Brain Surgery
While living in Florida I began to occasionally feel dizzy. I eventually had to use a cane to go out and check the mail. One day while babysitting my 4 year old granddaughter, she said to me, “Grandpa, let's spin around until we get dizzy and fall down”. I said, “Let's not”. The very idea made me sick.
Things got worse. All could do was to sit in a recliner and let the room spin around me for hours. It was like being strapped in to a roller coaster seat for all day. After some time I could not keep any food down. I figured I could wait out that inconvenience for a while, since I was a bit overweight. But when I could not keep a sip of water down, I realized that this cannot continue for very long. I had my wife take me to the nearest Emergency Room.
A neurologist had a CAT scan done. When he saw a golf ball sized tumor on the balance center of my brain he said, “That thing has got to come out now!” I am glad he waited until the next morning because it was a 7 hour surgery. I am glad he was fully rested.
I was in the hospital 5 days, then my wife took me home. At home she kept a regular check on my blood pressure. After a few days, she felt it was too high to be safe. She took me back to the same Emergency Room. The emergency team that was on duty that day did the usual things that a doctor does. They set me up with an IV, took my vital signs, and had me rest quietly. My wife mentioned that I underwent brain surgery a few days earlier. Of course, none of these doctors had been involved in my surgery. They went somewhere to read my charts and notes from the neurosurgeon.
The lead doctor came back somewhat shaken – not shaking – but strongly impacted by something she read in the surgery notes.
She said, “Someone up there must really like you”.
I could hear her. I could understand what she said but I was in no condition to engage her in a conversation. I had no idea what she saw in the notes.
Some time later (it was a few years) I requested a copy of the hospital notes so I could have some understanding of what went on during the surgery. The hospital's response:
No such patient. No records with that date.
Now there is no way I can find out what went on during surgery. There must have been something significant. Maybe it was a problem that the hospital does not want revealed.
In any case, Someone up there likes me. It took several years to recover from the surgery. When passing through difficult circumstances it is so good to know that we do not have to go through them alone.
Dec. 3, 2023