Michael left this morning with Petra to go to Sweden and Norway. It’s the second time he’s gone to Europe since my surgery. The first time I couldn’t drive yet.
Life feels pretty normal again now though. I was able to go to Cornerstone with the band last week. I was so happy about that and I enjoyed Cornerstone so much! Barry McGuire was there, and Glenn Kaiser, Derry Dougherty, Mike Roe, Phil Keaggy, Terry Taylor and Daniel Amos….it was so amazing.
It’s been such a long, slow process that I couldn’t ever think of an update to write, so it’s been a long time since my last entry in this journal of sorts.
I am at the 3 month mark now. The past week or so have been a real turning point. Finally, I can do normal, everyday things without ending up completely exhausted or getting a huge headache afterward. I actually washed both my dogs this week! That is monumentous! (see pictures of my dogs for why)
Up until this point, I felt peaceful and didn’t have any fear. I was in the best hospital I could imagine. Michael finally knew that I wasn’t a hypochondriac. My kids – both my kids were there. That was a miracle to me. I was surrounded by professionals and love. I knew I’d be alright. I felt like God was working overtime to reassure me of it. I kept thinking “the enemy kicked me in the head; but God, in his wisdom allowed it! – I look forward to see the good He’s going to bring from this!” I felt like I was being carried along in perfect peace…. I’m sure the steroids and pain killers contributed, but it was much more than that.
Today I saw my surgeon for the first time since surgery. Everything looks real good. He did tell me, which I didn’t know, that he had to take out a little piece of white matter (brain) near my balance center and that it may effect my left side a bit. I’ve noticed the left side and some balance problems, but both are better than before the surgery, so I’m not complaining. He said to give it 6 months to a year,
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We arrived at Skyline medical center in Nashville, where my very competent paramedics brought me in to register. Embarrassed, I had to tell the woman at the desk that I had no health insurance. I assumed that would change everything but it didn’t. I was brought to a private room on the 7th floor. Later a hospital administrator came in to talk to Mike. He had a pile of papers with him. The long and short of it was that the hospital was, through a benevolence fund, covering our bill, along with Tenncare.
On November 20th, 2010, I was handling the guest list for the Classic Petra TBN show and taping. It was such an exciting night for everyone, and the first time these 5 members of Petra had performed together in 25 years. My husband works as their manager. That evening, I started to experience a very severe headache with a lot of dizziness. My aching head made it hard to think, and the dizziness was confusing to me. I figured it must just be a strange migraine.
I gave the surgeon a ‘high-five’ and told him “you’ll be a rock star!” as I was being rolled into the operating room. Talking and hospital activities faded as I drifted into unconsciousness. Then, suddenly I was wide awake, but I wasn’t in the hospital. I wasn’t in this world. It was unspeakably beautiful all around me. The colors were so vivid that they seemed to emanate light.
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On Dec 29, I went to the dr to find out why I had been having severe problems with dizziness and coordination to the point where it had become difficult to walk. It had started in November, for the most part. The Dr told me after examining me that I needed to go directly to the hospital.  I had driven myself to the doctor, which I look back at now incredulously now. My dogs were in the car and I had planned to go to Petsmart to buy them food. But I drove myself to the local hospital, only a few blocks away. I drove clear around the city to get there. My brain was so impaired that it mapped out a very illogical route for me. Of course, I didn’t know that my brain was impaired… at the time. Â
