Tag: love

Bombs & Brain Tumors

CraniotomyMeg

At the center of our humanity is a need for connection, and I am a firm believer that God gives us the people we need in our lives, at just the right time. 

20 years ago, God put Bekah in my life. 15 years ago, He made us best friends.

 

Exactly 6 years ago today, He nearly took her away. She had been standing less than 3 feet away from the first bomb that went off, at the finish line of the Boston Marathon Bombing.

10 months ago, the day I was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis II, she was the first person I wanted to call. She was the only person who would understand. But I couldn’t. 

I knew that if I called her, I would just cry, and I wouldn’t be able to get words out. So, I texted her…

“I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance last night after an episode at home… Apparently a headache I’ve been experiencing for the last couple of days is serious. A CT scan showed multiple brain tumors, one of which is causing seizures on my left side. I was admitted and am having a MRI done this morning and then developing a plan with a neurosurgeon. We definitely need to remove the tumor; it sounds like I will go into surgery sometime tomorrow. I’m so sorry.”

I apologized at the end, because I knew exactly how she would feel after reading it: the same way I felt upon learning that she’d been blown up by a bomb. 

Her next message was plain and simple, “I’m getting on a plane today. I love you.”

Upon learning of my condition, there were several people who jumped on flights, and in their cars to get to Colorado, but Bekah was the first one to arrive. She even beat my dad and stepmom by a couple of hours!

As soon as she walked into the hospital room, she jumped right into bed with me, and both of our eyes filled up with tears.

Neither of us needed to say anything; she knew exactly how I felt, and I knew exactly how she felt. I’d grown accustomed to seeing her in a hospital bed, and she’d gotten used to me visiting… neither of us expected to have the roles reversed.

That night, after all of our visitors left, and the hospital became quiet, Bekah sent my husband home. He knew I was in good hands, and I knew he needed a good night of sleep.

Like any reunited friends do after time away from one another, Bekah and I stayed up talking, laughing, and crying until the crack of dawn. Eventually, she took her prosthetic leg off.

When a nurse came in to take my stats, Bekah joked, “let me move my leg for you.” My nurse smiled comfortably, as only nurses know how to do, and casually asked what happened.

It was a story I had heard so many times before, but that night, something was different as I listened to Bekah talk about how she had been less than 3 feet from the first bomb that went off, separated from her 5 year old child, rushed to the hospital, and finally had her leg amputated due to the severity of her injuries.

As she spoke, I mentally filled in the blanks, remembering how mangled her body had been, how her hair had been singed away by the blast, how she’d endured 67 surgeries, how much shrapnel was still embedded in her muscles, and how many nights she’d called crying. How she’d almost died.

Bekah

But, in true Bekah fashion, she never got lost in the horrific details of that experience. She always stayed positive; stating the facts and how she’s grown as a person because of it.

She said, “Being a victim is a not a choice, but being a survivor is.”

Although that night was like so many others we’d spent together, it will always stand out in my memory. It was the night I decided to be a survivor too. 

When the time came for me to go home to my family, and Bek to get home to hers, she left me with a necklace that said “Be Brave.”

Around her own neck she wore “Be Strong.” It had been given to her as a gift after the bombing. It had come with a match, ‘Be Brave,’ and a note that said one day, she would know who to give it to.

be strong be brave

She’d held onto ‘Be Brave’ for 6 years before placing it around my neck.

I wore it every day until surgery. It was exactly what I needed to overcome my own challenges. Every day I would look at it and be inspired to find the beauty amid tragedy, just as she had.

Brave

After my first craniotomy, the first words I said were, “God is not done with me yet.”

If you’ve been following my story, you already know this. What you may not know is that it was a subconscious line that I had heard before… they were the same words Bekah said upon waking from her medically induced coma after the bombing.

In a state of semi-consciousness, we both said the exact same phrase during the toughest moments in both of our lives.

Perhaps it is all of those years of friendship that have entwined our strength together, or maybe, just maybe, those words are true;

God is not done with us yet.

This is our story, and it is not over yet.

This is what support looks like

CraniotomyMeg

Within a 6 month period (June – December, 2018), I had 37 office visits, over 30 recorded focal seizures, 15 MRI’s, 7 CT scans, 4 hospitalizations, 2 craniotomies, 1 infection, and 1 incurable diagnosis, Neurofibromatosis, type 2 (NF2).  I had 17 Meningiomas (brain tumors),  6 ependymomas (spinal cord tumors), and 1 Acoustic Schwannoma (brain tumor in my ear). And a partridge in a pear tree.

