Ann Pramuk and her husband Richard believe in living life to its fullest. The retired Highland couple enjoys showing their two Model A Fords at car shows and participating in folk dancing. When Ann had difficulty speaking and blurred vision in her right eye, the Pramuk’s busy lifestyle came to a crashing halt.
The year before, Ann had a MRI that revealed a brain tumor known as a meningioma. To find out what was different now, another MRI was taken and showed that the tumor had grown and was pressing on vital nerves in the right front side of the brain. The tumor needed to be removed or she would go blind.
“She clearly was going to lose her vision if we didn’t do the surgery,” lead neurosurgeon Mohammad Shukairy, MD, says. The delicate surgery took Community Hospital’s specialized team seven hours under a microscope to remove the tumor that had grown to about 2-inches in size.
“We did what is called a skull-base approach. It offers the safest approach in that we removed the bone at the base of the skull to allow the best access to the tumor with the least amount of interference.”
Risks involved with this intricate type of surgery include seizures, blood clots, confusion and stroke, Shukairy says.
“I had so many different doctors, nurses and therapists coming in from different departments – all who were very nice and provided good care,” Pramuk says. “My eyesight is fine, balance got better and my walking improved. It wasn’t long before I was dancing again!”
Find out more about sight-saving, life-saving Neurosurgery at the hospitals of Community Healthcare System.
