I was going to the VA for sinus infections and headaches. With the recent passing of the PACT ACT I figured I could potentially get a 30% disability rating or about a $300 monthly check. They sent me for a CT scan. I was there late on a Friday. They wouldn’t let me leave without talking too a doctor. Well all the doctors had left already. The nures walked me out. She told me schedule a mri. Not to drop everything but schedule it soon. A few weeks later I had an mri. The VA called me a week later and told me they were referring me to a neurosurgeon. I asked what for. They said I had a bone lesion. A few weeks later I went to see the neurosurgeon. I had researched bone lesions and figured he would tell me to have an mri every 6 months to keep an eye on it. Didn’t have my wife come as it was going to be a nothing appointment. I had scheduled to go checkout a car forsale afterwards.

the neurosurgeon tells me I have to have surgery. I ask why. He said to remove the tumor. I am confused, how is this a brain tumor? I ask to see pictures of what he is talking about. Here is what he showed me. The tumor had eaten away my skull.

Well, walking out of the hospital without losing it was the 2nd most difficult thing I have ever done. The most difficult was calling my wife and telling her. We scheduled my surgery for 3 weeks later.

The VA denied my benefits for sinus issues so no money. But they did pay for the whole surgery, $150k.

it has a happy ending. All good and playing volleyball and golf again. I am one lucky sob. I never had any symptoms and would have had no idea until it was too late. It was benign.

Not me, but my sister.

On August 2020, my sister got 2–3 painless lumps in her neck and near upper stomach.

She was working in a different city, so she could not come to her home in lockdown. She came to her home in September. She went to the doctor and did some blood tests. The doctor confirmed it was nothing serious and it was just an accumulation of fats due to long working hours, no exercise and no proper diet.

She had to return to office location by next week. After some days her right leg started paining a little. She thought of taking second opinion and returned to her home the next weekend. She consulted another doctor, but he too told her it was nothing but just accumulation of fats due to no exercise and prescribed some painkillers for leg pain. She took painkillers and again left for her office location the next morning.

By end of October, she was not able to lift her right leg and she had lost around 20 kgs. She was also dieting a lot as the previous doctors had told the lumps were due to her weight and no exercise so she blamed weight loss on dieting. Her mother went to visit her because of her leg. She was not even able to walk by herself. Finally she decided to consult another doctor. This doctor also told the same thing. But he also told if she wanted to remove those lumps, it can be operated and removed. But there will not be any health issues if it is not operated and those lumps are still there.

As she wanted to marry soon, she decided to go for surgery to look good. The surgery was scheduled. But before that, the doctor told to get MRI of brain and leg to know the root cause of numbness in her legs. He also told to do test for tuberculosis and COVID-19 before admitting her. Her COVID-19 test was negative but tuberculosis test came positive and MRI of brain showed she had tuberculosis in her brain. The doctor prescribed medicines for tuberculosis and operated on the lumps. He sent the lumps which were removed from her body to biopsy for surety. The biopsy report came as cancer positive.

My sister had breast cancer which had spread to her brain. Due to damage in brain from cancer, the brain was not able to send signals to her leg, which is why her leg was not responding. The doctor had planned 5 cycles of chemotherapy and radiation. After 1st cycle her condition worsened drastically.

On 6th January, 2021, she got urinary tract infection which turned to be very critical. She had breathing problems later so was put on ventilator on 9th January.

Her soul left her body on 10th January, 2021 as her heart stopped beating.

Please don’t ever ignore any unusual signs in your body. Consult a doctor if you feel something is not right. If your gut feeling says the doctor isn’t giving proper advice, take a second opinion on it. Nothing is more valuable than your life.