My name is Kirsten Trimble and I am 23 years old. In my 23 years of life, I guess it is fair to say that I have had beyond my fair share of "tests". I am a believer that everything happens for a reason....whether we see it at the current time or not.
When I was 17, I was living the dream "Valencia High School" life. I had my own car, was on the dance team, got to leave at lunch to go back to sleep...the list goes on. One night while I was spending time with my dad, I started stuttering on one specific word. My brain was literally "stuck" on one thought. Once rushed to Henry Mayo, they discovered a mass in my brain. The next 8 hours were sort of a blur, but I will never forget when the doctor at Northridge Hospital looked at me and said "Honey, you have a tumor that needs to be removed as soon as possible." I was immediately transferred to UCLA Medical Center where they removed a tumor the size of a small orange from my brain. I underwent 18 months of oral chemotherapy and seemed to be in the clear.
During this time I was enrolled full-time in college classes. In October of 2008, out of nowhere, I had a grand-mal seizure and woke up in a hospital bed. This was 3 years after my previous stint with the big "C" word, but I knew it was related. Because it wasn't of such urgency, I had time to research surgeons and I chose Dr. Mitchel S. Berger (cue birds chirping) Dr. Mitchel Berger (MSB for short) was my own personal Dr. McDreamy. Of course that is NOT why I picked him! He is one of the most world renown neurosurgeons with COUNTLESS different awards. He is the Professor and Chairman of the Neurosurgery Department at UC San Francisco. We scheduled surgery with him, had that silly tumor popped out, and everything was good and fine.
I went on to attend Boise State University (Go Broncos!), but something did not feel right. I was having panic attacks left and right and could not get a grip on my life (which consisted of eating popcorn and watching the Broncos clobber another team). I decided that after one year, I needed to be closer to my parents and the people that loved me. Upon my return to LA, my brain MRI shocked everyone. There was a DEFINITE mass that, again, needed to be taken out immediately. So within 2 weeks, I was on my way, once again, to see my angel in the bay area. Again, the tumor was out with no complications....except for one. Dr. MSB told my parents that it looked as if it were a more aggressive type of tumor and that he would let us know when the pathology came back. No more than 3 days passed and we got the phone call.....Stage 4 Glioblastoma with PNET features.
Now....most brain tumors are combinations of one thing and another. Rarely do they see the combo that I have: The average age for someone with a Stage 4 Glioblastoma is a 47 year old man and the average age for someone with a PNET is a 5 year old girl-neither of which I am.
The doctors rarely see this mix of tumor, so are treating me as if I have a Stage 4 Glioblastoma and a straight PNET.
I started chemo and radiation exactly a week ago and it has been the beginning of an up hill battle!
