scubamum3
Registered
I was diagnosed with a brain tumor in April 2012. At that time, one of my concerns was "would I ever be able to return to diving". I remember coming to ScubaBoard to see if there were any posts, but really couldn't find any (I see that there are a few now, but I thought that I would add mine since 1 person every 3 minutes is diagnosed with a brain tumor in the United States so I know that I'm not the only diver out there facing this).
My initial symptoms started 4 days before leaving on a dive trip to Curacao. I woke up with an annoying loud screeching in my left ear (tinnitus). I have suffered with seasonal allergies and there were buds on the trees so I chalked it up to allergy symptoms. It was still there the next day, so I went to my doctors to have him peek in my ear. He said everything looked good, but wrote me a script for some antibiotics to take with me in case I got sick on vacation. The plane ride from Michigan to Miami was misery...my ear would not clear and it felt like there was an ice pick in it. The Miami to Curacao part was a little easier and I was able to dive that afternoon. We went on to have an amazing week of diving with no issues.
Long story short, my symptoms continued and I had more..some vertigo thrown in. I had been a neurosurgery nurse practitioner before I went to anesthesia school, so I KNEW that a brain tumor was the only thing that made sense. Sure enough, my MRI showed a pretty big one, displacing my cerebellum (responsible for movement, coordination, etc). I was shocked at how big it had gotten without any symptoms. It was a vestibular schwannoma, which is not cancer but I refuse to call it "benign" because there is no such thing as a "good" brain tumor. I had it surgically removed in June of 2012 (endoscopic retrosig approach). I still have a lot of symptoms from it. The screeching in my ear will never go away, as it is nerve damage. I still get horrible bouts of vertigo. I also have disequilibrium and many days can't walk a straight line without veering off to one side or crashing into a wall or just be standing and fall over. Lots of fun. My 6 week post op MRI showed a big fluid collection near the operation site and I could actually feel the fluid slosh when I moved my head for about 6 months afterwards. My neurosurgeon moved my "can return to diving" date from 6 weeks to 6 months (he is a diver, too).
Fast forward to January 2013. 231 days since my last logged dive. I went with a local dive shop to a local university pool where they do their training to see what would happen. My youngest son was in the pool as my buddy. I tried everything I could to make my vertigo horrible and disorientating...I did half my dive upside down and did summersaults and things were perfect. I never thought I would be so excited about a pool dive!
The "real" test was a family dive trip to Florida...the Blue Heron Bridge. My 1st dive after brain tumor surgery was 118 minutes! And the crazy thing is I have NO SCREECHING (tinnitus) when I dive whatsoever which is an amazing bonus to get to dive and have quiet, too. I have since logged many dives this year in Michigan (I am mostly a river diver with swift currents and low viz). The diving doesn't make my vertigo any worse when I am out of the water or after my dives and I never feel dizzy when I'm diving. I used to always have problems with equalization, but now my ears clear very easily.
I just wanted to share a success story in case anybody out there finds themselves in the same situation as I was in and is curious if diving after a brain tumor is possible. I am happy to report that YES!!!! it is possible to return to diving after having brain surgery!
My initial symptoms started 4 days before leaving on a dive trip to Curacao. I woke up with an annoying loud screeching in my left ear (tinnitus). I have suffered with seasonal allergies and there were buds on the trees so I chalked it up to allergy symptoms. It was still there the next day, so I went to my doctors to have him peek in my ear. He said everything looked good, but wrote me a script for some antibiotics to take with me in case I got sick on vacation. The plane ride from Michigan to Miami was misery...my ear would not clear and it felt like there was an ice pick in it. The Miami to Curacao part was a little easier and I was able to dive that afternoon. We went on to have an amazing week of diving with no issues.
Long story short, my symptoms continued and I had more..some vertigo thrown in. I had been a neurosurgery nurse practitioner before I went to anesthesia school, so I KNEW that a brain tumor was the only thing that made sense. Sure enough, my MRI showed a pretty big one, displacing my cerebellum (responsible for movement, coordination, etc). I was shocked at how big it had gotten without any symptoms. It was a vestibular schwannoma, which is not cancer but I refuse to call it "benign" because there is no such thing as a "good" brain tumor. I had it surgically removed in June of 2012 (endoscopic retrosig approach). I still have a lot of symptoms from it. The screeching in my ear will never go away, as it is nerve damage. I still get horrible bouts of vertigo. I also have disequilibrium and many days can't walk a straight line without veering off to one side or crashing into a wall or just be standing and fall over. Lots of fun. My 6 week post op MRI showed a big fluid collection near the operation site and I could actually feel the fluid slosh when I moved my head for about 6 months afterwards. My neurosurgeon moved my "can return to diving" date from 6 weeks to 6 months (he is a diver, too).
Fast forward to January 2013. 231 days since my last logged dive. I went with a local dive shop to a local university pool where they do their training to see what would happen. My youngest son was in the pool as my buddy. I tried everything I could to make my vertigo horrible and disorientating...I did half my dive upside down and did summersaults and things were perfect. I never thought I would be so excited about a pool dive!
The "real" test was a family dive trip to Florida...the Blue Heron Bridge. My 1st dive after brain tumor surgery was 118 minutes! And the crazy thing is I have NO SCREECHING (tinnitus) when I dive whatsoever which is an amazing bonus to get to dive and have quiet, too. I have since logged many dives this year in Michigan (I am mostly a river diver with swift currents and low viz). The diving doesn't make my vertigo any worse when I am out of the water or after my dives and I never feel dizzy when I'm diving. I used to always have problems with equalization, but now my ears clear very easily.
I just wanted to share a success story in case anybody out there finds themselves in the same situation as I was in and is curious if diving after a brain tumor is possible. I am happy to report that YES!!!! it is possible to return to diving after having brain surgery!
