READY FOR HEALTH AND RESTORATION

Well, I promised a report on my Gamma Knife radiation and here it is: I SURVIVED IT! God showered me with a peace and calm that truly did pass all understanding.

The neurosurgeon, who told me he was from Cloquet, MN, came into my room and inserted 2 of the pegs (pins I guess they call them). (Yes, they numbed me up well.)

This pic is of half the "cage" they locked me into. The other half is attached like a football helmet with another two pins in the back of my skull. They did not give me sedation for the Gamma, but a sedative enough to make me dopey and mostly unaware, but I could still talk to them. I laid there for 2.5 hours without moving. That is another God thing. When it was over, they bandaged me up and sent me on my way.

I must say I had the greatest nurse ever. She stayed with me for the entire day, (as well as the day before when we did a CT and an MRI), tending to my every need with a huge smile and oodles of sweet compassion. She and I just clicked......we hugged when I left and she told me to "ring the bell" for last treatment. (from her lips to God's ears)

So, the life after Gamma Knife:

1. My entire head/skull is completely numb. I can't feel a thing, not even my hair. It may be weeks or months before it comes back. It is, friends, the weirdest sensation I think I've ever felt.

2. I have to sleep on 2 pillows for at least a week to keep my head elevated. For someone who uses a limp goose-down pillow every night (which means I'm almost flat), this is a real challenge. I have maybe gotten 3 hours of sleep each night. After tonight, only 5 more nights to go. 

3. My son has aptly dubbed me "Numbskull."

4. My skull itches and I have to rub anti-itch cream into my hair and thus making a mess when I lay against anything. I carry a towel around. Interesting that an unfeeling scalp can itch and that the cream temporarily helps.

5. Today I am in a new phase of beauty. The med is running down and pooling under my eyes giving me a lovely blue/purple hue and I have my 2 pin scars on my forehead that have to heal up and I have very trendy yellow betadine highlights around and on my hairline and eyes. (Scary mommy)

6. I have to rest and elevate my head for a week. I have not left the house for 6 weeks between the bronchitis and vertigo and bad eye problems. Why should I let Richie have to give up the honor of frequenting Walmart and doing almost all of the cooking.????

7. My vertigo is getting so much better. Praise God for that.

God gets all the glory for a good outcome to the Gamma Knife procedure. We won't know how effective the treatment was til my next scan. I was anxious about it and God's fingerprints were just all over it, giving me a great team, his amazing grace and peace, and a successful outcome.

I will have Richie take a picture of me post-recovery!! I am so ready to be healthy, feel healthy, and live a restored life!

Thanks to you all for the multitude of prayers for me before and during this time of stress.

Happy April. Let spring begin!!

Gamma-Knife

It has been a tough month....maybe the worst since I had my brain radiation in 2015. Just before we were to leave on our Florida trip, I came down with a severe case of vertigo. Richie had to carry me to the bathroom. The spinning was awful. I threw up twice the first day and prayed like mad I would be over this in 5 days so I could pack. 

The flight came and went without us. By this time, I also had bronchitis and Dick had an URI. We loss our deposit, we disappointed Sam, we disappointed ourselves and I have been battling guilt because it is all due to me. I have been planning this vacation for a year---only to lose it.

I spent the next 3 weeks basically fighting vertigo, for which there is no cure. I have not been out of the house in 4 weeks, sleeping most of the time. That is my escape, the same one my Dad used. 

On the 3rd week, I developed diplopia/convergence insufficiency in my eyes and see double. This put an end to my beloved books which kills me

On Monday I will go for my scans------that would not phase usually put they are making me use a traditional MRI----the long tunnel-----which I know I couldn't get through without total panic so they have agreed to sedate me for that one. If my brain tumors are growing, they will do gamma-knife radiation on my brain the next day. I would take 10 root canals over this. I told them they will have to give me the strongest shot of sedative they have. I want to remember none of this.

I won't get into my cataract worries yet. I need to live thru the next week. You could join me in my prayers for peace and calm and no shaking from fear. I know a half dozen "DO not fear" scriptures which I'm trying to memorize. I do trust that God will put the contingent of Ekstrom angels around me both days. I will write when its all done and results are known.

Dear Sam and Gretch, who just 2 days before sold their house so they could move into the new one, got the worst news. the basements of both the new house and their own house were getting wet in this flooding. Some of my friends in Vermillion can't even get out of thie own house. Water surrounds them.

 She is alone......Sam is working in Chicago......and if I didn't have vertigo, I would be up there in a flash. A friend has been helping her. I so pray they the water damage doesn't ruin new dry wall and that they can get the carpet restored in the old house, so they can show it again. The first buyers backed out. Just ache for them.

Love to all...(ignore all the typos today. Am too weak to edit)