Brain Surgery...

Hello everyone! Its been a long time since ive interacted at all with the site but im back to ask a question. Has anyone had brain surgery and is still an active climber? I just had a tumor removed and was wondering if anyone else is still an active climber. Guess i could use some success stories. Some info: my only impairment after the surgery is loss of peripheral vision. All else is normal. I was very lucky.
Anyway id really appreciate some feedback.

Good to have you back.....

you are lucky, I hope you get all the way back.

not a brain surgeon, so can't speculate about it.

again, best of luck with your healing.

I had brain surgery 3.5 years ago now and I'm still climbing. I had a benign cyst that was removed endoscopically so the procedure was minimally invasive. I didn't really have lasting impairments after the surgery luckily, and am climbing better than ever. They actually found the cyst because I got a concussion from a fall in the gym and took a CT scan of my head, so in a way climbing saved my life! Good luck with the recovery!

No personal experience, but I forwarded this to my friend/climbing partner. He leads multi-pitch trad, and I haven't noticed any deficiencies as his partner. In fact, he's climbing harder and harder each time!

Best of luck on the recovery!

Thank you for your responses. They help a lot. Mine was a golf ball sized tumor on the right parietal lobe. They said benign but then an agression lvl 1.5 / 4. (Confused me a little but i think i understand)
Im not worried about when i go so much as what i can do while im still here. I am vey lucky however as obviously this issue could have been far worse.

Tell me a bit about your vision impairment. If you had a parietal lobe lesion that should have caused an inferior visual field defect. Does your vision cause you any trouble during daily activities? There are special glasses that can be made with prisms so that you wouldn't notice the visual field defect. Let me know a bit more about the eye function and I'll try to lend some advice.

I have a ton of patients with everything from strokes to tumors which cause vision issues. Most patients do not let it get in the way. There are several tricks to getting around visual field defects. There are blind climbers out there. You can use this as an opportunity to train harder and use climbing as a goal/purpose to get out of bed! Wish you the best of luck in your recovery.

I had two surgeries in the mid 90s, and got back into climbing. I also lost peripheral vision. Try to forget the levels that you were climbing at and start gradually.

The change in vision can be disconcerting. Your brain will rewire to make up for the loss...your right eye will make up for the left and vice versa. If you wear glasses, get by on the weakest prescription you can get by on. Too strong and it will make the peripheral vision worse.,

'get by on the weakest prescription you can get by on. Too strong and it will make the peripheral vision worse'

I'm going to disagree with your statement here. The strength of the prescription has nothing to do with peripheral vision. If that were the case the best/weakest prescription would be no glasses. The key is to find a local doctor who know how to correctly deal with peripheral vision loss. You first have to identify your limitations/issues and then we can try to find a fix.

I'm not sure how head trauma compares to brain surgery, but if you want to hear an awesome comeback story listen to the Enormocast where James Lucas discusses his comeback after severe head trauma.
enormocast.com/episode-21-j…

Glad you're OK!!

Think the best bet would be to get out on toprope and see how you feel. I bet you'll determine any impairments (fingers crossed for none) pretty quickly.

Sounds like you've been through the worst of it, so get out and have fun!

I live in the high desert. Will be climbing all weekend. Come out to Fairview mtn. You already are a success story. CLIMB ON!

DaEyeDoc wrote:'get by on the weakest prescription you can get by on. Too strong and it will make the peripheral vision worse' I'm going to disagree with your statement here. The strength of the prescription has nothing to do with peripheral vision. If that were the case the best/weakest prescription would be no glasses. The key is to find a local doctor who know how to correctly deal with peripheral vision loss. You first have to identify your limitations/issues and then we can try to find a fix.

I am just speaking from personal experience. I am using the same prescription from 16 yrs ago, and although I don't have eagle eyes, it works great for me. I have had more than one optometrist debate me on this point. However, I wasn't aware that corrective lens could correct optic nerve damage.

My vision is pretty much permanant tunnel vision, i cant really see down or to the left unless i turn my head. Also, complex objects i struggle with. For example, untying a tangled rope. Its fifficult gor me to find the ends. My vision is otherwise clear.