My husband’s first brain surgery has been 25 years alreĺady.
Little did we know, it was just the beginning of the crazy ride that would be our lives.
It all started just before we were to get married. My hubby-to-be had epilepsy. He had been having more difficulty with his seizures. To both of our surprise, the meeting with a new doctor brought him on the fast-track of a ten-hour brain surgery. That was 25 years ago now.
As we tried to deal with what brain surgery entailed, we lived our lives. Six months after the surgery, I walked down the aisle to J-M and we were married as planned.
As many young couples, we hoped to have a family and were blessed enough to make two beautiful babies who have not been babies for years now.
The second surgery happened when our son was a whopping 3 months old and our daughter was the ripe old age of 22 months. Our concerns and focus shifted to include these young people.
Then it got a little crazy when the children were about to hit adolescence; like living with teenagers would not be crazy enough. That is when my husband’s seizures turned into status epilepticus seizures. In my husband’s case, his first officially diagnosed status needed to be stopped with medical intervention; so did the second, third, fourth…and I have lost track.
That first status put my husband in a coma and on a new path to more tests and a few brain surgeries.
After the fourth surgery, we were really getting settled to having a life when another status hit and we were back on the crazy ride for more ambulance chases and two more brain surgeries.
Now 25 years after the beginning of the crazy ride, it seems it might be over but I don’t dare say it too loudly.
We are now 25 years into marriage, kids, a mortgage, and everything an unusual medical situation can throw at us.
Here we are, standing together after 25 years. Amazingly, here is my husband still standing after multiple epileptic seizures, a good number of statuses and 6 brain surgeries.
With the craziness of our lives, it seems we learned things along the way. Today is when I open up to share, not about brain surgeries or statuses, but about the way illness for one person touches the aspects of the lives of those he loves.
My wish is that this blog lands on the computer of someone who may be stuck on a crazy ride of their own. I wish for them to know that we have come out the other side. I also want share a few lessons learned along the way. Maybe they will help or give food for thought so their path may be a little easier.
Feel free to leave a comment or contact me if you wish for me to broach particular subjects.
Nicole, I salute your courage and your sharing of this painful ordeal.
Although we worked together for years, I never knew about it. Is it me
who didn’t pay enough attention?! If so, I’m really sorry.
I admire your will to share your story and trying to help others throughout
their journey.
It takes loads of love, patience and resilience to go through all this, while
being a teacher and a mother and a supporting, loving wife.
I just needed to express my appreciation of all your efforts and achievements to get through and writing about it.
My Dear Magda,
Thank you so much for your support.
No reason to be sorry for not knowing about our medical ride because I don’t think I shared it so much at work back then. We were all so busy, and I had young babies so I probably shared their exploits more (Much more fun to talk about).
J-M did have his second brain surgery when we worked together but it landed during my maternity leave for my second. By the time I got back to work, it was old news so I probably told no one.
The ambulances were more prevalent in the last ten years or so because J-M’s condition had become dire, it seeped into work then. Since I was his emergency number, I got called out of class to chase an ambulance a few times and missed school on his brain surgery days.
As I was trying to organise my thoughts and make sense of our life in a diary, a few years ago, I realised it was no longer just a diary, but a story to be shared. That writing turned into a book that I am finalising now.
In the meantime, I hope to offer food for thought and this blog was born.
Enjoy
The book is a great idea!!! That would be an interesting read and an inspirational one as well.
So many people with chronic diseases, life threatening illnesses and recurring ailments would relate to that.
My turn to encourage you to the fullest and looking forward to your next entry.