Raise 'Em and Praise Him - Testimony Tuesday! Wendy

ANEURYSM To AH NEW RHYTHM

Unapologetically living on PURPOSE with God's grace and embracing my New Rhythm after brain sugery! 

Last September on Labor Day, I was out with friends and out of no where, I got a really strange headache on the left side of my head...including my eye. At first I was like it's just to hot as we were on a rooftop... then I briefly questioned if I got a bad drink. After hanging out for a little bit longer I decided to go home, not telling my friends why, just saying I was going to spend time with my kids.

Once I got home, I washed up and got in the bed... totally in pain (I have a very high pain tolerance). Having the hardest time falling asleep, after two hours I gave in and took a 800 mg ibuprofen, which to my dismay, did absolutely nothing. This is when I KNEW something was really wrong, but I did not know what. The next morning on Tuesday I went to see my doctor. 

I had just lost my mom in June and for the first time, I had high blood pressure as a result of that stress. My pressure was high so my doctor associated the headache with that and gave me a shot (Cocktail) to reduce my pressure. He did advise me that if I didn't feel better to go to the Emergency Room. Bear with me, you can only understand the BLESSING if you understand the journey! On Wednesday, I drove myself to the Emergency Room where my blood pressure was over 200 so they triaged me as STROKE STATUS and got me in a bed right away. I got a "cocktail", had a CT Scan which revealed NOTHING, was monitored for a few hours, then sent home with a prescription.

I suffered through Wednesday, through Sunday. I was worried and confused about what was happening... knowing for sure that this was much more than high blood pressure or a headache. I felt like my left eye was being pulled out of its socket so I went back to the emergency room on Monday, September 12th. On this visit I saw a different doctor who did another CT Scan; this time with CONTRAST and found an acute aneurysm on my primary left brain artery!

I was whisked off to Emory... scared and completely confused, they were waiting for me! The testing, scanning, and medication began immediately. The aneurysm was so large that the risk was higher to remove it than it was to remove my artery. The catch was that removing the artery could cause me to stroke out or die! I laid under observation and medication to stroke out or die for several days. I had an awful reaction to morphine and that delayed the surgery a few days so I confined to wait on either a stroke or to die, but I KNEW that neither of those were God's plan for me.

My surgery was on September 20th, my daughter's birthday... I've never been that scared! Surgery lasted eight hours and I was in so much pain, but so grateful to be alive and see my family not have to bury another loved one in less than three months. My daughter's still had their mother, my husband his wife, father his daughter and sisters their sister.

They said recovery was going to be long, at least a year, as I also lost use of my left eye. I struggled for a few months but to God be the glory for his Grace and Mercy on me. I was of the mindset that He speared me so I had work to do. I pushed myself daily, challenging myself to get back to normal and then I realize that my normal was a new rhythm. Today I still have a long way to go, the side effects of brain surgery is real but I have nothing to complain about. My ANEURYSM to Ah New Rhythm journey continues as I remain committed to empowering myself and those that I am blessed with the opportunity to share with!