I learned so many things during that period of time. One of them is support comes in many forms. I also learned that it changes over time. No matter what form it takes though, a support system is meant to hold you up when things feel like they are crashing down.

Overwhelming Support

Initially, our extended network of friends and family were as shocked as we were by my diagnosis. We were flooded with cards, flowers, well wishes, handmade children’s art, visitors, and more thoughtful gifts than I could count.

Support

During this time, my husband, Josh, and I leaned on everyone. We were all hurting, together. I say “we” because it is not just the person in the hospital bed who needs support. I was fully aware that my diagnosis affected everyone I loved. At that time, they needed my support as much I needed theirs.

Private Support

After a few months, the ‘hype’ of my sudden diagnosis and back-to-back surgeries began to wear off; our meal train ended, and our wide circle of friends and family weren’t checking on us quite as often. During this time, Josh and I learned to lean heavily on each other for support. 

He needed me to be okay just as much as I needed him to push through all the medicine my body required to beat the infection. The infusion process took about 30 minutes, and it quickly became our daily reminder that we were fighting this battle together. 

Picc Infusions

In addition to taking care of me, and my PICC line, Josh also took on all of the parental responsibilities and housework we had previously shared. He bathed our crazy babies, made them dinner, picked them up from school, and put them to bed. He did all of our laundry, grocery shopping, fed the dog, and took me to appointments. It was like he was a single dad who had 3 kids (me being one of them). 

When Josh had to go back to work, things changed again. I was still vulnerable and unable to take on my share of our daily responsibilities, and he could no longer do it all.

Balanced Support

That was when we realized we couldn’t do this by ourselves; we needed help.

During this time, Josh and I learned to lean on those who love us most.

Grandparents to the rescue! My mom-in-law stepped in immediately to help with our boys, take me to appointments, and make meals. She was available at the crack of dawn, and as long as I needed her until Josh got home from work at night. She offered irreplaceable love, and both physical and emotional support.

Nannie

My dad and step-mom also recognized our unspoken need for help, and flew in from Kentucky to offer reinforcement, at just the right time! They stayed with us for nearly 2 weeks, and did everything that I couldn’t at that time, allowing our boys to maintain normalcy in their own home. 

I remember waking up late one morning. I grabbed for the baby monitor and realized it had been silenced. I listened, and heard the most amazing sound in my house: normalcy! My dad and step-mom were playing with our children, and feeding them breakfast. Coffee was brewing; the smell reminded me of when I was a child. Those moments were the most healing. We were not alone.  

I’ve always said that having an amazing support system was critical to my recovery. Now, you know why.

We got through it. Together.

This is my story, and it is not over yet.

I want to take a moment to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to every person who had said a prayer, sent flowers, made gifts, visited, brought meals, or wished us well throughout this process. We are so blessed to have the support system we do, and forever grateful.

Appearances

CraniotomyMeg

Physical appearance is exactly that; an appearance. And, appearances can be deceiving, especially when there is so much that lies beneath the surface.

Many conditions are completely invisible to those not experiencing them first-hand. Neurofibromatosis II is often one of them.

After having my second craniotomy, I didn’t want to be labelled or defined by a diagnosis, or as a ‘sick” person, so I put a lot of effort into my appearance; making myself look “fine” on the outside.

I covered my PICC line with a long sleeved shirt, used makeup to hide the dark circles under my eyes, and cut my long blonde hair short to help blend in the multiple bald spots that had been shaved away during surgeries. I even learned to style it just right so that the majority of my stitches were covered.

In hindsight, my efforts were a bit vain. But, my appearance was one thing I felt as though I still had control over, when so many aspects of my life and health were spiraling out of control.

The truth is, you can’t see brain and spinal tumors on the outside. You can’t see exhaustion, brain inflammation, dizziness, or tinnitus. You can’t see remnants of seizures; numbness and tingling. You can’t see pain.

Part of me was grateful that strangers, co-workers, and even my own children couldn’t see all of the symptoms that were laying right below the surface. “You look great!” they would say. And I let them believe that I was great.

Another part of me wanted to wear a t-shirt that said something like “fresh out of brain surgery” so everyone would understand.

I remember walking into a neurology appointment one afternoon, just two weeks after surgery, with high hopes of having my stitches removed that day. It was one of those days; I’d had a migraine, and a hard time getting out of bed. The hour long drive to the medical office has zapped all energy I had left, and my body was physically shaking as I walked from my mom-in-law’s car to the building (she was kind enough to chauffeur me when I couldn’t drive). I actually wondered if I might pass out before I got to the door. A man was walking in ahead of us, but my legs weren’t moving fast enough. He glanced back, saw that I looked “fine,” and let that heavy door shut right in my face.

