If anyone needs help with coping

ES_123

Hi, I was diagnosed with medulloblastoma back in 2009 when I was 22 years old. With surgery, radiation, and chemo I am cancer free and I am now a 37 year old, even though I'm in a wheelchair I am a relatively healthy guy. My road as many others to recovery was not easy, but necessary. I can get out and hunt, fish, and most importantly enjoy my twin daughters growing up. Cancer sucks, but with modern medicine and technology, it's really increasing people's chances of survival and your way of living in the future. Here are some things I do to get through my day.

As many know medulloblastoma is a cancer in the cerebellum, which among others, effects balance. Over the years I have progressed into using a walker on my own but due to the fact that I have hit my plateau, which doctors told me would eventually happen, I usually use my wheelchair to get around.

I have shaky eyes and double vision which makes it so I can't drive anymore. I used to wear a bandana to cover one eye but not block my peripheral vision. I have attached a picture of what I mean.

red-bandana.jpg

I didn't like glasses before, but I now wear to help with that.

I have short term memory loss. I write a lot of reminders in my phone. Thankfully I am pretty good at making spreadsheets on my computer too. This helps your daily completed list get longer and longer.

Shacky body at times and left sided weakness. It is less shacky in the morning time, so that is when I do my stretching/exercise with a lot of water. Doing this helps me start off the day strong and makes me feel like I have accomplished something. I'm only 37 but a healthy diet is important, and less sugar definitely doesn't hurt either.

I have hearing loss and now wear hearing aids to help. My hearing aids (Resound) are synced with my phone and they have their own app so I can have more control over them.

Along with many others, I have a constant ringing in my ears. Try to keep busy during the day and eventually you might not notice as much. Listen to music or my favorite funny podcast helps. Over time it has gotten less noticeable. I don't think there is some magical cure for this, so helping control it helps a lot.

There might be more that I'm forgetting. I hope this doesn't come off as winey, I know there a lot of people in way worse situations then me. I don't remember a lot about my brain cancer, I try to forget those days and move past them. I'm hoping this helps someone. I don't know if you can send a personal message on here or not but if you want to talk more privately [content removed by CSN Support Team]