"Is This Patient Still Walking?"
Stay caught up! Read - "Brain Tumors and French Toast"
There's a lot that has to happen after finding out you have a brain tumor. It's sort of like finding out you're getting married! Just...not as exciting. There's lots of research, lots of phone calls, lots of emotions. But the biggest thing, (and probably the most obvious), is you need doctors. You need to find someone who knows what the heck is going on, because you definitely don't.
That's the story I'm going to be sharing with you today. I'm going to tell you how we found the right doctors. I know that doesn't sound super exciting, but hang in there.
My mom and I walked out of the hospital after my MRI on April 18th, 2016 and I asked her to do me a favor. I asked if we could keep this quiet. I didn't want to shout to the whole world that I had a brain tumor. I didn't want to cause mass amounts of worry. It was already so hard to see how my mom was reacting to the news, so I preferred to keep the casualties to a minimum.
Of course there were a few people we had to tell right away. My dad, my brothers, my softball coach, and a few close friends. Even though we tried to keep everything quiet, I'm sure you can guess that word got out pretty quickly, but I'll talk more about that another time.
One of the people my mom called was her co-worker, neighbor, and best friend. Her family had been living across the street from us long before I was born. My mom called her for two reasons:
1) She needed to get her shifts covered at work while we figured everything out.
2) She really just needed a friend.
Finding out your daughter has a brain tumor is not the easiest thing.
My mom told this friend that the radiologists who did my MRI said they would send my file to the neurological clinic there at Utah Valley and a receptionist would get in touch with us soon, but we didn't know what "soon" meant. It could've meant a few weeks, or even months, before we would get a call. We felt pretty helpless. There wasn't much we could do but wait.
But we didn't have to wait long. We received a call from the neurological clinic within a few hours of my mom talking with her friend. They told us to come in the next morning because the neurosurgeon wanted to see me as soon as possible.
At the time, I didn't really question how we got an appointment so quickly. I was just grateful we did. It wasn't until a few days later that we actually found out all the miracles that went on behind the scenes that ended up getting me this life-saving appointment.
After my mom got off the phone with her friend, her friend immediately called one of her daughters and told her everything that was going on. Don't worry, she wasn't just gossiping or sharing these personal details that I was trying so hard to keep quiet.
Apparently, her daughter was in the same ward and lived right next door to a certain PA who worked at the neurological clinic at Utah Valley. (The exact place where my file was sent). After my moms friend got off the phone with her daughter, her daughter immediately texted her neighbor who happened to be at work. She gave him my name and said I was a close friend and asked if he could just quickly check out my file.
The PA saw the text, went and handpicked my file out of probably hundreds of others, and walked it straight in to the neurosurgeons office. The surgeon took one look at my chart and my scans and asked a question that still makes me shutter every time I think about it -
"Is this patient still walking?"
My brain tumor was only about the size of a pencil eraser, but there was a cyst forming around it, and that was about the size of a ping-pong ball. Because of the location of the tumor and cysts, I should not have been walking, or talking, or even breathing on my own.
My brain stem was being smashed so badly that I really shouldn't have been functioning at all. I'm sure you can imagine how surprised the doctors were to find out that not only was I walking and talking and breathing, but I was currently playing softball for my high school.
In less than 24 hours of finding my brain tumor, my parents and I were sitting across from one of the best neurosurgeons in the country. Now this guy is so good and so well-known that just to get an appointment with him, just to see him, there is almost always a six month waiting list.
The PA and the surgeon were both in the room with us trying to figure everything out and explain to us what the next steps were going to be. They were both so calm while explaining brain surgery, it was as if I simply had to get a tooth pulled.
"We'll just go in and drain the cyst and pop the tumor out and you'll be good to go! How does Saturday sound?"
There was a lot going on in my head. I'd never had surgery before! Why did my first ever surgery have to be BRAIN surgery? At only seventeen years old? The surgeon kept talking while I kept thinking. He finally came to the conclusion that he wanted to do surgery that Friday instead of Saturday, because he liked the people he was working with on Friday better.
