ARCADIA, Wis. - Dan Wieczorek wants to get back outdoors. He wants to pursue hunting and fishing. He wants to get back to work.

And he wants to put the brain tumor behind him. Wieczorek's young life was turned upside down on Jan. 9 when he was diagnosed with a frightening reality.

"For two months before that I was having nasty headaches," he said.

The diagnosis explained the vomiting he suffered in early January. While not cancerous, the tumor was dangerous. A scan showed it was an ependymal tumor at the base of his brain between the two lobes. It was exerting pressure and blocking spinal fluid.

He was rushed to St. Mary's Hospital and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and underwent emergency surgery for 10 hours on Jan. 11.

"As soon as I woke up I could remember everything," he said. "They say I'm going to have 100 percent recovery."

This gives him plenty reason to grin, a welcome replacement for the fear that enveloped him prior to surgery.

After surgery, he underwent rehabilitation at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse. He came home in mid-February. Wieczorek still experiences double-vision and a balance problem. His loss of balance last year was falsely diagnosed as an inner ear infection.

But he is expected to quickly regain his functions and get back to bow hunting, duck hunting, trapping and fishing. In May, he wants to hunt Wisconsin's spring wild turkey season. He is itching to get back on the road as a Trempealeau County Sheriff Deputy - a job he began four years ago after spending 1992 to 1996 in the Marines. He no longer is taking medication but has to patiently follow recovery orders before he can tackle a normal life again.

"I can't drive. I can't shoot guns. I can't drink alcohol," he said.

Wieczorek's family and friends have planned a big deal for Dan next month, a benefit dinner in his honor on April 13 in Centerville. He is thankful, or course, and also extends a debt of gratitude to the team of 10 doctors at Mayo, led by Assistant Professor of Neurologic Surgery, William E. Krauss, who spent 10 hours operating on Wieczorek.

"They were all wonderful people," he said.

Dan said he chooses not to dwell too much on the seriousness of his prior condition or what may have come of it.

"I try not to think about it happening. I just keep on going," he said. "Life is too short. If there is something I want, I am going to have it."

Contact reporter Jeff Dankert at jdankert@@winonadailynews.com, or (507) 453-3513.