MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Until three months ago, Germantown 54-year-old Victoria Jalas couldn’t stand up, walk or eat food due to an unknown illness.
"Having to call 911 to have the paramedics help you get up is kind of humiliating," she said. "But what else was I supposed to do?"
Jalas did not know what was wrong with her health and was extremely frustrated dealing with debilitating headaches, pain and so much swelling she couldn't even swallow water. Eventually she was put on a feeding tube.
"I ended up bedridden," she said. "That's how weak I was."
After she started feeling symptoms in 2021, she struggled for years to find doctors near her in Germantown or Menomonee Falls who could diagnose her illness — until she found Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee.
"It's very hard to diagnose," Dr. Aaron Plitt said. "It leads to these symptoms with terrible headaches, occasional difficulty with walking, controlling your urine and your bowels."
Plitt is a neurosurgeon at Aurora St. Luke's who helped diagnose her with cerebral venous fistula — a rare vein illness where an artery was covering up her brain just above the spine.
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"This comes up very rarely," Plitt said. "It's something we've only been treating for about 10 years in our field. It was probably more prevalent than we thought before that."
The neurology team identified the rare issue through special brain scans, then performed an intravenous procedure to put a special glue in her veins, which blocked the bad artery.
"We want to try to help the patient become more functional, have a better quality of life and do the things they want to do," he said. "That's what I became a doctor for."
Jalas can now eat, swallow water, walk and be more active with her family.
"I feel like they saved my life," she said. "I really do."
She wanted to talk with TMJ4 News to share her story and help others struggling with their health.
"Look for that second opinion," she said. "Or if that second opinion doesn't help you, or you're not satisfied, go for that third opinion. That's what I had to do."
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