"About 10 years ago, I was very lethargic, had no motivation, and felt very flat, like nothing mattered. There was a lump on my neck but the doctor I was seeing kept saying it was nothing. Over time it would go down and come back, so I was going through that for about a year. Then they decided to biopsy it, and it turned out to be stage 4 lymphoma. At the time, they decided they needed all these tests to classify what type of lymphoma it was, and when ordering an MRI, they found the brain tumor, which was pretty large. My oncologist said we could probably wait until the 6-month treatment of chemotherapy concluded. When I consulted with Dr. Sekula, he didn't feel it could wait. So, in between two chemotherapy appointments that were a month apart, he operated and removed the meningioma.
He said there were different ways to get to it, and it was too large to go through the nose or through the base of the skull. He went through my eyebrow--it was amazing. You can barely see it and nobody can see it unless I show them and they are really close. My recovery process was amazing. I had very little pain or inflammation at the incision site and was up and walking the next day. Because he chose to go through my eyebrow and not a more invasive approach, I could be released the next day and recovered on a regular floor, not an intensive care floor. The recovery was so easy, I think I was able to shower the next day and didn’t need pain medication. My neighbors expected me to come back with my head wrapped up, but they couldn’t believe what had been done. Imagine having a nine hour brain surgery then being able to leave the next day with just some stitches on your eyebrow! How can you thank someone for that? It felt miraculous to me. Now, ten years later, I can't even feel the surgery location when I rub my hand across my forehead--it's so smooth.
I was very blessed to get Dr. Sekula. He is a talented, respected surgeon and just a good, caring man. I felt like I had his undivided attention during appointments. He is so admired by patients and staff alike. Everyone is amazed by my story and by what he can do."