2 blessed beyond belief

oh hi, kim ... *hug* ...

gosh, it's good to be back!

i know i have so much to catch up on ...

with you and robin and christina and all the lovelies who visited!

but first, i want to tell you a bit about where i was and what i was doing ...

i was with family ...

bidding barney bye bye ...

barney is the name my sister-in-law has given a recently discovered tumor next to her brain ...

you see, for two and a half years, l-lu (my sister-in-law) was noticeably losing her hearing in her right ear ...

there was pressure, and it was annoying for her to not be able to hear, but other than that, she felt fine!

she had visited specialists about her hearing and was about to be fitted with a hearing aid, when she asked if there were any other tests that could be done to see what was really going on ...

l-lu's mri results indicated she indeed had a tumor ~ acoustic neuroma ~ thankfully, a typically non-cancerous type of tumor ...

barney was nearly egg sized and was behind her right ear, next to her brain ...

and one month to the day of being told, she was in surgery ...

and that is where i have been ...

with my brother and their daughter, at the hospital ...

pacing ... praying ... playing crib ... eating ... visiting ... wondering ...

while l-lu was under the care of one of canada's top neurological surgeons for seven steady hours ...

i could never ever truly express how grateful and relieved we were when dr. west and his attending surgeon appeared to tell us the great news that l-lu had pulled through with flying colours!

hugs ~ phone calls ~ texts flew ...

how blessed to have such a positive outcome ...

to have l-lu smile and talk and within a day going for short walks ...

to have l-lu return home yesterday with virtually no side effects other than the hearing loss that will continue ...

just strict orders to be extremely careful ...

and yes, there will be follow up to see if further procedures are required ...

but ...

you see, this story could have been drastically different, if l-lu hadn't requested that extra test ...

undetected, barney would have continued to grow causing irreparable damage and ultimately death ~ possibly in a two year timeframe ...

so, i tell you this on l-lu's behalf as she wants to shout to the world to be aware and attentive to the little things before they get big ...

to take good care of yourself so that should you ever need surgery, that you will be fit and healthy to fight whatever comes in the strongest way possible ...

l-lu takes super good care of herself and the anesthesiologist, nurses, resident doctors and surgeons all agreed it made a difference in having the best possible outcome ...

there are various symptoms that may signal a brain tumor that one ought to never dismiss ...

l-lu is going to start her own blog to tell her own story which i will share with you when that day comes ...

blessed beyond belief to say bye bye barney ...

with love and a heart full of gratitude ~
prairiegirl
xo

i would just like to add how difficult it was to witness how many patients, in the short time we were in the neuro ward, who wouldn't have the positive experience or outcome that our family had ...

so many stories of so many lovely people, whom we had the pleasure of knowing so briefly ...

our hearts and thoughts and prayers go to everyone fighting battles ...

♥