It's not a tumah!

There's a song from the 90's called 'Everybody's Free(To Wear Sunscreen)' and there's a part that says,  "The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday." I found out this weekend that that is pretty true.

 

Thursday

This last Thursday while driving home from work a little after 5pm, I get a call from my brother asking if I could give him a blessing. He's been ordered to go to the hospital by his doctor. He has to go, right now. He had just had an MRI done and they found a mass in his head.
 

You know, nothing prepares you for the absolute flooring that hits you. You almost want time to stop right then and there. You almost step aside from yourself. What kind of mass? What does this mean? This is something that happens to other people. What do you do with something like this? What do you do?

 

You want answers, but none are to be had. You want comfort, but you're not the one who needs it the most right now. You want it to go away, but it's all too real. You want light, but all you see now is the darkness ahead...

 

But then I looked around me, and I found that I could see my family. Within two hours, we joined together so we could pray. We were together as one. We had love. We had each other.

 

Friday

The next day, for me was a mess. I, for some reason, went to work. What else was I going to do all day? I'm miserable, so I might as well be miserable at work! I regretted my decision almost immediately. As the day dragged on, I found myself doing my work, but inside I kept thinking; 'They're doing the surgery today.' I found myself making jokes and laughing, but I wasn't there; 'They're going to be digging into his brain!'

 

Soon after work, I found myself at St Joseph's Hospital's waiting room with my sister in law. It was soon about 8:30pm and my brother was in his sixth hour of the operation when the surgeon came out. Everything came and went as best as they could hope for! The tumor was benign and in the best possible place for them to operate. A weight had been lifted off our shoulders!

 

 

 

 

 

We were allowed to wait for him in his room. We couldn't wait to see him! We were tired but now the worst was over. We were going to get him back... alive too!

 

 

Play for full effect

 

 

My brother has always had a funny side to him. And he hadn't lost it when he came out of surgery. And as an aside, if you ever get the chance, be with someone when they come out of anesthesia. Within 3 hours, he was wanting to get up and walk around. Within 5, the nurse let him. Within 8 hours, he wanted to eat. And within 12, they were getting ready to let him out of the ICU. We were witnessing a miracle.

 

Saturday

Originally, they we talking about keeping my brother until at least Tuesday, maybe Thursday. But as Saturday went on, the doctors and staff became more and more confident that it wouldn't be necessary. They were amazed at his progress. Everything that could possibly go right, was.

 

Sunday 

And so, on Sunday afternoon, about 72 hours after he got the news that he had a tumor, my brother got discharged from St Joseph's hospital. Tired, and looking worse for the wear, but he got to go home to his wife and kids. There's a lot more for him to get through before this is over, but we're looking back at this with gratitude in our hearts.

 

 

We were blessed. We were blessed to be sent to one of the best hospitals in the U.S. that specializes in brain surgery, we were blessed to be surrounded by amazing doctors, nurses, staff and friends. We were blessed that the tumor he got was the best possible kind(as far as tumor's go).

 

And we are blessed that we have each other.