Ladies, Gents, Friends, Coworkers, and fellow Lifesavers,
I just received some of the worst news of my life. And... I have a really really hard time talking about things, especially feeling and emotions. I cope best by writing things down. So here goes. My sister and best friend since I was born just called me and said she fell at work yesterday and had a seizure and was transported to the ER, I noticed her speech was slurring and she was talking differently than what I am used to. I asked her what happened and she said they found a large tumor on the left side of her brain and are going to do emergency surgery and they are unsure of the outcome but it doesn't look promising. She was just recently employed with this company a month ago. But more importantly she has texted and called me on a few occasions when she just felt 'weird'. She would ask what was happening to her and I told her I didn't know- that she needed to go to the doctor. I am in Texas, she is in South Carolina.. and I have never felt so helpless before. Here I am sitting saving lives every day and I can't do anything for my own family member. My best friend. My whole world has stopped. I can't even feel myself breathing. I don't know what to do. All I do is cry. But y'all know and understand. Does anyone know what could happen? I am not even thinking. I am just spilling words out onto this screen. I don't know much about brain surgery, but I do know there are a lot of variables depending on where the tumor is.
I have vacation planned to be there in less than 2 weeks, but I am afraid that it will be too late. I don't know what to do. I am lost. Be safe out there.
Steph,
My aunt had a Brain Aneurysm two months ago. Me and her are extremely close as we used to hang out every day when I lived in Sweden.
I got the news as "She is sick. She collapsed in the car. Shes on her way to the hospital. Brain Aneurysm." And anyone with medical experience or knowledge will freak out.
The doctors didn't think she was going to make it and I didn't think she was going to make it. My father and mother had a positive attitude, which I could barely get myself to have. The doctors gave her 20 min to respond after taking the pain medications off. She responded in 22 minutes, so they decided to do the surgery. My father flew to Sweden right away to be by her side.
Now 8 weeks after, she's doing awesome. She lives at home now again by her self and she's out exercising, going to movie, dinner, and hanging out with friends. She's almost 100% back to where she was before (Without counting the Aneurysm) and she's feeling great. She also had to battle a Pulmonary Embolism 4 weeks after her surgery but she beat that. Now I just hope that she stays healthy and does great!
The brain surgeon that she had has practiced medicine in New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, US, and Sweden. He said that he has never seen anyone recover this fast from something like this before.
I decided to tell you this story to give you some encouragement. Your sister will be fine. Just stay by her side and keep cheering her on through out your battle. Yes, there's going to be times when you are just going to break down and cry. It's okay! That's normal. Not to cry, is not normal.
I would cry to my shift at work and then cry on my way home from my shift.
Everything you see is going to remind you of your sister, but you got to look at that as a positive thing. It's wanting to remind you of the good times that you had together and the times that you will have together in the future.
Number 1 cure to medicine is LOVE. Number 2 is HOPE. Number 3 is people around you. With that I mean the family who are cheering you on and the doctors who take such amazing care of you.
Good luck to your sister with her battle against this tumor and she'll be in my prayers. 'll pray for her that she'll make it through this surgery alright and that she'll recover 100%.
Please update us on how she is.