my 31 year-old ex-fiance was diagnosed with an spinal ependymoma at the age of 25. He had negative follow-up MRIs for two years post resection of the 4.5 cm lesion. (The surgery consisted of T12 to L2 laminectomies and opening of the dural sac surrounding the cord. The tumor was identified and resected from off of the nerve roots very carefully and then the tumor was able to be removed.) He eventually discontinued the follow-up MRIs due to problems with his insurance covering them. He made a complete recovery relatively quickly after the initial surgery. In 2006 he began noticing back pain again and was found to have a recurrance of the ependymoma. After resection of the new, smaller lesion he had radiation. Immediately after surgery his major complaint, aside from pain from the surgery, was a pressure in his head. It was particularly intense with postural changes. In the hospital the doctors attributed it to blood getting into the CSF from the surgery and he was told his body would absorb the blood and he would return to normal. This surgery in general was much more difficult for him to recover from. In addition to the head pressure, it took him longer to walk unaided, he had much more pain, etc. From day 1 after the surgery until the present (surgery was in August 2006) he has been dealing with this head pressure. It did gradually improve in the first weeks/months post surgery, however it is now increasing. At one point he was bending down for something and felt the pressure increase, but he continued to bend over to complete whatever task he was doing and the next thing he knew he woke up and was on the ground. He assumes the pressure caused him to black out. We have been to neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, etc. however after numerous MRIs and CT scans it has been chalked up to "it's all in your head" and we were told these symptoms just coincidentally occurred post the second surgery. Please help!