It was the first time that I wanted to scream “I just had brain surgery!!” How could he not see the pain I was in, and how much I was struggling?

What I didn’t realize at the time, was that there would be many more moments when I wanted to scream and shout until everyone ‘got’ it.

There would be moments at work when I would cry in the bathroom because a sudden migraine had hit, and I couldn’t open my eyes against the light over my desk; there would be moments when I had to hide from my children because their normal sounds would make my head pound.

I was not fine.

My brain had just been tampered with – twice in 3 months. A portion of my skull had been removed, and was now being held in place by 5 titanium ‘snowflakes.’ My scalp was held together by thread. Just to get out of bed each morning, I required a handful of medications and an IV infusion to keep the infection from coming back.

I took roughly 25 pills per day, had a home health nurse who cared for me, and relied on my husband to push antibiotics through my PICC line multiple times per day.

One day, I would be “fine” again, but for now, I was broken. And that was okay.

OK

True healing takes time. Although I’ve never exactly been patient, I knew I owed it to myself to take the time I needed.  Eventually, I knew healing would come, and when it did, I would hold the door open for every person behind me, even if they appeared to be “fine.”

This is my story, and it is not over yet.

Surviving

CraniotomyMeg

Surviving is more than your heart beating in your chest, the breath in your lungs and a functioning brain. It means choosing to see beauty through ugliness, and finding hope on the bad days. It also means allowing yourself to acknowledge that not every moment can be perfect; the bad days are inevitable.

Brain surgery is hard. It’s tough on the person having their skull removed, and for the person in the waiting room. My husband, Josh, and I have learned to lean on each other; when I am weak, he is strong for us both; and when he struggles, I hold us up.

A few weeks after surgery, Josh told me, “everything they do to you, I’m doing to me.” That day, he had a replica of my incision tattooed on his own head.

When he was done, he came home and proudly showed me his tattoo, still covered in plastic and red from irritation. He said, “Now I have an idea of what you feel like all the time.”

What an honor it is to be loved by someone like that. His compassion filled me with purpose during some of the toughest days of my life.

Most people don’t know it takes several weeks for anesthesia to really wear off after a major surgery like that. Once the anesthesia fully left my system, my body realized something was seriously wrong. My lymph nodes were swollen, I ran low grade fevers all the time, and pain radiated from my incision. I couldn’t even turn my head from side to side because the pain would shoot up toward my incision, and crawl down my neck. There were many days that I couldn’t even get out of bed.

I was re-hospitalized three weeks after surgery, and misdiagnosed with Shingles. There was no other explanation as the CAT scan showed no sign of infection, and I didn’t have any traditional signs of infection (redness, or high fever).

image-9

I had never had brain surgery before, and after the doctor sent me home, I thought maybe that kind of pain was normal after a craniotomy. Maybe I just needed to be patient and get used to it. So I tried.

I tried for eighty two days after surgery to ‘get used to it.’ I went back to work, began cooking for my family again, went to a wedding, took our boys to the Punkin Chunkin festival, watched them ride bikes down our street, and even drank a glass of wine with a couple good friends (doctor approved).

image-10

No matter how much pretending I did, or how seemingly ‘normal’ I appeared to look, I knew that something just wasn’t right. I’ve always believed in trusting your instincts, and I finally decided to trust mine; I saw my neurosurgeon after discovering a swollen welt near my incision.

I’m including a photo because if you’re a fellow NF2’er, or have ever had brain surgery, I want you to get to your surgeon if you ever experience this;

image-11

During that visit, my surgeon asked if I was comfortable undergoing another surgery to “explore the area.”

My first reaction was, “hell no.” Were there any other options? I was terrified of going into the Operating Room again, knowing what could happen, and how tough recovery is.

But, then I remembered a promise that I had made while I praying profusely for my children not to have NF2; I had said over and over and over that I would graciously have a thousand tumors and surgeries if it meant my kids didn’t have to have one. Although I know we don’t make deals with God, I felt compelled to stay true to my word, and my second surgery was scheduled.

Later, we would learn that hesitation or delay could have cost me my life.

This time, with surgery just one day away, I didn’t have time to go on a nice weekend getaway with Josh, or take our boys to do fun things before surgery. I had just enough time to call my family, pack a bag for the hospital, and make arrangements for our kids (I seriously have the best mom-in-law ever).

