Neurosurgery Solution Was a No-Brainer for Patty

Patty Beutler, 78, of Lincoln, is well-known to our community as a longtime journalist at the local newspaper and for helping launch the Lincoln City Libraries’ One Book-One Lincoln reading project, among many accomplishments.

In Fall 2021, Patty noticed her usually high energy levels flagging, and she felt “a bit off” over several weeks. Thinking she had a stubborn sinus infection, she saw an otolaryngologist in Lincoln, who found nothing wrong.

To be on the safe side, Patty’s family physician Bradley Hohwieler, MD, ordered an MRI scan of her sinuses. “The MRI showed my sinuses were fine,” Patty says, “but it also clearly showed, to my shock, an enormous-looking round tumor in the back of my brain.” Dr. Hohwieler immediately sent Patty to Neurological and Spinal Surgery for further evaluation.

“This sounds a little funny, I know,” adds Patty, “but although this was a serious situation, I didn’t worry very much. I met with neurosurgeons Steven Gogela, MD, and Jeremy Hosein, MD. I had known Dr. Gogela for years — he and my son played soccer in high school, and I sat with his mother at games. I knew I was in expert hands and that the operation had to be done, so I just moved ahead and did it.”

Surgeons remove lime-sized tumor

Dr. Gogela picks up the story from there. “Patty’s brain tumor was indeed very large,” he recalls. “Its appearance on the MRI suggested it was a benign meningioma, a kind of tumor that can have quite a good outcome when it’s removed successfully. But, we couldn’t be sure until we tested tissue from the tumor itself during surgery.”

Patty Beutler’s known Dr. Gogela since the days when he and her son played soccer together as high schoolers — so she trusted him and his surgical team when she needed a tumor removed.

Dr. Gogela performed Patty’s surgery with Dr. Hosein’s assistance. “The tumor was the size of a lime and was indeed a benign meningioma as I suspected,” he says. “That meant it was not cancerous, which was terrific news,”

The doctors’ task was to remove as much tumor as possible while protecting Patty’s brain tissue to preserve her neurological function. Working very delicately around the fragile brain structures nearby, Dr. Gogela took out the tumor in stages, removing it completely.

Afterward, Patty stayed two nights in the ICU and one additional night on the general medical unit at Bryan West Campus before going home. “I felt no pain whatsoever afterward,” she says. “My nurses controlled pain proactively with acetaminophen while I was in the hospital, then I needed no pain relievers at all once I went home.”

Fully recovered, she’s back on the trail

Her postoperative period was a step at a time, but Patty says she recovered pretty quickly overall.

“My family cared for me at home with regular visits from home health care nurses and physical therapists,” she says. “I used a walker for a few days around the house, but actually felt like I could walk right away once I got home.”

Patty made an excellent recovery. Four months after her surgery she celebrated her longtime love of the outdoors with long, early morning walks with her daughter in New Mexico, and within less than a year embarked on a hiking tour of Tuscany and the coastline of Italy that she’s looked forward to for a long time.

“It was quite an experience — learning I had a brain tumor and going through surgery were enormous challenges,” she says. “But I’m delighted to say that now, a year and a half later, I feel like myself again — I really feel no different at all.”

Surgeon and patient appreciate comprehensive brain tumor program

Dr. Gogela says, “Patty’s tumor was huge, but well within the scope of what we manage.

“There’s a big team component to brain tumor patients doing well after surgery, and we very much have that at Bryan. Our comprehensive brain tumor program is equipped with state-of-the-art imaging and surgical instrumentation, a nursing staff highly experienced with neurosurgical patients in the operating room, ICU and general medical units, and ancillary staff such as therapists who have extensive experience. As neurosurgeons we care for patients with a great variety of brain tumor types.

“At Bryan, expert care of these patients is very much within our wheelhouse.”

To subscribe and read more Journey's stories, click here.

To learn how you can support the work of Bryan Health, please contact the Bryan Foundation staff by calling 402-481-8605.