Skip to main content

This will be my first post, but here goes

You know what's funny about a stroke...I know, I know, there's nothing funny...but the funny thing is that I heard my wife talking about this peron who had a stroke and I thought to myself, "Hmm, who had a stroke that I don't know about..." Then I looked around and found that I was the only person in a hospital bed and figured she must be talking about me. 

The interesting thing is that I remember everything up to the str0ke, but I don't remember the stroke itself. I can remember things I would rather forget (like this season's primaries and presidential election) but of that 2 weeks I have no recollection. 

I'll have to take my wife's account of that 2 weeks as gospel because I don't remember it. (I do remember talking to a lady from the first church I pastored and she said that she tried to come see me when I was in the hospital. I said that she should have just said that she was there, because I would not have known it!)

Speaking of my wife, I have to give her quite a bit of praise because she was in my hospital rooms from the time I had my stroke until I was released to the Knoxville VA. The only reason she wasn't in my room then was because we live only 6 blocks from the VA center in Knoxville - not to mention the other men I was sharing a room with.  :-)

Anyway, I was talking about my stroke. My wife says that I had a CT scan, but I don't remember getting that from Knoxville Hospital & Clinics.  They initially tested me for spinal meningitis because that was they thought I had. Then she says I was transported to the Des Moines VA, but I don't remember that. You want to know what else is funny, I have phone calls on my cell phone that I know I made because my wife remembers talking to me, but I don't remember making those calls. Anyway,  then my blood pressure came down and they told my wife to go home because the CT scans were clear. Then my blood pressure went really high and they did another CT scan. THAT scan showed something different from the other scans. Dr. Benjamin asked my wife if I had any trauma to  my head recently. My wife answered that I had a massage the day before. Dr. Benjamin said that I would not survive a trip to Iowa City and for that purpose she recommnded that I be transferred to Iowa Methodist to have surgery by Dr. Piper. 

The type of stoke I had is called an Intracerebral Hemhorrage. I had one major stroke in my cerebellum and 2 or 3 minor strokes in my brain stem. I was not supposed to survive the surgery. If I survived, I had a 50/50 chance of waking up. If I woke up, the doctors said that I would never be the same and I should just be in a wheelchair drooling. 

I said that for this purpose, as I sit here, it has been less than 5 weeks post surgery! God has been good to me. I realize that not everyone gets a gift like this from God, but the Drs. are astounded by my recovery. The nurse that gave me my final medicine at the rehab center said, I've never seen a faster recovery!'" 

Every day I live now I live for the One who gave life to me. There is no scientific reason why I am sitting at my computer writing this now; there is only one reason and it is because God has been looking out for me. You may not believe in Him, but all I can tell you is that I was released 3 weeks and 1 day after having surgery on my brain. THAT is a mystery to the Drs. But it is no mystery to me, because I know the One that says there is a balm in Gilead. I know the One Who is the Great Physician. I don't know a doctor, but I know The Doctor.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sometimes my new life stinks...

For the last few weeks I have been experiencing some pretty terrible headaches; not the kind that you can relieve by rubbing your temples or taking Tylenol, but headaches that radiate from the back of my head. It seems as though I have tried several things to relieve them: taking naps, lying down on heating pads, taking Tylenol, turning the lights of, etc. but nothing seems to help. Now, I don't have them all the time, only a few days a week and I can tell that they are more from muscle tightness than anything else. I have been instructed to go the ER if they flare up again, because of my past history of headaches before my stroke, but most likely it is due to the muscles that were cut in the back of my head for the Craniotomy. I would say that most days I do not struggle with headaches at all; but, the days I do have headaches they are a doozy. I don't have blurred vision with them or sensitivity to light or sound; it just hurts. As I look back over the past 3+ years I realize...
8 comments
Read more

Does it get any worse than a stroke? Yes

On December 8, 2008, my life changed forever. I had a double sided cerebellar stroke with 2 brain stem compressions. It was not until December 10, 40 hours after my stroke, that surgery was finally done to relieve the pressure. Dr. Piper, the neuro-surgeon from Iowa Methodist hospital in Des Moines, told my wife that surgery was nothing more than an attempt to save my life, but that it would not erase the deficiencies as a result of the stroke. Although she admits that she did not really understand what Dr. Piper had just said, my wife, Laura, agreed to the surgery and the care team performed a decrompessive craniotomy, to hopefully relieve the pressure and allow my brain to function somewhat normally. For those who have followed my blog for the last 14+ years, the surgery was successful, I returned to the church and I now live a relatively normal life, although I do have some pretty severe, though not always visible, defieciencies. I really thought that life could not get any worse th...
Post a Comment
Read more

A little lethargic the last couple of days....

The last couple days I have been really, unusual. I don't know exactly how to describe it. I'm tired all the time. No matter how long I sleep at night I never seem to get enough sleep. The last few days I have noticed that my eyes have been acting a little weird. I tried to explain it to someone but it is like I just can't find the words to describe it right. It is worse when I have to change my focus, when I am looking at one thing and then have to change the focus to something else it seems as though it takes just a fraction of a second to refocus. Now, a fraction of a second does not seem bad until you are driving; then it can be pretty problematic. I also noticed that I seem to get a little dizzy when I stand up. It is not something that really bothers me, but it is a little irritating. It is not bad enough that I think "Oh, no, not this again." But it is something I notice. I don't know, perhaps it is because tomorrow will be the 2 year anniversary of the...
5 comments
Read more