.

I live by gratitude every day ! I am so thankful to be here and when I feel sorry for myself I remind myself how lucky I am!  There is always someone else struggling more or dealing with more!