Update from Dottie - 2017
Greetings! It’s good to be writing my own update, after so long.
My progress since June 13 has been interesting. That was the date of my 2nd brain surgery. It was different from the first one, which was more of an emergency surgery in Alabama in 2015. Actually, both were elective. I was somewhat recovered after a small artery at the back of my brain ruptured and left me unconscious for three hours. However, I was not one hundred percent, having pain in my hip and shoulder. We consulted a neurologist in Auburn; he sent me to UAB in Birmingham and the surgeon said, that although the first artery was sealed up, the chance of another rupture was 40%. If I had surgery to put a clamp on the artery, the chance of another rupture and perhaps fatality, was only 10%. So, my husband and I decided to go ahead with the surgery so that we could improve our chances of survival. We wanted me to be around to see our grandkids grow up, get to know our new daughter-in-law, be with each other in our sunset years, and not break our children’s hearts by a sudden departure. So, I submitted to a surgeon’s scalpel in Birmingham on July 9, 2015. Recovery went well, and soon I was almost back to normal and even driving again. I wrote in detail about this experience in my 2nd book (in the church and 2 collegiate libraries); the book is called Detour.
The 2nd surgery happened this year after hearing results of some tests we had done at a local hospital with a respected brain surgeon. In early 2017 he was searching for a solution to the riddle “Why is Dottie so tired all the time?”
This surgeon found in some lab results that there was an aneurysm in my brain near the first place that ruptured. It was even larger than the one that had ruptured, but this time the vessel had NOT ruptured. He was glad, explaining that “non-ruptured” is better than “ruptured.” He believed that he could easily clip off this aneurysm or install a simple coil so that a rupture would not occur through a simple procedure with a simple cerebral angiogram. So, the procedure was set up to be done after the brain surgeon’s associate rattled off his now familiar spill about possible risks, such as paralysis, stroke, or even death. The surgeon had to inform my family that he could not perform what he had hoped to do because the vessel was too small to do what he wanted. With another attempt, he would try for a coil, although it would “difficult but doable.” They were thrilled. He tried again, but was not successful. In May the surgery appeared so necessary that he scheduled brain surgery for June 13, the fateful day. He just warned me to call 911 if I had a sudden thunder-clap headache. I knew what that meant, a rupture of the aneurysm. By waiting till the next month, it seemed oblivious that he wasn’t too worried about getting the surgery over with.
June 13, 2017, finally arrived, that fateful day. At last it was here, the fateful day that caught many of us by surprise. The associate rattled off his usual spill about the risks, but all placed confidence in this surgeon’s skills. He felt that I should be out of the hospital in four days. He did feel that I needed a shunt to drain my brain of excess water. That was installed for my benefit. I didn’t see the surgical team until 6 weeks later during my 6-week check-up visit. The doctor was surprised to hear of the hardships I had undergone. He still thought that the surgery just needed four days recovery time, not over four months or more.
I feel confident that during that six-week period of time before seeing the doctor for my six-week check up time, I experienced an undiagnosed stroke. My husband thinks it was collateral damage from the surgery, since it was an involved procedure taking several hours and perhaps resulted in some brain stem damage, as the neurologist later told us. At any rate, whatever the cause, it was then that I first noticed great loss-of-motion in my left arm, tongue, and right arm.
Could a phantom stroke or brain stem damage have happened? It seems so. The results have been both painful and rewarding. The doctors felt, however, that without the surgery because of the size of aneurysm or ballooning of the artery, a fatal hemorrhagic stroke may well have occurred. So it was a calculated risk.
The spiritual results have been rewarding (more about them later). The physical results have been painful. Here are some of them.
- Even with Allan’s careful management of time, we went over the Medicare-allowed limit for time at the skilled rehab program in a nursing facility. We couldn’t leave until the therapist(s) released us. Ouch!
- We had to live apart for weeks while I spent them in Medicare-approved rehabilitation facilities.
- I was/am too mentally fuzzy to do my Facebook or emails, or read or write much because of blurred or double vision.
- Today I am still extremely sleepy in spite of a prescription for Ritalin, that dreaded drug that makes children ADHD but makes old ladies like me more mentally alert by day.
- I am still SLOW on the monitor, maybe have forgotten some shortcuts.
- Allan is having to do all the cooking. He says each meal is a continual miracle as he uses Steamables and left-overs and food from friends.
- I don’t drive now.
- The surgery did not remove the snoring at night, according to Allan. Drats!
We are looking forward to three wonderful weeks in Alabama with our daughter’s family for Christmas. She flies up here Dec. 11 to drive us back to Alabama. She wants to spend some time here in NC with her local sister, Alison. We don’t drive well any more. Our other daughter and her husband plan to join us there for Christmas.
Joel & Pratty will be in India for Christmas. They are excited about that trip.
Charles & Amanda plan to be in Belgium with their family, now consisting of 3 boys. The college students are out on Christmas vacation. Christmas in Belgium is fun. We spent one cold Christmas there with them when the middle boy (Gabriel) was born; he is now four. His name is exactly the same in Spanish and French. That was planned, and his last boy, Theo, also has a name which has cognates in Spanish and French versions. I told Charles that the English/Greek roots are similar to his French names, Dorotea and Teodor, gift of God either way (Dorothy – my real name).
The spiritual results have been good. These are listed briefly below.
- A sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
- A dependency on God for every need.
- A gratefulness for Christians to help us.
- A gratitude for each other (my husband and I) that we are still here for each other.
- A gratitude for God’s help in circumstances. For example, He sent someone to help us pick up a folder that was absentmindedly left on the roof of our car as we drove off and scattered “every where” on the roadway. Allan had just breathed a short prayer, “God help me.” She just noticed that he was picking up the scattered contents all by himself. I was sitting in the car, unable to help him. I explained to her that I could not help him since I could not walk alone. I’m learning to walk for the 3rd time in my life, once as a child and twice as an adult in 2015 and 2017.
EXAMPLE TWO: The insurance company gave us a sweet deal on a 2nd car similar to the one that we totaled in a wreck (our fault) but was one year newer but the same make as the one we put to rest. So, we are still driving a Buick LaSabre. There is not so much “new stuff” to adjust to. It was surely a “God thing.”
- A gratitude for the body of Christ. We have made friends among various members of the body of Christ at a walking group at a Baptist church gym and appreciate their warmth and devotion to the Lord.
We have visited Catholic and Anglican services where many are seeking God fervently for His presence and healing power for healing. I appreciate all their prayers for my healing!
- A special tenderness between me, my siblings, my children, and even my in-laws, Allan’s brother and wife, has developed. Our relationships have deepened like never before. Phone calls between all of us mean more than ever before. Links to our pasts now are clearer and more meaningful than ever. Since eternity now looms LARGE before all of us, what really matters does also. I now see that many long-forgotten prayers have already been answered in ways I did not know about. Thank you, Lord.
- A special love and gratefulness between my husband and me exist. We are just glad that we are both still here for the other one. Also, my stroke victim brain and body help supply what his aging systems lack. We are gladly co-dependent on each other. We are constantly reminding each other, “I need you, Babe.”
All the above has been approved by him. I truly hope that all is well with you. If not, let’s pray!
Much love, Dottie – Dec. , 2017