My surgeon also said he wanted me to come back the next day to get a full spinal MRI, just to be sure there was nothing else hiding along my spinal chord that shouldn't be there.
Again, I was calm. I was completely fine. Just to prove to you how calm I was, and how the spirit was still providing me so much comfort, this was the next question I asked:
"So I'm in the middle of softball, and since I'm going to be done for the season after my surgery, can I play in my game today and practice the rest of the week?"
I was just told I was going to have brain surgery in four days and all I could think about was softball. (Sorry, not french toast anymore.) I thought for sure it was a stupid question and I already knew the answer, but my doctor surprised all of us when he said, "Sure! Just make sure to wear your helmet!"
Before we left the appointment, we asked the golden question:
Why?
Why did I have a brain tumor? I had been healthy my entire short life. I took care of myself, I was very active, I played sports and worked out, so why?
The doctor (almost to himself) said that I could possibly have something called von Hippel-Lindau.
There it was. The first time I had ever heard of VHL. It's this weird, rare disease that most doctors don't even know about, but for some reason, at that specific time, in that specific moment, von Hippel-Lindau popped into my doctors head. He kind of shrugged it off and told us not to worry too much about it because we needed to focus on being prepared for surgery.
We went back to the hospital the next day for my spinal MRI which lasted about three hours. Yes, it was awful. My surgeon wanted to look over those results as soon as they were available, so we ended up right back in his office for the second day in a row.
After looking through the most recent scans, my surgeon asked,
"Did you go play softball yesterday?"
"No. I'm still just so sick and dizzy. I didn't think it would be a good idea."
"Good."
Sure enough, I had tumors all throughout my spine. They were mostly in my neck and lower back, and they also had to be removed. So, yeah. It was a good thing I didn't go play in my softball game.
So we didn't just have a brain surgery written in the planner now, but two more major surgeries were scheduled. Also, just to add insult to injury, the new scans showed that I didn't have just one brain tumor. I had multiple scattered throughout my brain, but luckily they were small enough that they weren't a concern. (And to this day, they're still hanging out in my head).
April 22nd - Brain Surgery
April 25th - Neck Surgery
May 9th - Back Surgery
So, have you been keeping track of all the miracles?
1) My mom had a feeling to call her friend.
2) That friend then had a feeling to call her daughter.
3) Her daughter lived right next door to the PA.
4) Her daughter texted the PA, who was at work at the time.
5) The PA took the time to look at my file, (which they don't usually do).
6) The PA walked my file into the neurosurgeons office who then took time out of his busy schedule to actually look through my scans.
7) I was still walking, talking, and breathing.
8) I got in to the surgeons in less than 24 hours of discovering my brain tumor.
9) My surgeon mentioned von Hippel-Lindau at the very first appointment.
10) They were able to squeeze me in for surgery that weekend.
11) My surgeon suggested I get more MRI's, just in case.
12) I didn't go play softball that day.
13) The new MRI's showed more tumors that needed to be taken care of, and we were able to squeeze in dates for those surgeries too.
14) I was still fine!
Those peaceful feelings I had been receiving from the spirit were still so incredibly strong that they literally could've scheduled me for another five major surgeries and I would still feel okay. It really was an amazing feeling.
I know I only outlined about 14 miracles that occurred during those few days, but there were SO many more. It would take me weeks to tell you every single one. And I know a lot of you may question if those events even count as miracles. Maybe they're just coincidences.
David A. Bednar once said,
"The tender mercies of the Lord are real and do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence."
I can promise you that miracles and tender mercies happen every single day. If you can't see them in your life, then you might be mistaking "miracles" with "coincidences". To God, there are no such thing as coincidences.
Although my miracles and tender mercies may not seem so big and grand on their own, when put together, they created the biggest blessing of all. These little events saved my life. A few simple phone calls are the reason I am able to still be here sharing my story.
I hope you all believe in miracles, because I know they have not ceased. God is a God of miracles and He has promised us that that will never change. So in the words of Jeffrey R. Holland,
"Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing."
