Hannah's Story

Hannah will be 12 on April 18, 2007. On August 19, 1995 she was diagnosed with a Trigeminal Schwannoma. On September 27,2005 in a 10 1/2 hour surgery it was completely removed at Children's Hospital in Boston.
Our story begins in the spring of 2004 when Hannah, who had been sleeping through the night since she was 9 weeks old (yes weeks old), started waking up with horrible headaches. It kept happening so we went to the Dr. He couldn't find a cause. Since Hannah had a pallet expander at the time, we went to the dentist and the orthodontist. Neither found any reason for the headaches.
The next step was an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist to see if it could be sinus related. No luck there either so the Pediatrician ordered a CT scan which showed nothing.Our next visit was to a Neurologist, who after a ton of tests, found no underlying cause and diagnosed Hannah with migraines. That was a drag thinking she would have to deal with the headaches for the rest of her life, but we knew what it was and there were drugs to help her with the pain.
We used the medicines and they actually helped her. We had 2 follow-ups and were advised to stay on the meds. The third follow up was on August 15th of 2005 where something made the Neurologist order an MRI! I was clueless and figured it was standard procedure??? On August 19, 2005, had the MRI and about half way through the procedure I noticed a few extra people observing the MRI in progress. But really thought nothing of it. They had to adjust the machine, so I left to use the ladies room.
When I returned the technician said he needed me to sign a form giving permission to inject dye into Hannah. I knew it was BAD!! I asked them where it was and how big it was. The tech was sort of shocked.
My Dad has cancer, so I knew what the dye was for. He didn't really want to answer me, but I started asking more questions through my tears and he told me right then with Hannah still in the MRI machine that it didn't look like cancer. He said it was big and would have to be removed.
I know my daughter and I had told her no shots because thats what they told us when we made the appt. I washed my face with cold water so Hannah wouldn't be able to tell I had cried. We went back in the MRI room and told her she needed an injection. She knew something was wrong. The guy told her that he would talk with her when they finished. We finished and they showed us the MRI! It was HUGE!!!! Bigger than her eye socket on the right side, then it squished down under the mid-section of her brain and was ping pong ball size at the base of her skull. We scheduled an appointment with a Neurosurgeon for the following Friday.He said the tumor had to be removed but he did not have enough experience with this rare tumor and would have to do 2 surgeries. He told us he knew there were Dr's who could do it in one. He referred us to a Dr. who would see us in October.
The waiting was killing us knowing that thing was growing in her head. We got a Dr in another Hospital to see us and he said two surgeries was the only way to go so we set up some tests and the first surgery. The ride home (125 miles) was AWFUL! We knew it could be done in 1. We called another Dr., met with him 4 days later and he got it all in 1 surgery!!!