LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Few people would say getting COVID-19 was a godsend this last year, but that's exactly how Linda Bowden sees it. The mother of three says had it not been for the virus, she may still be walking around with something much more serious.
"Last August, I developed COVID," Bowden said. "I thought after two weeks, I'd turned the corner and was well."
She returned to work a week later, at which time she found it hard to breathe.
"I went to the ER that night and found out I had a pulmonary embolism, blood clots in my right lung," Bowden said.
Doctors said it was a side effect of COVID-19. She was put on blood thinners and went back to work. A month later, she was back at the hospital after fainting at home.
An MRI found a meningioma, a tumor on her brain.
"I was shocked," Bowden said. "I believe it was divine intervention, but medically speaking, we wouldn't have found this until I could've had a seizure, lost my vision or had a stroke."
The golf ball-sized tumor needed to be removed, but there were risks with surgery.
"I had to make a hard decision, where to go, who to have open up my head," she said.
Dr. David Sun, the executive medical director at Norton Neuroscience Institute, said the tumor was up against one of the major blood vessels in her brain, pushing against her optic nerve.
"She was actually losing vision in her left eye. She just didn't know it," he said.
She'd had quite a lot on her mind, between her COVID diagnosis, as well as finding out about the blood clot and tumor within a few weeks.
"I met with Dr. Sun and one of the first things he told me in that first appointment is, 'I respect this tumor, but I'm not afraid of it.' And that's what I needed to hear," Bowden said.
He also told her it could wait, which comforted her to know she wouldn't have to miss out on the college graduations of her three children, and her daughter's wedding.
"I wanted to experience the joy of the month of May before I took the risk on this surgery," she said.
The surgery happened in June. Dr. Sun told her that he was able to remove close to 99% of the tumor, which was benign.
"I could feel their excitement," Bowden said.
After the surgery, her cognitive abilities were intact and her sight is more clear now than ever.
"My brain has gone from black and white to an explosion of color from having that massive tumor off my brain," Bowden said.
She'll go in for checkups from time to time, but as far as doctors are concerned, she has plenty of it.
"What she needs to focus on now is not the what-ifs. That's my job. I'll watch that for her. She just needs to get back to living her life," Dr. Sun said.
Contact reporter Brooke Hasch at bhasch@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Hasch) and Facebook.
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