❤ / Mickey
There's a lot that has to happen after finding out you have a brain tumor. It's sort of like finding out you're getting married! Just...not as exciting. There's lots of research, lots of phone calls, lots of emotions. But the biggest thing, (and probably the most obvious), is you need doctors. You need to find someone who knows what the heck is going on, because you definitely don't.
That's the story I'm going to be sharing with you today. I'm going to tell you how we found the right doctors. I know that doesn't sound super exciting, but hang in there.
My mom and I walked out of the hospital after my MRI on April 18th, 2016 and I asked her to do me a favor. I asked if we could keep this quiet. I didn't want to shout to the whole world that I had a brain tumor. I didn't want to cause mass amounts of worry. It was already so hard to see how my mom was reacting to the news, so I preferred to keep the casualties to a minimum.
Of course there were a few people we had to tell right away. My dad, my brothers, my softball coach, and a few close friends. Even though we tried to keep everything quiet, I'm sure you can guess that word got out pretty quickly, but I'll talk more about that another time.
One of the people my mom called was her co-worker, neighbor, and best friend. Her family had been living across the street from us long before I was born. My mom called her for two reasons:
1) She needed to get her shifts covered at work while we figured everything out.
2) She really just needed a friend.
Finding out your daughter has a brain tumor is not the easiest thing.
My mom told this friend that the radiologists who did my MRI said they would send my file to the neurological clinic there at Utah Valley and a receptionist would get in touch with us soon, but we didn't know what "soon" meant. It could've meant a few weeks, or even months, before we would get a call. We felt pretty helpless. There wasn't much we could do but wait.
But we didn't have to wait long. We received a call from the neurological clinic within a few hours of my mom talking with her friend. They told us to come in the next morning because the neurosurgeon wanted to see me as soon as possible.
 |
| @season.atwater.photography |
After my mom got off the phone with her friend, her friend immediately called one of her daughters and told her everything that was going on. Don't worry, she wasn't just gossiping or sharing these personal details that I was trying so hard to keep quiet.
Apparently, her daughter was in the same ward and lived right next door to a certain PA who worked at the neurological clinic at Utah Valley. (The exact place where my file was sent). After my moms friend got off the phone with her daughter, her daughter immediately texted her neighbor who happened to be at work. She gave him my name and said I was a close friend and asked if he could just quickly check out my file.
The PA saw the text, went and handpicked my file out of probably hundreds of others, and walked it straight in to the neurosurgeons office. The surgeon took one look at my chart and my scans and asked a question that still makes me shutter every time I think about it -
"Is this patient still walking?"
My brain tumor was only about the size of a pencil eraser, but there was a cyst forming around it, and that was about the size of a ping-pong ball. Because of the location of the tumor and cysts, I should not have been walking, or talking, or even breathing on my own.
My brain stem was being smashed so badly that I really shouldn't have been functioning at all. I'm sure you can imagine how surprised the doctors were to find out that not only was I walking and talking and breathing, but I was currently playing softball for my high school.
In less than 24 hours of finding my brain tumor, my parents and I were sitting across from one of the best neurosurgeons in the country. Now this guy is so good and so well-known that just to get an appointment with him, just to see him, there is almost always a six month waiting list.
The PA and the surgeon were both in the room with us trying to figure everything out and explain to us what the next steps were going to be. They were both so calm while explaining brain surgery, it was as if I simply had to get a tooth pulled.
"We'll just go in and drain the cyst and pop the tumor out and you'll be good to go! How does Saturday sound?"
There was a lot going on in my head. I'd never had surgery before! Why did my first ever surgery have to be BRAIN surgery? At only seventeen years old? The surgeon kept talking while I kept thinking. He finally came to the conclusion that he wanted to do surgery that Friday instead of Saturday, because he liked the people he was working with on Friday better.