The morning of surgery, just 2 days before my 32nd birthday, Josh and I took our boys to school and did our best to pretend it was just like any other day. My surgeon had told us that he wasn’t 100% sure what to expect on the day of surgery; we had been told to prepare for a 15 minute outpatient procedure, but knew it could be longer depending on how things went. We decided to think positively, and didn’t want to scare our kids, so we told them that I just had a doctor appointment. I squeezed them tight, kissed their faces, and then Josh and I headed straight to the hospital.

image-12.jpg

This time, when my IVs were inserted, and my surgeon came in to sign his initials on the right side of my forehead, it felt a bit like deja vu. He discussed the risks with us again, introduced us to an anesthesiologist again, I signed the paper on the clipboard again, and then it was time to go. Josh and I prayed with our good friend, and then we kissed goodbye.

This time, when the mask was put over my face, I welcomed sleep, thinking I would wake again in a mere 15 minutes. I was wrong.

Sometimes, surviving is hard, but it is always worth it.

This is my story, and it is not over yet.

23 Days

CraniotomyMeg

I was fresh out of the hospital, newly diagnosed with NF2 and an emotional trainwreck. One minute I was elated to sleep in my own bed and not be poked for blood at 4am, the next I was frustrated from being in pain, and afraid of having more seizures.

Walking through the garage door into our kitchen was tough. The last time I had been in that kitchen, I had fallen onto that turquoise rug by the sink from my first seizure, the one that changed everything.

Rug

Now, the house was busting with company; friends and family had flown in from all over the U.S. to support us. Upon my arrival, our ‘guests’ quickly busied themselves with laundry, cooking, and grocery shopping so I could rest. I woke up about an hour later to find myself alone in the house while my husband picked up my prescriptions, my dad and stepmom picked up my brother and sister-in-law from the airport, and my mother-in-law picked up my kids. Never underestimate the power of an amazing support system!

I turned the shower on and stared at my face in the mirror while the water warmed. Did I look different? My reflection appeared the same on the outside, but on the inside, I was completely overwhelmed. My husband had stayed with me every minute in the hospital and I had stayed strong for him. I knew that if I crumbled, he would too. But, here, all alone, in our home, I allowed myself to feel the emotions that I had suppressed; anger; frustration; confusion; fear.

kneel

Instinctively, I fell to my knees on the bathroom floor. As the shower ran, I cried. And then my cries turned to screams. I screamed for my children and the possibility of them having NF2 too; I screamed for my husband because he doesn’t deserve this; I screamed for my dad because the worst thing in the world is to watch your child suffer. And then I screamed for me. I screamed out all the “why is this happening” and all of the “why me’s.” I screamed out all the frustration of being diagnosed with an incurable illness, and all my fears for what was next.

And then I prayed. I prayed like I had never prayed before. I prayed for all of the things I had screamed for just moments ago.

And then I was done. I have never been the type to linger very long in a self-induced pity party. I decided that would be my last tantrum; besides, my 4 year old was better at it anyway. I stood up, wiped the tears from my face, and let the shower wash away the hospital. Is it just me, or is there something seriously healing about a hot shower?

I had 23 days before I would be readmitted for my first craniotomy. It was the best gift I could ask for, and I was ready to make the most of it. 

I would never wish NF2 on anyone, but for the first time, I appreciated the diagnosis. It gave me the unique opportunity to look at life through a different lens, and reevaluate what was really important. I held my children longer, kissed my husband more often, and told all of the people I love that I love them. I fell in love with life again.

We took our boys to the park just to watch them play, introduced our 1 year old to the movie theater, brought our 4 year old to the best steakhouse in Denver, lit fireworks in front of our house on the 4th of July, and drank the expensive wine.

wine

A week before surgery, we took our boys to a Rockies game with one of my oldest friends who had flown in with her family from Kentucky, where I was raised. If you have brain tumors, I know what you’re thinking; the noise; the walking; the pain! But I went anyway, because I wanted so badly to see the joy on my boys faces and to experience something that had been normal for us before my diagnosis. I did it! I walked all the way around the stadium, cheered for the Rockies, and helped my babies to clap in all the right places, despite the noise. The Rockies lost that night, but I have never enjoyed a ballgame so much.

5 days before surgery, our best friends offered to take our boys for a fun sleepover, and Josh arranged a weekend getaway in Estes Park for just the 2 of us. We had some tough conversations about what could happen on the day of surgery, cried a little, laughed a lot, fed the squirrels on the mountain, and finished our weekend getaway with a great dinner at the Stanley Hotel.

Estes 2

By the time I went in for surgery, I had never been more certain that this life is so worth fighting for. I was ready.

This is my story, and it is not over yet.