“I Believed I was going mad, yet the medical professionals Believed I was on drugs.”
4 Minutes
They were the chances facing Nicole Phillips as quickly as she started suffering a catalogue of weird symptoms.
Little did the mum-of-two know, her problems, including auditory hallucinations, were being caused by a brain tumour the size of an orange.
“Lots of people along with brain tumours get hold of rather durable smells,” says Nicole (45), from Leighton Buzzard.
“Mine smelt enjoy urine, rather strong, and I could likewise smell tobacco as quickly as no-one was smoking.
“yet the noises in my head were worse.
“They started as a whirring which eventually built up and built up until they became the exact same Lily Allen song playing over and over in my head.
“I remember hearing myself screaming in A&E: ‘Here it comes again!’
“It was her song Alfie, of every one of things, which makes me laugh as quickly as I hear it now but, at the time, it was awful.
“It once happened in the playground and one of the various other mums asked: ‘Are you every one of right? You look terrified.’
“I’d very first felt something was wrong in August, 2007, and I visited my local GP since I was suffering from hearing loss.
“A grommet was fitted yet this did not enhance points for long.
“By October, I couldn’t focus properly on my job, and I could hear whining noises in my head.
“I remember thinking I didn’t feel right, yet the doctor Believed I had sinusitis and gave me a nasal spray.
“A couple of weeks later, I started to have actually massive headaches which were dismissed as stress, and the trembling in my arms was put down to a trapped nerve.
“However, as quickly as I queried my symptoms for a fourth time, I was diagnosed along with post-natal depression and offered anti-depressants.
“After Christmas, I started to hear noises in my head and phoned the GP — he laughed at me and asked if I had been drinking or taking drugs!” Nicole recalls.
“I was so upset — I Believed I was going mad.
“After that a couple of weeks later, I was talking to a friend and I couldn’t get hold of my words out.
“They were every one of jumbled up.
“Again, my doctor Believed it was stress, and later, as quickly as I went spine yet again feeling light-headed, confused and forgetful, I was offered no help.
“By this time, I had seen seven various GPs that gave a number of various diagnoses and prescriptions, yet I was still ill,” says Nicole.
“In the end, I had to make the decision to offer up work.”
Things were regarding to get hold of worse for Nicole but, ironically, that would certainly lead to her finally obtaining an answer to her problems.
“In February, 2008, I had merely carried my brand-new baby daughter, Ellen, downstairs as quickly as I endured a severe match and was rushed to Luton and Dunstable Hospital,” reveals Nicole.
“Brain scans revealed a massive tumour over my left ear on the right edge of my brain.
“Specialists said the pregnancy hormones had gained it grow faster.
“I remember being terrified and praying for my life as I was transferred to the Royal Free Hospital in London where they put me on steroids to reduce the stress in my brain.
“After that, I was taken for surgery.
“I was so frightened — not for me, yet for my kids, that were merely four and eight months at the time.
“We took some last pictures along with Megan and Ellen merely in case I didn’t make it, then they left.
“It was only After that that I allowed myself to break down.
“I underwent a frightening, nine-hour operation, which could have actually threatened my speech.
“I realise that I was one of the lucky ones since my tumour, a meningioma, was not only benign, yet it could be removed by surgeons,” explains Nicole.
“I’m a fairly upbeat, bubbly sort of person, yet I now had epilepsy and could no longer cook, drive alone or bath baby Ellen or her sister.”
Unfortunately, lightning’s struck two times for Nicole, that says: “In March, 2014, I had an MRI that revealed that the tumour had grown again and was the size of a squashed grape.
“Apparently, it’s a case of ‘watch and wait’, yet it was devastating to hear that it was inoperable and that I will certainly probably should have actually radiotherapy.
“I suffer along with short-term memory loss, despite the fact that I have actually been taught to consist of comical pictures in my mind to advice remember points enjoy people’s names.
“I likewise have actually to take a great deal of medication to regulate my epilepsy yet fortunately this now appears to have actually the fits under regulate as I haven’t had one for at least twenty months.”
That, thankfully, isn’t the only good news for Nicole.
“After my very first marriage sadly broke up, in July, last year, I married Phil and became Mrs Phillips, prior to going away on a lovely honeymoon cruise along with Megan and Ellen,” she says.
Near-death experience gained me determined to help
WE’VE every one of had that classic anxiety dream, suddenly finding ourselves in public naked as the day we were born.
But for Nicole it wasn’t a dream — she actually found herself sitting in a local pub in nothing yet her birthday fulfill and a fetching pink top hat!
“Once you have actually a head op, you do not come out the exact same — I’ve come out nicer!” laughs Nicole, that was posing for her brain tumour charity Head 1st’s “naked ladies” 2016 calendar.
“I’m much Much more positive, and it gives you a various perspective on life.
“There’s a huge desire to make the most of it.
“prior to my tumour, there’s no means I’d have actually been sitting on a bar stool in the altogether, smiling for the camera!
“It was done in a pub that was closed for the photo shoot, yet they didn’t close any type of of the curtains!
“And it was on a main road, so I kept thinking either we’d induce an accident or the people on the top deck of the bus would certainly get hold of a great view!”
After a near-death experience, Nicole admits: “I became determined to increase awareness of brain tumours.
“I wanted people to already know Exactly how underfunded research was in to this devastating disease, which actually kills Much more people under 40 compared to any type of various other cancer.
“I likewise wanted to make people aware of the symptoms — GPs don’t constantly recognise the signs, as I found out first-hand.”
Nicole’s symptoms were originally Believed of as being caused by stress, sinusitis, post-natal depression and even a trapped nerve.
It wasn’t until a devastating match that she finally discovered the induce of her problems.
“As a result of my experiences, I established a fundraising group called Head 1st under the umbrella of Brain Tumour Research and we have actually now raised over £25,000 to date,” reveals Nicole.
“Brain tumours are sometimes described as the orphan illness since so little is known regarding them and so little funding is allocated to them.”
For Much more short article visit the websites at www.head1st.org.uk and http://ift.tt/1MzP44t
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