Janet and Terry Glenney had recipe books filling the cabinets of their home, and Janet loved cooking. Then a routine eye exam changed everything.Janet's optometrist found something unexpected during the exam."There was something in there. He said, 'It needs to come out,'" Janet said.Watch Janet and Terry tell their story: Billings couple undergo separate brain surgeries from same neurosurgeonWhat started as a routine visit led to a brain tumor diagnosis. The tumor grew to eight centimeters wide and began affecting Janet's ability to function."It got so bad that I couldn't write or read," Janet said.For the former teacher who spent her life helping children learn to read, losing that ability was devastating."It is kind of hard to grasp, actually, that you can look, see the words, but you can't read them when you've read your whole life and taught children to read and stuff," Janet said.Then another neurological diagnosis hit the family. Terry began experiencing severe pain on one side of his face."It hurt from my eye socket down to my upper jaw...Just intense pain," Terry said.Terry was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia, a rare disorder that causes severe facial pain."It only affects 0.03% of the population to 0.3% of the population," Billings Clinic neurosurgeon Dr. Vance Fredrickson said.The pain made simple conversations difficult."You try to carry on a conversation, and it's driving you crazy, you know," Terry said.The couple's health challenges brought them to Fredrickson, who found himself in an unusual position."I've actually never been in a situation where I've treated a husband and wife couple with a neurosurgical procedure," Fredrickson said.Fredrickson described just how serious each condition was. He said trigeminal neuralgia can feel unbearable."It's like getting struck by lightning in the side of your face," Fredrickson said.And Janet's tumor was pressing on critical parts of her brain."We can again appreciate how large this tumor really is and is pushing on the visual cortex and the occipital lobe, which lives right in this area," Fredrickson said.Both underwent surgery. Janet's tumor was removed, and her ability to read returned quickly."About eight days after surgery, I was looking at the cards, and I said, 'I can read this.' And I could just read perfectly," Janet said.Terry's surgery addressed the nerve compression causing his pain."He went in and went in behind my ear and put a spacer in and never had a twinge since. It just absolutely fixed it," Terry said.Now the couple says they are simply grateful to have their lives back."I can't really describe it. It was just wonderful. I couldn't wait to tell everybody that I could read," Janet said."It's been a miracle for us," Terry said. ...read more read less