Prayers are welcome

I will definitely keep you and your family in my prayers.
I hope everything turns out OK.

You and your family have my praryers Earthdog, take care and keep the faith!

[Legolas]

I'm so sorry to hear that
Noone should have to go through such a nervewracking thing like this, least of all you. Of course I'll pray things work out fine for all of you.
Take care of yourself Earthdog.

[Mouse]

All my best wishes to you, your wife and your family for a full and speedy recovery.

[Sir Exxon]

My prayers are with you and your family, Earthdog. Take care!

[Earthdog]

I sincerely thank you all from the bottom of my heart. It was very difficult writing this topic and it had to be done between tears. It wasnt all that long but I think it took me around an hour to do it.

Details. For starters my wifes name is Linda. She developed a cist on the brain in 1999 as near as the doctors can tell. The cist is on the third ventricle which is the main one. Im a medical dummy so Im having to go on what Ive heard from the doctors and explain it as best I can. The 3rd ventricle controls most of the bloodflow to areas of the brain. Shed been having headaches for a long time but it got to the point where the headaches were there 24/7. I cant imagine having a heacdache before, during, and after sleep. Every day of the week. For a time in 2000 they subsided but since about November of 2001 they started getting really really bad and have been getting progressively worse.

We had a CAT scan and MRI done a couple months ago and from the original scans in 1999 the cist has grown about 5 mm if I can remember right. Somewhere in the neighborhood of a quarter inch. So the pressure caused by this has really increased. To compare: she used to be able to take 4 Advil and the headaches would go away. Now she can pop four codeine like Tylenol 3 and there is ZERO effect. Memnoch would be familiar with the Panadol thing. She can eat 8 of them and they dont do any good.

I asked her if it was something she could live with even if it was miserably. She explained to me the fact that if something wasnt done about it she could be driving down the road one day and suddenly get a headache, a "killer" headache (compared to the ones shes always got), black out behind the wheel and have a head-on collision. If our baby girl is in the car she could die too, and then also picture her hitting a family of 4 killing them as well. As I said before, we've got 8 kids thats a family of 10 plus a family of 4 dead because of one headache.

Ok so she managed to prove to me that something needed to be done and not just to end her suffering. More than one life would be at stake if it were left alone. I know it was being selfish to ask her if it were something she could live with because I didnt want to lose her to a mishap during brain surgery. I dont want to have to tell the kids their mom is no longer with us. I dont want to have to explain, in a few years time, what happened to Mommy when Andrea was 16 months old. Im selfish and I admit it.

I can only imagine the pain that shes been going through and if its gotten to the point where she not only considered the danger of brain surgery, but actually followed through with it, it must have been BAD.

Anyway, the doctor explained the risks. There were 4 major things that could kill her, not the least of which is infection. The plan is/was to go in, put in a pressure monitor and monitor the blood pressure inside her brain for a few days to see who big or small of a Shunt to put in. For the medicly inept like me that means put a thingy in her head that allows the access blood in her brain to flow through a tube that leads to her stomach (or close to it) thereby relieving the pressure and hence the headaches.

If they went in and tried to remove it altogether she could hemmorage and die on the operating table. They could destroy all or part of her memory. They could turn her into a vegetable. And theres the Death By Infection.

Her memory was already getting pretty bad from the cist. I dont like the idea of her not being able to remember that shes married and has kids. Or what her name is, where she lives... ect ect ect.

Ive gone thorugh all this a million times in my head and now Im starting to lose track. I hope Ive explained enough so that yall understand.

Dan, I remember when you started the thread on your mother and I remember praying for her several times a day for weeks, basicly every time I thought of it. I remember you saying some time later that things were improving and things were looking good. I never was really sure what was troubling her I just remember you saying that she was getting better. Ive slept since then so I dont really remember all the details.

At the time there were alot of not so great things happening around my house, which got sold by the way. I wasnt really online much at all. I was working 80 to 90 hours a week. There was just alot going on and I hardly had time to sleep. Im sorrythat I couldnt get on the board and check on things and now Im rather ashamed that I didnt make the time.

I truly mourn your loss Dan. Im very very sorry. I know there is no comfort for your loss, no words can really help. I am one of the pople who believe that immortality can only be gained through the loving memories of the people who knew us. In us they will never die, they will always be with us. We carry them in our hearts whereever we go. They have touched our lives and changed us and made us who we are.
We will pass the changes they caused in us along to our children and in that, they will never die. And as we shape the lives of our children we pass our selves along to them that they may pass us along to theirs.

Im going to try to be positive here and say that if the worst happens, it would be a relief for my wife. We may mourn her loss but she no longer suffers. No longer feels pain. She will rejoice at the feet of God. We will be the ones who suffer and have to wait to see her at the golden gates of heaven.

However I am going to be one very selfish Icewhole and say im not ready for her to leave.

Thank you all so very very much. Your thoughts and prayers are truly appreciated

And you can tell Im having some very meloncholy mood swings. Getting a little out of control actually so Im going to end this one

[RudeDawg]

Will all our love, you have our hopes and prayers. Have her get well very soon.

Rudy & Jo. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Elif Godson]

May the light of all our prayer's guide you through,
I know what it is like to loose a loved one due to an operation
and many other circumstances. I will pray for your
wifes healthy return and the well being of your children and yourself

[dizzy]

Oh my, yes, I will most certainly pray.

[Sazerac]

Dear Earthdog,

Ironworks is a place for sharing both laughter and tears. I would hate to think of us as nothing but a "yuk-yuk" joint.

Having said that, let me extend my condolences for what your wife and your family (including you, of course!) are having to go through right now. My prayers are with you during this crisis, and I fervently hope that your dear wife pulls through.

Medical science is so much better now than it was even a decade ago. Have faith that the doctors will perform at their best and that all will come through well.

Blessings,
-Sazerac