One of the biggest lessons my brain tumour taught me wasn’t medical.
It was personal.
I learnt to trust myself.
Before my diagnosis, I spent months questioning my own instincts.
I knew something wasn’t right.
The headaches were getting worse.
My vision was changing.
I was fainting.
I was struggling to find words.
And yet, every time I asked for help, there always seemed to be another explanation.
Stress.
Low iron.
Working too hard.
Needing more sleep.
Part of me started wondering if maybe they were right.
Maybe I was overreacting.
Maybe I was being dramatic.
Maybe I just wasn’t coping very well.
Looking back now, I realise how dangerous self-doubt can become when you’re already frightened.
Because every time someone dismissed my symptoms, I trusted their opinion more than my own experience.
I stopped listening to myself.
But my body kept trying to tell me something.
The headaches.
The exhaustion.
The vision problems.
The moments where words came out wrong.
My body knew long before I did.
Eventually, there came a point where I stopped accepting easy answers.
I remember walking into the opticians and insisting on being seen.
Not because I felt confident.
But because I knew deep down that something was wrong.
That decision changed everything.
The diagnosis that followed was terrifying.
But it was also validation.
I wasn’t imagining it.
I wasn’t weak.
I wasn’t failing.
There really was something wrong.
Eighteen years later, I still think about that lesson.
Not because I always get things right.
But because I’ve learnt that my instincts matter.
I’ve learnt that it’s okay to ask questions.
It’s okay to push for answers.
And it’s okay to trust your own experience, even when other people don’t immediately understand it.
One of the biggest things I’ve learnt is that sometimes the quiet voice inside you knows more than you realise.
And sometimes listening to it can change your life.
Tomorrow I’ll be sharing another lesson from the last 18 years of surviving, recovering and rebuilding life after a brain tumour.
A Brain Tumour’s Travel Tale: Cards on the Table, I Pooed Myself
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