My surgeon also said he wanted me to come back the next day to get a full spinal MRI, just to be sure there was nothing else hiding along my spinal chord that shouldn't be there.
 |
| @season.atwater.photography |
Again, I was calm. I was completely fine. Just to prove to you how calm I was, and how the spirit was still providing me so much comfort, this was the next question I asked:
"So I'm in the middle of softball, and since I'm going to be done for the season after my surgery, can I play in my game today and practice the rest of the week?"
I was just told I was going to have brain surgery in four days and all I could think about was softball. (Sorry, not french toast anymore.) I thought for sure it was a stupid question and I already knew the answer, but my doctor surprised all of us when he said, "Sure! Just make sure to wear your helmet!"
Before we left the appointment, we asked the golden question:
Why?
Why did I have a brain tumor? I had been healthy my entire short life. I took care of myself, I was very active, I played sports and worked out, so why?
The doctor (almost to himself) said that I could possibly have something called von Hippel-Lindau.
There it was. The first time I had ever heard of VHL. It's this weird, rare disease that most doctors don't even know about, but for some reason, at that specific time, in that specific moment, von Hippel-Lindau popped into my doctors head. He kind of shrugged it off and told us not to worry too much about it because we needed to focus on being prepared for surgery.
We went back to the hospital the next day for my spinal MRI which lasted about three hours. Yes, it was awful. My surgeon wanted to look over those results as soon as they were available, so we ended up right back in his office for the second day in a row.
After looking through the most recent scans, my surgeon asked,
"Did you go play softball yesterday?"
"No. I'm still just so sick and dizzy. I didn't think it would be a good idea."
"Good."
Sure enough, I had tumors all throughout my spine. They were mostly in my neck and lower back, and they also had to be removed. So, yeah. It was a good thing I didn't go play in my softball game.
So we didn't just have a brain surgery written in the planner now, but two more major surgeries were scheduled. Also, just to add insult to injury, the new scans showed that I didn't have just one brain tumor. I had multiple scattered throughout my brain, but luckily they were small enough that they weren't a concern. (And to this day, they're still hanging out in my head).
April 22nd - Brain Surgery
April 25th - Neck Surgery
May 9th - Back Surgery
So, have you been keeping track of all the miracles?
1) My mom had a feeling to call her friend.
2) That friend then had a feeling to call her daughter.
3) Her daughter lived right next door to the PA.
4) Her daughter texted the PA, who was at work at the time.
5) The PA took the time to look at my file, (which they don't usually do).
6) The PA walked my file into the neurosurgeons office who then took time out of his busy schedule to actually look through my scans.
7) I was still walking, talking, and breathing.
8) I got in to the surgeons in less than 24 hours of discovering my brain tumor.
9) My surgeon mentioned von Hippel-Lindau at the very first appointment.
10) They were able to squeeze me in for surgery that weekend.
11) My surgeon suggested I get more MRI's, just in case.
12) I didn't go play softball that day.
13) The new MRI's showed more tumors that needed to be taken care of, and we were able to squeeze in dates for those surgeries too.
14) I was still fine!
 |
| @season.atwater.photography |
Those peaceful feelings I had been receiving from the spirit were still so incredibly strong that they literally could've scheduled me for another five major surgeries and I would still feel okay. It really was an amazing feeling.
I know I only outlined about 14 miracles that occurred during those few days, but there were SO many more. It would take me weeks to tell you every single one. And I know a lot of you may question if those events even count as miracles. Maybe they're just coincidences.
David A. Bednar once said,
"The tender mercies of the Lord are real and do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence."
I can promise you that miracles and tender mercies happen every single day. If you can't see them in your life, then you might be mistaking "miracles" with "coincidences". To God, there are no such thing as coincidences.
Although my miracles and tender mercies may not seem so big and grand on their own, when put together, they created the biggest blessing of all. These little events saved my life. A few simple phone calls are the reason I am able to still be here sharing my story.
I hope you all believe in miracles, because I know they have not ceased. God is a God of miracles and He has promised us that that will never change. So in the words of Jeffrey R. Holland,
"Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing."
❤ / Mickey
I loved this so much!! Keep writing!
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