Seeing for the second time
By Kyle Weaver Staff Writer [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Posted on Tuesday, September 13, 2005
BENTONVILLE Dr. Richard Kyle, a neurosurgeon practicing in Benton County, measured the length of an oval growth that glowed white on Maureen Doanes MRI printouts Monday morning.
It was a menacing 3 centimeters long. "Two-and-a-half is large, so this is giant," Kyle said.
A view from the back of Doanes head showed that the tumor on her pituitary gland had grown around two carotid arteries. Another view depicted the reason she couldnt see anything in the far right quadrant of her field of vision the tumor, situated behind her eyes near the meeting of the optic nerves, pressed against the neural link between her eyes and her brain.
The good news is that Doane drove herself to Kyles office on Monday.
On June 9 after about three hours of surgery performed at Northwest Medical Center of Benton County by Kyle and Doanes otolaryngologist, Dr. Dorothy Mellon Doane regained the partial vision loss that had been rapidly worsening.
On Monday, she was all too happy to recount her experience if it means that one person who is putting off a doctor visit for a nagging ailment will make an appointment. It was the onset of partial vision loss in late April that convinced her to see an eye doctor, who sent her to her family practitioner, who in turn sent her to specialists. "I couldnt drive. I couldnt work. I couldnt read," she said, then paused. "Frightening. I was afraid I was going to come out of this thing blind."
When the surgery approached, Kyle explained that the potential complications of the planned transsphenoidal hypophysectomy procedure essentially consisting of reaching and removing the tumor by way of the nasal cavity through an incision between her teeth and upper lip included epilepsy, seizures and blindness. "I hoped for the best and expected the worst," Doane said.
She wrote letters to family members, just in case.
Doane doesnt remember much of the day that changed the rest of her life, but she clearly recalled the joy she felt following the operation. "When Dr. Kyle told me they got all of (the tumor) I cried, I laughed," she said. "Thats when it really hit me."
Last weekend, she found the letters.
She tore them up.
Sitting in an exam room Monday, she remembered the kindness of her Tyson co-workers in Fayetteville, who raised around $3,000 after hearing about Doanes plight. The company kicked in another $800. It was money that kept her afloat financially while she was away from work for three months. It was kindness that shell never forget. "It was the craziest thing Ive ever seen," Doane said.
Thankfully, it wasnt the last thing she ever saw.
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