I'm not really sure ho to condense this question into something Google can understand, so I'm trying here. I have a character that needs to die of 'natural' causes and I'm giving her a tumor, I think (because she'll have a hallucination than can be questioned until I want it explained). So far, she's bringing a tray of lasagna to the dinner table, stops halfway there and shows signs of a stroke before collapsing to the floor. Cut to the hospital. Father's been talking to a nurse while MC is waiting. Nurse explains that the initial scans show a brain tumor. Here are the questions and answers don't necessarily have to be pinpoint accurate, just not distracting if you'd read them. (Eventually I'll be giving a fake love potion to the actual Devil, so there's some leeway, reality wise.) - Will the hospital choose to operate immediately? - If not, which I suspect, is it possible to talk to mother already? And while I have you here, something just came to mind. Father and son will not be riding along in the ambulance, right? (Kid's not old enough to drive at this point, so dad would have to bring him, I assume.)
They would operate if the tumor were directly affecting the life in the short term. Like if they were in a coma, or pinching off the blood flow to the brain, or something that would be equally acute in causing death. And even then, it could be in an area that is non-operable, or that they could die during surgery. You might look into where in the brain it would be ideal to get a tumor, if you go the route of it being 'safely' removed. I would think that stroke like symtoms wouldn't readily render them unconcios or in a comatose state (though that is a possibilty). Though speech would be difficult since strokes have a tendency to freeze the muscles in half of the facial muscles and other parts of the body. Sylvester Stalone had a stroke, and if you watch him talk in modern movies, one side of his mouth kinda droops. (FYI: I am not a pro, just offering up some plausible ideas that may help.)
It's gonna kill her. And only now I realize that an operation is therefore kinda moot... Kinda shot myself in the foot then. The whole exercise is to get a bit of conversation that helps explain why the MC is the way he is. I actually didn't know it was because of a stroke. Always just assumed it was a muscle specific issue. And that's all I need in a story where a seven foot smoke demon hides in the trunk of a Dodge Challenger. ;o)
Not a doctor; am a paramedic. Lots of variables determine whether to operate or not. Symptoms of stroke depend on where in the brain the issue is. Doesn’t always affect speech. Doesn’t always lead to loss of consciousness. The vast majority of strokes are caused by blood clots in the vessels of the brain, a smaller number caused by ruptured blood vessels in the brain. A tumour is more likely to cause symptoms that get progressively worse i.e. if it’s in the area that’s responsible for vision that might be affected and slowly get worse, or headaches that get worse and don’t really seem to go away fully. A tumour has to grow big enough to start impacting on brain function to cause symptoms. In the UK we can and do take relatives in the ambulance (not in covid times) but in this case I would be advising they travel in their own car. You could just have her collapse/faint and she would go in as a collapse ?cause, then they could find the tumour.
The hospital may not be large enough or equipped to diagnose or treat a tumor. A further transport to a larger hospital may be necessary. Some tumors, once detected, may be inoperable. Of course, there can always be an "experimental" new procedure or equipment (e.g. robot controlled laser).
