Isabella Strahan, who is currently undergoing her first round of chemotherapy for brain cancer, recently shared several unexpected setbacks that led to emergency surgery.
via: People
On Wednesday, the 19-year-old student and model posted the 12th installment of her YouTube series, where she’s been sharing her health journey after having emergency surgery in October 2023 to remove a large medulloblastoma — a type of malignant tumor — in her cerebellum.
In the vlog, Isabella says she’s heading into surgery at 8 a.m. to undergo her second craniotomy, nearly five months after her first.
“I’m actually very nervous. I’m more nervous for this one because it’s not like my brain that they’re messing with, it’s not as deep… but I’m curious as to what recovery would look like,” she said. “I’m not excited…at all. I’m actually kind of nervous.”
“Yay. How lucky am I to get another brain surgery,” she added sarcastically.
Isabella explained that during surgery the doctors cut open the scar in the back of her head to clean and drain fluid out so there are no infections. They also replaced the bone that was initially cut out of her skull. Following the procedure, she showed herself laying in her hospital bed with her entire head wrapped in bandages, admitting that the pain was difficult to handle.
“I’m in so much pain…and this sucks. I was in so much pain earlier, I was like screaming. This is not fun,” she said. “Hopefully this is what was causing all my fevers and why I’ve been in the hospital for a week. So hopefully I will get to go home soon after I heal from this. But I don’t feel my best.”
Isabella gave a glimpse at the back of her head stapled up after surgery, showing the painful moment she screamed as her doctor removed a tube from inside her skull. She detailed how tough the recovery process is while trying to stay optimistic.
“My face is so puffy, it’s insane. I feel really awful and I was not expecting to come out in this head wrap thing,” she said. “I’m just in a lot of pain. It sucks. I was way more drugged up for my first surgery because it was more invasive.”
“It’s not fun getting your head cut open,” she continued. “It’s not fun but I’m super glad I can still walk and talk and they didn’t touch my brain because doing that again would be really really rough and I don’t think I could do it… I could do it but it would be rough again.”
Isabella said her second round of chemotherapy has now been pushed back a week because of the unexpected craniotomy. She said it would be “horrible” to go into chemo before fully allowing herself to heal. The model then showed herself taking a very slow walk through the hospital while being assisted by one of her doctors. She was also surrounded by a group of friends who came to visit her.
“I feel like I lost every progress of my walking since October,” she teased before remembering, “This isn’t the worst it’s been!”
Isabella’s unexpected surgery came when she was hospitalized for four days after catching a high fever during her chemo recovery, which she documented in her last vlog earlier this week.
“This is the worst fever I think I’ve had,” she explained. “I don’t feel as horrible as I did the first time. I just have a really bad headache so I thought nothing of it and now we’re in the ER.”
“I don’t feel great. I don’t feel horrible,” Isabella admitted. “I’ve felt worse but I don’t feel good. I feel like I can barely walk now.” Her father’s girlfriend Kayla Quick then pointed out that she was easily walking laps through the hospital two days ago before Isabella added, “It’s really declined.”
While at the hospital, Isabella underwent her first blood transfusion and had an MRI of her eyes, calling herself the “MRI queen.” She also had her chemo port cleaned — which she said was “really painful” — before preparing for the craniotomy.
