Houston-area woman undergoes surgery for brain tumor after anxiety, memory loss, vision problems
SUGAR LAND, Texas - A woman from Sugar Land is relieved to be on the other side of brain surgery. Michelle Preng was first diagnosed with anxiety, but when she couldn't remember her own children's names, she knew it was something much more serious than that.
She was going through one of life's biggest stressors four years ago. Divorce was difficult, but she felt more like she was unraveling.
"My symptoms were anxiety to the extreme, which I'm not a person who typically operates in that mode," explains Michelle.
Her doctor diagnosed her with stress and a vitamin deficiency, because she didn't have typical signs of something more serious.
"No headaches, no other symptoms. I was fully operable in life," says Michelle.
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Her symptoms did worsen though to crippling anxiety, memory loss, and vision problems at night.
"I quit a job because I couldn't function. I was struggling to even come up with the words to tell a story and then I'm pausing because I'm sitting there rolling through my head, trying to remember the names of my own two children," states Michelle.
Her sister works in the medical field, specifically treating the brain, and encouraged her to see a neurologist. Michelle did and underwent testing. She couldn't believe the results: a baseball sized tumor in her brain. It also took the doctor by surprise who ordered the MRI.
Here's what that doctor said when she called Michelle with the results. "Bleep, bleep, you have a huge tumor in your brain. So it was a surprise to all of us! She said that she was going to refer it out to her top surgeons at Memorial Hermann," says Michelle.
That led her to Neurosurgeon, Dr. Nitin Tandon at UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann.
"Michelle came into see us with a large mass in her left temporal lobe which was affecting the parts of her brain that have to do with language, but also the parts of the brain that have to do with memory," explains Dr. Tandon. "It involved many structures, including her basilar artery, which is an important artery in the brain, the middle cerebral artery, the carotid artery, and then the cyst is in the hippocampus and the temporal lobe," states Dr. Tandon.
That last part involved the memory center in Michelle's brain and had her incredibly concerned. Her fear was that removing the tumor would wipe out all of her memories. That's when her darling girlfriends all got together and built an online memory book for her, to help reassure her that those photos would help bring her memories back.
"We asked them to please dump memories, just pictures of history into a private Facebook page. I told them when I come out of it, I'll use it as a timeline to find them all again," reflects Michelle.
Dr. Tandon was able to remove most of the tumor during an intricate ten-hour procedure at Memorial Hermann. It was non-malignant, but a grape-sized amount of the tumor had to be left in her brain to help preserve the structure of her brain. Michelle went on to receive rehab at TIRR Memorial Hermann to fully function after surgery.
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Michelle believes Dr. Tandon not only saved her sanity, but her life.
"I went into this with fear for sure, but I truly believe it's the team here at Memorial Hermann, because I don't think it's any accident that the Lord landed me in Dr. Tandon's space," says Michelle.
She says it took a full year after surgery to feel completely like herself again and to stop struggling with memory issues. Those Facebook memories really ended up helping her.
"There are a lot of memories that were dumped into that page that when I saw the photo, I would go back for a minute. I had no knowledge of what they had fed to me, and then I would reflect on it for a few moments, and then I'm like, I remember this happened and that happened. Then, it would connect to other memories and so it all unfolded," explains Michelle.
Now four years later, the rest of Michelle's tumor is actually shrinking and will be monitored through scans every few years. Dr. Tandon believes Michelle's healthy diet and exercise regimen helped her body compensate for a long time without symptoms.
Because it was a benign tumor, she didn't have to undergo any other treatments. Michelle says she now feels better than ever and went on to remarry a friend from high school and feels blessed that he's not concerned about her medical issue. She stays busy working and teaching a Bible study class.
For more information: https://memorialhermann.org/services/conditions/brain-tumor