两年前的夏天, Andrew Papenfus was enjoying an afternoon coaching a kids' summer basketball camp at Santa Clara University when he suddenly crashed to the floor as he shot a ball and went for the rebound.
脑肿瘤手术后的反弹
At 22, Papenfus was the picture of youthful strength and vitality: He played varsity basketball for Santa Clara and was in his junior year, studying marketing and entrepreneurship. 但是在那个夏天, the lanky 6-foot 6-inch forward was flat on the hardwood having a major seizure.
Testing at a local hospital revealed he had a tumor in his brain. 有人把他介绍给 Dr. 一位伯杰, chair of neurological surgery at UCSF, who successfully removed the tumor in October 2014.
今天, Papenfus is a newly minted college graduate, 快乐, healthy and grateful to be looking forward to a bright future.
第一次癫痫发作是怎样的?
I remember feeling a tiny bit funny just before, like I was struggling to keep up with the drill we were doing. And then I went for a three-pointer but missed. 我去抢篮板球的时候, I had this sudden feeling that my hamstring had torn because I was on the ground and felt almost paralyzed.
I felt my body tense up and convulsions taking over. It then hit me that I was having a major seizure. Things started to go black and I actually remember wondering if I was dying or even dead.
Everything was confusing, but I could sort of hear one of my coaches urging me to relax and breathe. I also remember hearing a snippet of the song "Riptide" by Vance Joy running through my head. After about two to three minutes, I came to, although I was still pretty out of it for a while.
How did the doctors make your diagnosis?
I was immediately taken to a nearby hospital and they did a CT scan. It was taking a long time for them to come back to me with results, and while I knew that this often happens in ERs, 我还是有种不对劲的感觉. Then they sent me for an MRI of my brain. I vividly recall lying in that MRI machine having the strongest feeling that they were going to find something bad. 果然, 核磁共振检查后, they called and said that they had something of concern to talk to me about.
那时我父母还没到, I feel grateful that I had many of the coaches who act like a second family to me gathered with me when I received the news. The neurosurgeon on call told me that I would need to have surgery to do a biopsy right away – the very next day, 事实上. This would be able to tell us if it was cancerous or not.
What did you feel when they suggested you have a brain biopsy right away?
It turned out that one of the nurses at that hospital was someone with whom my dad – who is an ER doctor in Colorado – had worked years ago. 所以即使他们没有和我在一起, they were able to talk to the team beforehand and felt comfortable going ahead.
As for the actual surgery, well, they are drilling into your skull! 但经济复苏并没有那么糟糕. 他们只取一小部分组织样本. I was in the hospital for a day or two, mostly just nervously waiting for the results. 结果出来的时候, they told me I had a grade 2 astrocytoma, which is in a bit of gray area in terms of whether it's cancerous or not. It definitely needed to come out, but thankfully it was a slow-growing tumor, so I had a bit of time. It was then that I was given the referral to see Dr. 伯杰.
What happened after the biopsy surgery?
I felt remarkably fine – despite the fact that I now knew there was a tumor in my brain and I was on an antiseizure medication. Two weeks later, I was cleared to play basketball again. They said I might have another seizure, but no one could say when or how severe. 事实上, I did have another a few weeks later (again, 在球场上), and I realized that I had to slow down a bit.
What happened at your first meeting with Dr. 伯杰和加州大学旧金山分校的团队?
I just remember that I was immediately impressed by his confidence and caring. He really understood my perspective in terms of wanting to remain active and how important basketball was to me. I never felt like just another patient with him, and 事实上 everyone at UCSF was so positive and reassuring. Dr. 伯杰 was also refreshingly straightforward with everything as he walked me through my options. Of course, I knew that the tumor definitely needed to come out, but the question was when. 这很大程度上取决于我.
见见护理团队
What made you decide to go ahead with the surgery when you did?
I had been a walk-on player at Santa Clara, and to go from that to becoming team captain and having just come off a great season, 我不想放弃这一切. 所以时间是关键. Dr. 伯杰解释说我可以, 如果我愿意, wait until after the season – until the following spring – to have the surgery. 一开始这是我的计划. I love basketball so much and I had worked so hard. If everything went smoothly, I figured I could maybe still play half the season.
In the end, I sat with the decision for nearly three weeks. And I changed my mind – I wanted to do it as soon as possible. It just became clear to me that I didn't want to risk my long-term future and my long-term health. 我想有一天当爸爸.
And of course, there were the continuing seizures to consider. 一方面, if you haven't been seizure-free for 90 days you can't drive, 所以我都做不到. So I was really just taking it day by day, not worrying about things that may or may not happen. There's that saying: "Worry is interest on a debt you may never pay." Still, there were definitely days where I would cry and think the worst.
What were the days/moments before surgery at UCSF like?
My surgery was initially scheduled for Sept. 23, but because I ended up getting a little sick and had a fever right before surgery, 它被推迟到10月. 6. But by the time that date rolled around, I sort of had already gotten a lot of my nerves out. So I just said goodbye, told them I loved them and was put under anesthesia.
Your surgery was unique in that you were awake during it, right? 那是什么感觉??
你开始的时候完全没有, but once they get into your brain and are about to start removing the tumor, 他们把你叫醒. That is so they can ask you to talk and move while they remove the tumor bit by bit, to ensure they aren't harming functional tissue. 因为我肿瘤的位置, there was a chance that they'd have to cut into a part of my brain that controls my right leg.
I actually had a seizure during the surgery – which Dr. 伯杰 had told me might happen – and to control it they poured a cold solution on my brain. What's crazy is that to me I felt like they were splashing cold water on my legs. 所有的系统都交叉了! After four or five hours of surgery they finally finished up and sent me to recovery.
What was recovery and getting back to normal life like?
Dr. 伯杰 said that he was able to get 100 percent of the tumor, 这很好, 但是要做到这一点, he did have to push into functional tissue a tiny bit. So right away I couldn't really control my right foot. This was definitely scary because of my athletics, 但是再一次, this was something I'd talked through honestly with Dr. 伯杰. Beside the fact that it wouldn't likely be permanent, this is something that had to be done to safeguard my long-term health.
Still, that first week or two was tough. I started physical therapy to strengthen my right foot right away. It took three agonizing days to get movement back in my foot, and I had to use a brace to hold it up because it was floppy. I immediately started rehab on my foot to regain strength. My mom came for a whole month to help me, 我的大学给她安排了住处, 所以我和她呆在那里.
How did you manage to stay emotionally strong through all of this?
I relied on my strong religious faith a lot during this journey – as well as my supportive family, 朋友们,尤其是我的女朋友, 达尼. 她真的是我的靠山. 整体, this whole experience definitely has put some things in perspective, and given me an intense appreciation of how great it was to be able to come back and play with my teammates when I did. And I've been 快乐 that I'm able to be an inspiration to others with a variety of health struggles – so that I can demonstrate that with a positive outlook you can really get through anything.
What is your prognosis and do you have any limitations now?
我感觉很棒. There's no way to guarantee that something won't grow back. 这不太可能,但也不是不可能. And, despite the fact that I am tumor-free, seizures remain possible. 我有过几次. 伯杰 explained to me is not uncommon and may be due to scar tissue near the affected area of my brain. But these seizures are nothing like that first one, which lasted several minutes. Some of these are 20 seconds and are mild. The most recent one was about 20 seconds of feeling like my right leg wasn't under my control. Otherwise, I'm totally healthy and can do anything I want.
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