Driving a Car

Ia there anyone who has a tumor and is driving?  I'm curious to hear thoughts on this.  Thanks a lot and may G-d bless everyone!

I Drive and have had 3 surgeries spent years on antiseizure medication and lost my left peripheral field of vision.  To date no accidents and I have been doing this on and off for 19 years. Everyone is different and not everyone will be able to drive but having a brain tumor should not automatically exclude anyone from driving or any other activity for that matter.

Hux...

Hux..

I had my surgery to remove my little bastard February 28th; four weeks later I was driving, surprised everyone at work--we had stopped in for a visit two weeks earlier and I was in a wheelchair.  I continued to drive until the doctor yanked my license so fast that if I'd been holding tightly to it I might have lost my fingers.  Reason?  "High risk of seizures".  Hmmmm . . . .lemesee . . . hadn't had anything I'd recognize as a seizure prior to surgery (this was prior to whateverthehellitwas in October) . . . was recovering nicely . . . then the doc gets into the act.  I see his point, up to a point, but he hadn't even seen me since the middle of July, and he pulled it two months later . . . you'd think he'd actually would have examined me first and then rendered his . . . (*ahem*) (*COUGH*) "opinion". I would have been glad to go down for an appointment.  As it stands, 40 weeks since surgery, and with the exception of whateverth .. . . you know, I've had nothing I'd recognize as a "seizure".  I'm seeing a neurologist a week from Thursday and the docs have said they'll go along with whatever he recommends regarding driving.  Let me add if I really believed I'd be some sort of menace I would be the first to take away my wheels . . . after all, there other people on the road that I care about.  They're few and far between, but I do care about them.

 I did some research on the California DMV, brain tumors and driving, and the website says that a person has to be "seizure free" for at least three months before being granted a medical probation to drive.  Also the decision is not in the doc's hands, it's in the DMV's.  Never thought I'd be glad to have the DMV on my side . . . usually I'd rather owe money to the IRS than have to deal with the DMV for free.

  I'd much prefer to have the doc's blessing, but if it comes down to it I'll just go ahead and petition the DMV directly. Getting my license restored (actually it expired on my birthday in August, and since I've been on heavy artillery chemo for three months following, I decided not to make an issue of it . . . though at this point it's not an issue, it's a subscription) will be nice.

Having a brain tumor should not automatically exclude anyone from driving or any other activity for that matter

Hux

Wish to hell my docs knew that, instead of the knee-jerk reactions I've gotten . . .

Oh, I did have one minor "accident" shortly before my diagnosis.  I was driving my daughter's car (to get fuel) making a right turn from a red light (legal in California), and some guy bumped me from behind.  Looked at the non-damage, shook hands and went on our merry ways.

My hubby wants to drive a car bad!  He had surgery on a 5 cm tumor 5/1st but he has a hard time with the Golf Cart the Doctor says NO.  I think this is one of the hardest things for a person to give up.  He is also 73 I'm hoping at our next MRI end of January if all is good maybe he could try driving around the corner to the Market.

Take care everyone!

My husband drove car and motorcycle for almost 9 yrs with a brain tumor and his version of seizures.  His neuro always wanted to go for a ride on the back of his Harley.  We heard lots of lectures over the years, but no one ever took his license away.  He stopped driving in 2010 just prior to his stroke, being his own decision.  He got into one accident in all 9 yrs and that involved a particularly back Cleveland snow storm that there were more people on the side of the highway than were actually driving.  For the record he presented with grand mals, but they were controlled with meds and only had focal/speech arrest siezures the rest of the time.  And yes, I hung off the back of that Harley too :)

-Karyn

On Dec 04, 2012 7:17 PM miamib wrote:

Ia there anyone who has a tumor and is driving?  I'm curious to hear thoughts on this.  Thanks a lot and may G-d bless everyone!

Hi miamib,

I would think it is not the 'tumor' itself that is in question concerning driving a car; but what kind of medication or chemo you might be on, and that would make a tremendous difference in whether you should drive or not.

When I was on chemo, I drove one of our trucks a short distance for my husband; he was driving behing me and he said I was going every bit of 20 to 25mph!  LOL  It felt like I was driving at least 70!  :)

Wishing you the very best!

Prayers and blessings,

B

Hey Randy,

I jumped over the fence (tongue cancer 5 years) and read your post concerning driving a car after experiencing a brain tumor. I enjoyed reading your story, it has a lot of humor, and a heck of a lot of frustration fighting the system. My daughter who has a slight case of epilepsy had to prove to the DMV that she should be able to drive as long as she takes her medicine on time. So far for her everything is okay, let's hope things start going your way soon. Phil

My son had a few of very minor fender benders in parking lots while on the anti-seizure drug shortly after his operation and during/after standard treatment of temodar and radiation.  All of which he is off at the present moment.  All the Docs seem to think he should not be driving because he is left with permanent balence issues because of the tumor/treatment being in his cerebellum and some short term memory/talk issues and most recently a t.i.a. He hasn't had any fender benders off the meds so far.  He does not have the balence issues when sitting down, so he is doing  well so far.    Nothing stops my son from driving locally.  In fact he went out and bought himself a new car this year to celebrate getting off the anti-seizure drug.  He does have the common sense to not drive into Boston (approx.30 miles away) or 106 miles to visit with his brother and family. I do not know how long that will last before he takes off and travels alone. That is one of my main concerns.   J.